Cool Ways The National Trust Is Using Flickr

So I've been raising two kids lately and I can't seem to multi-task like I used to. That's my excuse for not knowing these two great photo montages were going at the National Trust For Historic Preservation's web site. Check them out for yourself and think about adding to them next time you are out and about.



This Place Matters- It looks like you are supposed to hold up a sign with these words next to a building that you think is important. I need to look at what they have already, but if they don't have the Park Inn (check out that new website too) I want to do that. And my house of course.



Reuse It!- Seems to be a green inititive to make people more aware of the fact that it is more environmentaly sound to reuse an old building than to build a new on. Rath Pack anyone.

Fire at Historic Mason City, IA Home

So sad.

Fire guts historic home

Click on the little video camera icon before the story to see a film of the home before the fire.

Photos of the House From Last Post

The red line in the above photo represents where a three story tower used to be. I've seen a picture of this and it was beautiful. At the JC hall they have a then and now photo album of some of Greene's older homes. I need to see if I can borrow it because it would be neat to share with you all.

Unfortunately she won't have the money to replace the tower. Definitely know how that goes (check out four paragraphs down in June's journal, the two story porch -and ignore the raving about the roofer- I was very wrong).

Here you can see where she was working the day I stopped. This new roof line was originally a flat roof, and the interior ceiling was hard to gage (since it was gone), but probably not over six and a half foot. I think it is a nice addition to the house, kind of balancing out the taller front with the shorter back.

Now that my camera is back if I drive by and she is working maybe I'll see if I can bother her for a few interior shots.

You Know That Annoying Person Who Stops For The Tour

it's me.



So there is this house on the way home in Greene that had a for sale sign in the yard that I really like. I'll try to remember to get pictures next time I go in for work.



But anyway I heard around town that the realtor wasn't even showing it to people because it had been sold already, which is really strange for this small town. So the other day I drive by and there is a pile of stuff in the yard and the roof is ripped off the back upper story. Ooooh, exciting! So Sunday I drive by even though I was headed in the opposite direction and see someone in the yard working. Tim is in the car with me and we are supposed to be on the way back to my mom's to get the girls. I try to talk him into stopping. He majorly protests, and I decide to put being a "good" mom a head of my house lusting. So I head back to my mom's just long enough to quick eat some roast and find out the first name of the woman who bought the place.



I offer again to let Tim come with me, and he now says that he doesn't want to go because seeing a house in the beginning stages of remodeling will "depress" him greatly. -sigh- I miss my old house hunting partner. If I had known he would end up like this... OK I still would have bought our house and put him trough it. He's being a big baby. Sorry to those of you who like him and take offence at this. I like him too, in fact much, much more than you. But he's still being a baby and he needs to get over it. Hey, is anyone looking for a new market? How about Psychiatric counseling for the home-improvement weary? You know, to get them back into that naive/cheery state of mind that comes pre-project.



But I digress. And I go it alone to the house. I tried to get mom to go briefly. She though I was nervous to go by myself. Not true. I don't know about you, but after I see a house I love to talk about it for hours. How do you do that if no one else saw it? You can't. So I just bottled it all up inside until I could sit at a computer and spill it all to you.



So I head up to the house and she give me a look I am sure I have given many others in my life time. I explain to her who I am and give the required list of relatives that you need when you aren't actually from the small town yourself. Once proving my "heritage" I ask to see the house. Explaining that I could come back at a time when it's more convenient. NOTE: This is a nice thing to do if you are putting someone in this uncomfortable situation just in case they have unmentionables strewn all over the house or something like that. She said that she shows the house to anyone who asks and that she was just taking a break. I told her I had been in the same situation and that I promised not to give any advise. That seemed to break the ice, and I had a lovely tour.



She purchased the place because she had always loved it and was afraid because it had such a cheap purchase price it wouldn't be properly cared for. She is planning on selling if the opportunity arises or possibly running a bed and breakfast.



The woodwork in the house was beautiful and never painted. Tim missed out. Especially since the main staircase had a Gothic-ish arch in the rail that he would have loved. It seemed a bit small to me, but I think that mostly comes from living with 18 rooms for the last 5 years. Let me tell you it can change a girl. The kitchen is a decent size for a house of it's age and she is going to be moving a few walls around to make the flow of the house a little more efficient. Plus add a few more bathrooms.



As the tour drew to a close I wanted to cling to her legs and beg her to hand me a hammer or maybe let me strip woodwork just so I could feel "that way" again. Instead I demurely offered her a tour of my home next time she was in the area. We also discussed salvage shops. She is looking for an old built-in for the dining room and I told her they might be a better bet than the antique shops she had been visiting. I just now need to get the information to her along with a thank-you note for her hospitality.

My Silly Silly Husband

So last weekend we are in the car going some where and Tim and I are talking about the Corn Palace (I don't remember how we got on that topic). I asked, "Do you think they put new cobs on every year?" And Tim replies in a slightly deeper voice, "Would you be interested in purchasing vinyl siding with realistic corn grain?"



hee hee

Argument For An A-Frame

Read this in Sunday's paper. Interesting.

Parkersburg's distinctive A-frame house survivied massive tornado

Waterbury House

Link

Now this is what I like to see in on-line real estate. Pictures! This is the same company that had the 7 mile road house listed so I still don't understand why that house didn't have a photo gallery like this.

This house was up for sale a couple of years ago and I really wanted to see it then. Lets say in a parallel universe I didn't have children (I refuse to send my children to Charles City to school, I can judge, I went there) and I didn't have this strong adversion to living in town . This would be my house. I love it. LOVE it. But I couldn't talk Tim into "wasting" the Realtors time. But would it really be a waste? Why couldn't I have a city and a country house? He doesn't say it but that is really what he is afraid of. We have a tendency to buy things we look at. Stupid commercial building.

So if any of you out there have mind bending control powers or voodoo or something like that point it at Tim and use them to convince him to take me to see the house this time. I'll take the camera, maybe I could even get away with the video camera. How cool would that be! And you know I would share the spoils with you all. Hey, that makes me think. I could take video of Tim doing something like picking his nose or scratching his bum and threaten to post it on YouTube unless he gives me an "alternative" video. Hehe! Sometimes it's good to be evil.

Real Estate Listing

On my last post it was noted the sad lack of detail that went into the realtor's on-line ad of the home. So I decided to do a little comparison shopping to see if that's just how the Realtors in this area worked. So here are some cool houses from competing Realtors for your viewing pleasure.

Parson Real Estate- Cool virtual tour, lots more details
http://parsonrealestate.com/list/res/B1/index.shtml

New Age is pretty low on the info too, and annoyingly they have a more picture button that doesn't have more pictures for the one i wanted to see
http://www.newage-realty.com/listingdisplay.php

Cedar Valley- lots more details and a nicely organized photo page.
http://www.cedarvalleyiowarealty.com/index.cfm?fa=listings.view&listingid=41016&propertytypeid=1

The house being sold by Cedar Valley is why it would be nice to have more photos up. I like the way it looked on the outside, but once I looked at the photos of the inside I knew it was a house I would never be interested in.

This is the first time I've really looked at houses on line. When we bought our first house we saw it in the local paper. Plus, back then we didn't have a lot of choice because our spending range was so limited.

Before we found this house we went with the approach of if we drove by something we like we'd find out who owned it and then take a look inside. Sometimes we'd use a realtor sometimes we wouldn't. After awhile it got out we were looking for a fixer-upper and Realtors started calling us. I've been meaning to do a post on the houses we looked at before we found this place. Especially since some of them are close to falling down now.

Seven Mile Road House

Seven Mile Road House

I've been driving by this house since before I could drive. It's been for sale now for awhile (I just keep forgetting to post about it). I think it is so beautiful. And it's set back far enough I don't think you'd notice you're on a fairly busy highway. I was all excited to look it up because I've always wondered what it might look like inside, but the realtor seems to think nature photos and bird tracks will sell the house better. I don't know how listing homes works, maybe they don't show inside shots if it's not vacant. Or maybe the inside is really, really hideous. But I can't really picture that because it's so well-kept on the outside.

ugly waterlew

"Urban decay in a small Iowa town"



That statement pretty well sums up this page I found on Flickr. Really cool photos from around the Waterloo area. I just don't know if I agree with the "ugly houses" part :)

Bed and Breakfast For Sale

Would you like to own the place where Tim purposed to me? Tim sure would, but unfortunately we don't have an extra $399,000 laying around.



Govern Farms and Homes

Iowa Falls, IA

Yesterday afternoon my mom and I traveled to Iowa Falls. It's around 50 miles southwest of Greene, and I had never been. We didn't get much of a chance to look around town, but I am definitely going to have to head back with my camera (I tried taking shots with the cell phone, but the pictures really suck so I'm not going to even try to post them). They have some amazing architecture both on their Main Street area and in the residential areas. Also it looked like they had some really cool Main Street businesses.

Rath Administration Building Purchased

Exciting news. The Rath Administration building has been purchased to be renovated by Mako Waterloo Corporation. Read the article here.

So Near Yet So Far

Rake, IA appears to be 2 hours away from my MapQuest search. That's probably far enough away that Tim will put the kibosh on going to this open house at a church a couple turned into a house. Check out the video footage on-line. But it doesn't look like it does the place justice.

Here at home it's been published in the paper that King Corn will tentatively be played at the Community Center on Monday, December 10th at 7:00 pm. I'm hoping that happens. I really wanted to go to Iowa City to see it with my sister, but it's looking like that's not going to work out (sorry Mary, I'm saving my trip bargaining points to come to the Iowa River Power Restaurant with you and Bjorn). So hopefully Kelli over at Sugar Creek Farm will be able to make the short trip down and go with us.

Tour of Homes in Des Moines, IA

I'd really love to go to this, but with the holidays upon us now it's hard to justify shooting a whole day. Especially when I don't even have my decorations up, my shopping started, and the fact that we are now definitely hosting a Christmas party. -sigh-



Waterbury homes present the holidays

My Aunt, The Hooker On The Corner

Since Tim is out helping my dad harvest corn instead of working on the dining room floor I'll take today to tell you about my aunt Carla's new (ok, it was a year old in July so not quite so new) quilt store.

She and some other local ladies started a quilt shop in one of the corner buildings of their town, Williamsburg, IA. Check out this link to their website for pictures (if they don't come up try clicking the about us link off to the side). They don't really do the place justice. It really does have that "country store" feel they were looking to achieve.

I wish they had a picture where you could see the back wall. On that wall there is a door to a little office they have. Instead of being a solid door they used a wooden screen. It really works well balancing separation of the space with the openness needed to keep an eye on customers who might have needs. It's such a cute idea I wish I had a use for it here at the house!

Dead Line For Destruction Of Rath Pack

-sigh-

Caught this on the news tonight. I love this building. Click on the picture here for a decent view of it. Believe me it's got a even more style in real life. The unfortunate part is it's in a pretty bad neighborhood.

I'd like to go to the informational meeting the mention at the end of the article, but the way things have been going here in Iowa 60 miles is a long way to drive just to get depressed.

How cool would it be to turn it into one of those assisted living homes (check out the photo album at that place!). Have you seen the new ones they are putting up? For what one of those puppies cost they could do a pretty decent remodel I would think. And no, I don't want to hear you arguments against it and why it wouldn't make sense, so don't post them in the comments. I'm just going to lean back and picture myself living it up there in 50 years. So what if it is in a bad part of town? Mess with me and I'll run you down with my motorized wheel chair and beat you with my cane. Oh yeah.

5 Year Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was our five year wedding anniversary and so much has changed. And we talked it over and have decided that since the first five worked out so well we'll give another five a try :)

Either a year or two ago I said I would post a photo of the great old church we got married in and so true to my word here is the inside the day we got married.

Some where I have another one that the phototgrapher took from the balcanony (yes, I know he took this one from the balcony too) that shows all the pews and more of the church, but I of course can't find it any where.

Here's the outside sometime ago. We found this great old post card a year and a half after we were married. I need to get it framed.



We didn't do anything special. The girls and I headed down to Waterloo to have lunch with Tim.

Here's Elsa all spiffed up to go.

Tom and Jen's New Porch

My brother and sister-in-law put an new porch on their Victorian farm home this summer. Tim was supposed to help do this in exchange for all the help Tom's done for us over the years, but Tom must have gotten tired of waiting for him to get around to it and hired a local crew to do the work. If you want to check out the progress over the summer here are the links...

A little bit of remodeling...

Finally finished...

A couple more...

Cedar Falls Tour of Homes

Aging Beauties

Hey everyone in the area. I noticed this in the Sunday paper. I'd love to go, but Tim said maybe, which usually means no, but I don't want to fight about it now. I'm going to keep pestering him though because it looks like a nice tour, and I'm not that familiar with Cedar Falls and it's always fun to find "new" places.