Frozen Art

As I posted a while back, the woman that once owned our house was a metal artist.

Last year while mowing the back part of the yard Hubby hit a piece of metal and it turned out to be a Rooster that she created. Our neighbor wanted it really bad and traded Hubby for it.

I don't really know what it is, but on the top there's a stage coach and horses.

On tis morning it looked amazing with a layer of frost.

Said it before, I'll say it again...sad that she can no longer create her art.

Aloha A Hui Hou!

The Artist

On our trip we found a little more out about the lady that used to own our house. As I posted before, she was a metal artist and made beautiful things. She even made something for the town of Caldwell:

It is a pedestrian bridge in the heart of Caldwell. If you look, just beyond the bridge you'll see a pavilion. Is is in this area they hold the weekly farmers market.

Couldn't resist putting a bit of blue sky in there. It was actually a pretty rainy day.

Looks like water scene with ducks, swans and herons

She achieved contrast by polishing some surfaces and flaming others.

Relt right at home when I saw the gecko.

This part depicts the salmon run. I was amazed to learn that the salmon actually swim all the way upstream into Idaho to spawn.

We were told the eagles, that I posted here, were ordered by Canada for the Olympics. They ordered 3 and then only took 2. Which was a great financial loss for her. She also made a mountain lion for some nearby town. Next time we will have to take a tour, looking for her other art pieces.

So sad to think that she has carpel tunnel so bad that she can no longer create such beautiful things.  Lastly we heard that she no longer lives in Idaho.

Aloha a Hui Hou.

Over the years...

The fun thing about buying a home with history, is that it has history.

We know the woman that owned it before us was a metal artist and created these HUGE metal sculptures.

 

From what we've been told she developed carpel tunnel and can no longer create her art. Such a shame. She made amazing things. The building you see on the right and the silos are still there, the building on the left is gone.  

Our neighbor, two doors down, was the original owner of the house and it used to be a working farm. We didn't get a chance to meet him and talk story last time, but is is definitely on our to do list for next time. 

While looking at the property on Google earth I discovered that you can view a spot over the years. Amazing how it has changed over the past 20 years, not to mentions how the quality of the satellite photos have improved over the same time. Take a walk with me

This is the latest photo. It was taken after it became ours.

This photo was taken in 2010. As you can see, it was a busy place. The big building with the silver roof burned down to the ground and that flat top building is gone too. Behind the house you see the foundation they put in for a 2400sqf Kodiac Kit house. We know that they received the kit and put it up for sale before it was  ever built.

This photo was taken in 2006. You see that there is another building next to the one with the silver roof. Not sure what happened to that, but we'll find out :o)

This photo was taken in 2005. So green!

This was in 2002 and there is another unknown in the picture. Looks almost like they might of had honey bees.

This is the last one, from 1992. The quality of the few between 1992 and 2002 are so poor, I didn't bother, but I did want to share the first one they have posted.

 

Aloha Hui Hou!

How we got here...

Aloha All!

I've decided to start a blog to more easily share what we've been up to and the progress of our Never Rush Ranch with our family and friends. Hope you don't get too board.

So, here it goes....

Roger and I have been looking at houses, just for  fun, for years. Roger was looking at wrecks and I was looking at palaces. Neither of us was happy with what the other had found.

Last year we started getting serious and talked about what we wanted in a home, what we were willing to compromise on and how much we were willing and able to spend for our dream. Cha-ching! Our list came down to wanting a large lot, anywhere from 1-5 acres, a single family home with at least 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, a basement, a fire place, nice sized kitchen, a well and a shop. Not too much to ask for, is it?

One day in April I was browsing the real estate listings for Idaho and a piece of property came up that caught my eye. The size of the lot and the price were right, but the house was a wreck. On the plus side, it did have a nice old barn that could possibly be converted into a home for us. Showed it to Roger and then contacted our realtor Angela, who I had been bugging for the past 2 or 3 years, to find out some more about the property. Quite spontaneously we decided to fly over to take a look.

A day or two before we were scheduled to fly, the listing agent sold the property. Made us kind of sad, but that didn't stop us from going to see what else was on the market.

We only had two days, so we booked the earliest flight possible to get the most of the time we had available. Well, - as Roger always says "Plans are apt to change" - and they did. We were supposed to arrive in Boise at around 8AM, but we missed our connecting flight on the Big Island and landed about 5 hours late - Note to self, Big Island airport sucks.

There wasn't much left of our first day, but we did to go see the property we were originally interested in. The house was tiny and in really sad shape. Someone had kicked the back door in and someone took several slats of wood from the barn walls....so I guess it was a good thing that we didn't put in an site unseen offer.

Not to be discouraged, we looked at all kinds of homes. There were ones in neighborhoods with 1 acre and ones out in the country with up to 17 acres. Many of them were in such disrepair, it makes you wonder why people let their homes and properties get so run down.

One of the stops was at a little 2 bedroom, 50's farm house that just came on the market. I actually saw the listing before we left home and was hoping we could take a look at it while we were there.

The property was vacant and neglected. Lots of dead trees, plants growing in the windows, spiderwebs in the door ways....but it had good bones and charm. It matched a lot of the things on our wish list. It had 4 acres, a well, a huge shop, a shed, a basement, nice size kitchen, lots of built ins and LOTS of potential. Of all the homes we saw, it was one of our two favorites.

We flew home, not knowing what we should do. Should we wait because something better might pop up? Should we keep looking? Should we go for it? Our heads were still spinning and we didn't really know what we wanted.

On the following Monday our agent called and said that someone put a bid in on the 50's farm house - are we interested or not? We looked at each other and said - let's go for it. A few days later Angela called and said "Are you ready to move?  Cause you own a house in Idaho!"

The whole process of buying the home was filled with experiences that we would rather have passed on. Even our agent said it was one of the worst closing she had been a part of and it's not the way things are supposed to happen.

The closing date was in July, so Roger and I took 2 weeks off to fly over for it. Our first stop was Washington, where we stayed with Rogers parents for a couple of days. They live directly on the Puget Sound, way back in the boonies. When Roger moved to Hawaii he had left some of his things with them and they also had some old furniture and house hold items for us to use for starters. We loaded the truck and made our way to our Ranch.

It was an 8 hour drive to get there. Originally the plan was to take turns behind the wheel, but I chickened out. It might have been the heavy load, it might have been the road we were on, I don't know. I just couldn't do it. So poor Roger had to drive the whole way.

It was amazing how the scenery changed as we traveled from Washington, thru Oregon to Idaho. Washington reminded me of Germany, the pines, the roads...When we reach Oregon it was a bit dryer and treeless, which really surprised me. Don't they have a pine tree on their license plates? Where did they go?

Mt. Rainer - View from Roger's Parents place

Somewhere in Oregon

We were pretty busy during our week spent on the ranch (less the time at Rogers parents, driving and the time we had to wait for closing). There were neighbors to meet, tumbleweed to be mowed, purchases to be made and wall paper to be taken down. Although we didn't get all accomplished that I hoped we would while there - as Roger always says "Plans are apt to change" - we enjoyed every minute and were sad when the time came to fly back to Hawaii. Wait a minute, when you think of it, what kind of nuts are sad when they have to go back to Hawaii?

I had my fun taking the wallpaper down

This room is so home-ie - Love the wood

I mowed all that. Roger is so happy with his tractor.

Oh! Wanted to mention that one of the things that amazed us and shows that we have been living in Hawaii for too long, was how long the sun stayed up! The sun went down at around 9:30pm and we were still working in the yard at 10, 10:30PM!

we can enjoy the sun rise and the sun set from our porch

Roger loves his bench

Well, that's enough for starters. I hope to keep you all up to date on our dreams, plans and progress.

Aloha Hui Hou!