I haven't had much to share along modeling news lately because of our recent move. Thought I'd share with you all the thrills and spills of old home ownership.
Due West SC is about 25 minutes from our previous home of 15 years and it has as rich a history as the rest of Abbeville County that it resides in. One of it's claim to fame is it was the site (or very close to the site) of which the Treaty of DeWitt's Corner was signed leading to the local Cherokee indians to move further west to the Chattanooga area on the Tennessee river. More or less creating the Chickasaw peoples. There's a local creek named Chickasaw. Due West is also home to Erskine College which was founded in 1839. Why did we move to Due West? Because that is where the house we wanted sat.
We closed on the house at the end of june and were taking our time moving up and making some minor repairs and alterations. Least of all was building the fence for the dogs.
Yes, we're crazy, we gave our pups a 2 car carport.
We moved in on July the 4th, same day our old Casa De Dogwood went up for sale.
We were pretty much half way out of the house when it was listed but the realtor suggested we vacate completely so showings would be easier. I think he wanted the puppies out of the house also.
So packing up we did and we were able to sleep in Due West that night. No small feat I tell you, moving a bed with only your wife to help is a test of that marriage.
Next weekend a nice little thunderstorm rolled in and a big clap of lightening hit in the middle of the night. Our end of the house lost power, easy fix, breaker tripped. But I noticed the AC wasn't blowing...
Luckily enough I was able to get it reset just at the thermostat by powercycling it.(yeah, I rebooted it). But the blower was barely blowing. (I didn't realize I have a variable speed blower). So I called the AC guy out to check things as a precaution. He checked things out and it was all good. I asked him where the breaker was for the AC (not the service cutoff) because I couldn't find it on the main panel. We found another panel hidden in plain site on the outside of the house. While checking it out he took a step on a brick pathway next to the house and the bricks fell through into a bubbling pool of muddy water. 
Yep, that would be the main water line coming into the house. Of course this is on myside of the water meter so it's on me to fix it. This escaped the home inspection because well, I don't know. There was no evidence of this at the time the inspection was made.
So we got the plumbers out and my new buddy Keven the plumber found the offending hole in the copper pipe in short order and cut it out.
Got it patched up in no time and turned the water back on only to find gushing water from further up the line towards the meter. "Gonna need to replace the entire line." again
He got us a temporary fix in place till he could get the trencher out and make it right (would take a week because he had vacation scheduled
) But it's all good now, nice new line professionally done. I suspect the grass will not be as lush as it was in that area since the underground aquafer has now been sealed off.
Wrote a nice fat, yet reasonable, check to him for his efforts and away he went. It actually solved water pressure problem we were having but could not isolate, go figure.
That evening Cindy and I decided to go to the local restaurant (we have two in Due West but one of them only works when they want to). We had no sooner sat down to than we got a text message from our new neighbor (nice thing about this place is no one is bashful about meeting the new folks) that we should get home ASAP that a tree has fallen!
The trees....There are 3...were 3 trees that no one really could identify on the property. I have a cousin who is a forester who could not ID them. Here's what the leaves and fruit look like.
Notice the heart shaped fruit to the right? That's the seed pod. In that pod is 5-6 seeds. After much research we found out these trees are "Chinese Tung Trees"
No doubt you've clicked the link to read that these trees are considered invasive in FL and highly toxic. This is the fruit that tung oil is extracted from. Why are these trees planted in Due West SC I have no idea nor does the local historians know (I asked them).
So we get back to the house to find this.
Yes that's Cindy's car in the branches. If we had not gone to supper my truck would have been sitting next to her car and would have been crushed. One again luck would have it, Cindy's car escaped damage. The tree guys were as shocked as we were. (Cindy did by a lottery ticket but it would seam our luck had run out at that point).
What does all this have to do with modeling you may ask? I'll tell you my friends and fellow glue sniffers.
As documented earlier our new shed arrived the other week and I parked it where I caught a great deal of afternoon shade.
Behind the now last remaining Chinese Tung Tree, which I noticed just the other day...has a split down the middle of the trunk....
I called my tree guy and asked what he thought. Oddly enough the guy who cuts down trees thought the tree should be cut down...so add it to the list of unexpected expenses.
All these unexpected expenses is delaying the electrification of above mentioned shed, the shed that I intend to get back to our hobby we love so much. (noticed how this turned back to modeling?)
Keven the plumber had a great suggestion, that's to run the water and power out to the shed in the same trench. Thankfully someone is looking after me because it's a great idea that may save us a little bit of money in the long run.
So this weekend we started the task of cleaning out the old garage at Casa Da Dogwood and in doing so I've decided some models are not going to make the trip.
That's right, the purge has started.
Thanks for indulging me. Just wanted to share some of the issues we've been facing.
Oh, forgot to mention the contract we had on the Dogwood house fell through. Going back no the market today. That's another long story. Buyer was wanting us to make repairs that were not necessary even after being told before going into the contract that we had no intention of doing any more repairs to the house.
Model on boys! I'll catch up with ya shortly.
Due West SC is about 25 minutes from our previous home of 15 years and it has as rich a history as the rest of Abbeville County that it resides in. One of it's claim to fame is it was the site (or very close to the site) of which the Treaty of DeWitt's Corner was signed leading to the local Cherokee indians to move further west to the Chattanooga area on the Tennessee river. More or less creating the Chickasaw peoples. There's a local creek named Chickasaw. Due West is also home to Erskine College which was founded in 1839. Why did we move to Due West? Because that is where the house we wanted sat.
We closed on the house at the end of june and were taking our time moving up and making some minor repairs and alterations. Least of all was building the fence for the dogs.
Yes, we're crazy, we gave our pups a 2 car carport.
We moved in on July the 4th, same day our old Casa De Dogwood went up for sale.
We were pretty much half way out of the house when it was listed but the realtor suggested we vacate completely so showings would be easier. I think he wanted the puppies out of the house also.
So packing up we did and we were able to sleep in Due West that night. No small feat I tell you, moving a bed with only your wife to help is a test of that marriage.
Next weekend a nice little thunderstorm rolled in and a big clap of lightening hit in the middle of the night. Our end of the house lost power, easy fix, breaker tripped. But I noticed the AC wasn't blowing...
Luckily enough I was able to get it reset just at the thermostat by powercycling it.(yeah, I rebooted it). But the blower was barely blowing. (I didn't realize I have a variable speed blower). So I called the AC guy out to check things as a precaution. He checked things out and it was all good. I asked him where the breaker was for the AC (not the service cutoff) because I couldn't find it on the main panel. We found another panel hidden in plain site on the outside of the house. While checking it out he took a step on a brick pathway next to the house and the bricks fell through into a bubbling pool of muddy water. Yep, that would be the main water line coming into the house. Of course this is on myside of the water meter so it's on me to fix it. This escaped the home inspection because well, I don't know. There was no evidence of this at the time the inspection was made.
So we got the plumbers out and my new buddy Keven the plumber found the offending hole in the copper pipe in short order and cut it out.
Got it patched up in no time and turned the water back on only to find gushing water from further up the line towards the meter. "Gonna need to replace the entire line." again
He got us a temporary fix in place till he could get the trencher out and make it right (would take a week because he had vacation scheduled
) But it's all good now, nice new line professionally done. I suspect the grass will not be as lush as it was in that area since the underground aquafer has now been sealed off.Wrote a nice fat, yet reasonable, check to him for his efforts and away he went. It actually solved water pressure problem we were having but could not isolate, go figure.
That evening Cindy and I decided to go to the local restaurant (we have two in Due West but one of them only works when they want to). We had no sooner sat down to than we got a text message from our new neighbor (nice thing about this place is no one is bashful about meeting the new folks) that we should get home ASAP that a tree has fallen!
The trees....There are 3...were 3 trees that no one really could identify on the property. I have a cousin who is a forester who could not ID them. Here's what the leaves and fruit look like.
Notice the heart shaped fruit to the right? That's the seed pod. In that pod is 5-6 seeds. After much research we found out these trees are "Chinese Tung Trees"
No doubt you've clicked the link to read that these trees are considered invasive in FL and highly toxic. This is the fruit that tung oil is extracted from. Why are these trees planted in Due West SC I have no idea nor does the local historians know (I asked them).
So we get back to the house to find this.
Yes that's Cindy's car in the branches. If we had not gone to supper my truck would have been sitting next to her car and would have been crushed. One again luck would have it, Cindy's car escaped damage. The tree guys were as shocked as we were. (Cindy did by a lottery ticket but it would seam our luck had run out at that point).
What does all this have to do with modeling you may ask? I'll tell you my friends and fellow glue sniffers.
As documented earlier our new shed arrived the other week and I parked it where I caught a great deal of afternoon shade.
Behind the now last remaining Chinese Tung Tree, which I noticed just the other day...has a split down the middle of the trunk....
I called my tree guy and asked what he thought. Oddly enough the guy who cuts down trees thought the tree should be cut down...so add it to the list of unexpected expenses.
All these unexpected expenses is delaying the electrification of above mentioned shed, the shed that I intend to get back to our hobby we love so much. (noticed how this turned back to modeling?)
Keven the plumber had a great suggestion, that's to run the water and power out to the shed in the same trench. Thankfully someone is looking after me because it's a great idea that may save us a little bit of money in the long run.
So this weekend we started the task of cleaning out the old garage at Casa Da Dogwood and in doing so I've decided some models are not going to make the trip.
That's right, the purge has started.
Thanks for indulging me. Just wanted to share some of the issues we've been facing.
Oh, forgot to mention the contract we had on the Dogwood house fell through. Going back no the market today. That's another long story. Buyer was wanting us to make repairs that were not necessary even after being told before going into the contract that we had no intention of doing any more repairs to the house.
Model on boys! I'll catch up with ya shortly.
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Thanks for that MP interesting - good luck with it all.
