Good Bye Old House: Part One, Dismantle

     There are moments when I still can't quite believe that I actually tore down my old house and my very large detached garage. (It was the large garage, by the way, that actually convinced Rory to buy the property; once he saw the garage he said, "We've got to get this house!" The way to a man's heart is to give him a garage...). On the surface of it, tearing the house down was quite insane. On the tax rolls, the house and garage were worth about $120,000. However, there is an insanity to being in the depths of grieving, so I guess I will blame it on that. Having my husband die was a major upheaval, so I decided to keep going.
      I called Habitat for Humanity and they slowly dismantled what they could using volunteers to do the work---dimantling windows, doors, soffits, metal piping, sinks, bathroom vanities, faucets, light fixtures etc. They have store called "Restore" where you can find recycled house stuff. I had a very nice wood stove that they got, and some appliances. All told, I was able to claim a donation of about $18,000.
    Update: some blog followers wanted to know what happened to Oscar, the fish. Neither of the sisters whose homes I would be moving into wanted the fish. "No Way!" they said. I was so disappointed--my only housemate! It turned out that my brother-in-law, Terence Neilsen, was excited to hear this news. He gladly took Oscar. Oscar just barely survived the trip to Portage, WI. However, he revived and lived another year. Long enough to get even uglier and meaner (he would actually leap up sometimes and  bite at the finger that fed him...quite in contrast to the old adage of "don't bite the hand that feeds you").

                                         This is looking out the dining room window towards the road

                                         My brother in law Colin showing the layers of wallpaper

                                         
 It looks like an abandoned house, but believe or not, I found that UPS left a package at my door that month

                                          Living room and 3 season porch

                                         The south side of the house

        We could see this greenish colored trough like object  in our attic but we weren't quite sure what it was. I told Jamey he needed to save it during the tear down process

                                         My old bedroom: about 10 feet wide x 24 feet long with 7 foot ceilings


Caroline and Colleen's old bedroom

                                              I just wanted to show a picture of me cooking in my former pink kitchen. Clearly I need help in picking out colors! (Well...the wallpaper was there already and I wanted to match it, so there you go. The kitchen alone made me want to build a new house. Plus, it was 9' x 10' and the entry door came into the kitchen.)