MAE JULIAN
The Tear Down
Dear Waynedale Friends,
As I told you in my last column, we were tearing down our pitiful lake house at Oliver Lake. It took about three or four days, and it was dirty, hard work, just getting the inside gutted. No mask could have been good enough, in my opinion, to filter out all that insulation, dust and who knows what kinds of asbestos and germs that have been in those walls all these many years!
The second phase, the exterior being torn down is now completed. The house itself is gone. Now, there is nothing left of the place and it is a big dirt hole. ‑If it rains it will quickly turn into a big mud hole. It reminds me of an extracted gaping wisdom tooth. ‑‑There is something both sad and exciting about this whole thing. We had a lot of good times in that old house. It had a woodburner which popped sparks so much that the carpeting had holes all over it. The ceiling had leaks and when it rained we had buckets all over the place. We only had one rail to hold on to, on the back porch. It was so rusty that it was unreliable. The other rail was completely gone. So…one day, my good friend from Georgia, Billie Blush, visited, and when she went back to Georgia she had a special sign made which named the house: THE RUSTY RAIL. ‑She sent it via mail, and when my brother-in-law opened the package, he couldn’t figure it out, nor did he know who it was from. ‑He thought it might have been an insult to him for some er…poor performance!
We have gotten a lot of laughs out of that! ‑In the picture you see now, is the leveled house, but THE RUSTY RAIL is pounded into the ground. It wouldn’t do for our “spot” to be without a name. The foundation work is now being laid by our very trusty Amish crew. Then the structure will go up and be completed sometime in Nov. It is hard to imagine what can be done in such a short period of time. We have been very fortunate in having Karla Conrad, who works at THE HOME DEPOT in Auburn, Ind., help us immensely in making crucial decisions. I had never even heard of a kitchen garage, have you? ‑Well, we are having one installed. It hides your toaster, mixer, blender, etc. It sits in the corner of the kitchen counter and looks as tidy as can be. A good sales person is worth her weight in gold. There are so many decisions to be made. Knobs, lights, counters, just everything has to be decided on. If you are working long distance, like we are, then you need a Karla in your corner. (whatta pun).
I will keep all of you posted as to the emerging new lake house and I think that I should have a party when we are done, and all of you should come, just because you have suffered listening to me carry on about it. I am grateful that we had to come to this point through a lifetime of effort, saving, and teamwork. Had we had it all in the beginning, what would we have to appreciate now? ‑I remember Mom and Dad telling us that very thing in the beginning of our marriage. Now, 43 years later, I understand why it isn’t all bad to start out with orange crates for end tables.
Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Mae
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