June 04, 2009

5:51 a.m.

Dawn or Thereabouts

Man, early comes early. Can't get myself up and running this morning.

The good thing about getting up at 5 is that if I've forgotten to take out the garbage on Wednesday night, I can still do it in the morning because it's hours still, before the trash truck comes.

It's me own fault. I stayed up past my bedtime. I was packing -- made good headway on the front closet -- and needed a break, so I called Carol. We don't talk so much now that we're not touring, so conversations are always delightful and full of news. I updated her on the following:

1) My house appraisal was done yesterday. I don't have a report yet. But when Son's agent called Angela to let her know, she also said that Son apparently had an accident of some kind while cleaning or clearing out the house, and hurt his back or knee or both. He's been laid up, wasn't able to be present at the appraisal, and will miss his flight back! I wondered if it happened toward the beginning of last weekend and that's why we haven't seen any sign of him. The mercenary in me wishes he'd just give up and leave the rest of the furniture for me to sell. That's small of me, I confess. But there you are. The Big in me sincerely hopes he recovers quickly. The Small wants more of whatever everyone else is having.

2) Rose and Marc's inspection was also done, and the inspector the agency usually hires wasn't available, so they had to settle for this guy who is reputed to be the worst and most heinous (no offense to clowns of the same name) one in the state. He makes up stuff that doesn't exist. He said, for example, that there is no heat in their upstairs bathroom. Ahem? There is a wall to wall baseboard radiator right in plain sight. He also said the oil furnace leaked, based on noticing a bucket nearby with a little oil in it. It turns out that was there from when Marc changed the filter in the furnace. There is no leak, and there are also no termites on the porch, as accused. Marc was livid all day yesterday until he went over to investigate all these bogus claims. The only legitimate one was that there was no plate cover on one bare outlet in the shop. Oh, NO! No plate cover! Call the EPA!

He also said the furnace didn't work. It only needed to be primed and it fired right up. That happens when you haven't run it since Winter. I'm no expert, of course, but I would think a house inspector would know about things like that.

This inspector has caused potential buyers to rip up their contracts. Marc had called his agent and told her to put the house back on the market. Whilst he was there going over all this stuff yesterday, Rose showed up, and then an agent came by with a couple who were VERY interested in the house. They stayed for an hour and a half! The guy is really into Nascar, and he loved the shop, and talked with Marc in great detail about the improvements he'd done to the house. If they lose their current contract it looks like there will be someone else in line right away. All is well once again.

3) Marc is going to look into getting his home inspector's license. He's got practically all the know-how already anyway so it should be a short learning curve. At $400 a gig, why not?

4) Then stayed up a while longer reading Jasper Fforde. That's why I went to bed late.

5) I have got to have breakfast and get ready for work. This is ridiculous. Brain! Engage! More as it happens.