We have a signed contract on the property in Maryland.

I was working late one night recently, Kelly was keeping me company. Might have been Sunday night. I'm working at the bench anvil, doing some work on this most recent Primitive Jack Knife. Kelly gets my attention, has a quizzical look on her face, holds her phone up ... says "I just got a text from Stephanie ... she says we better look at our e-mail ... she just sent us a signed contract". I just look at her and say .... "........................".

We go about closing the shop. I need a moment anyway. We lock up ... and begin the walk up the lane. I'm expecting an extremely lowball offer full of stipulations. In the house, Kelly opens her laptop and we wait. The file is there. We open it and begin scrolling thru the pages. The numbers were acceptable. The people were preapproved. They didn't have to sell anything first. There was a settlement date listed.

We will pause here for a moment. Thank you. We are very grateful.

Now .... when you are ready ... we'll continue and discuss where we are now, and what is next.


Status:

It would be nice to pop the cork, envision that fabulous yard party with everyone in tropical garb, steaks on the grill, big lounge chairs ....... ............ Not yet. ........................................ We have been in a lifeboat. A ship, on the horizon, has seen our flare ... and fired a flare in answer. That begins a series of events which will lead to being hauled up to some meds, a hot meal, and a berth. Eventually, a trip back home. Too dramatic? We'll see.

Next:

Hundreds of papers have been signed, after going thru lawyer's attempts to make everything a tangled mess that nobody understands. Next; a lender's inspector will crawl thru every inch of the property ... seeking ANY reason to deny allowing the people who want our home, from being able to purchase our home. We've already had a twenty minute discussion regarding one PVC pipe that froze in the shop, when the oil tank ran dry during one bitter night last Winter. It would take me 10 minutes to fix it. Twenty to say that fifteen times. I'm not there though. I've already spent time trying to get a contractor to correct some wiring where machines were removed from the building. So far, no call back. I'm shocked. So it begins, again.

We have to get thru the phase where the inspector is stunned to find out that the 125 year old structure is not 5 years old, as expected.

Winter has begun, in Md. The furnace is sucking fuel oil. Settlement, if all goes best case, is two months away.

I've been working 6-7 days a week, often late into the evening, to make items to sell, to bridge the gap. A number of friends, a relatively small number, have kindly considered and then purchased most of the items I have completed. That small number of friends, have provided moral support, and kept in contact. Mostly, the computer screen has stared back in silence. Unless these few friends decide they need more items, or the number of friends increases ... there will be some serious issues getting to settlement.

The Rabbit hole:

I want to take you down a short rabbit hole, and tell you (in a new way), just why we are here, and why we aren't home free yet. You will recall, if you have read for some years ... that I've always told you that I make items for two general types of people. That would be "friends". and "those who see me as a vending machine". It's simple a fact of life. Most of the latter group, feel that people bring on their own bad luck. It's the result of poor decisions. Poor networking. Lack of problem solving skills. And, therefore; they become rather "tired" of the person struggling, and they turn away. Oh, they find the train wreck crossing their mind occasionally, and they look back in for a minute. "Yep - still going on - as I expected." And they leave again,

I'd like to have you think thru this one: Are there things that side track people, that are rather commonplace, and others that are rather unusual? For instance; finding someone's life adversely effected by excessive drinking, gambling, or risk taking - like rock climbing, would not be difficult. But ... if you had a thousand people line up, and then separate out the ones who had had their house burn down ... I think you'd get a small group. Of the group who'd had their house burn down, have hands raised from the people who had also had a car stolen. Life changing health issues? You get the direction. However; you will find that those predisposed to feel that you cause your own problems, completely ignore obvious examples where you were not at fault. Just a couple of more sentences on this. In 1979, I rented a big house near Frederick Md. It had a huge basement. I sat up my knifemaking shop in there. Well, the third floor had an apartment which was rented out to two college girls. The landlord, enjoyed visiting with the girls. They enjoyed various types of aromatic entertainment. Well, on one trip (while I was away at a knife show), a visit ensued. Some plumbing repair was done in the attic space, then entertainment proceeded. A spark had been left to smolder .... ah ... in the attic. The landlord went home, and I received a phone call in the morning, at my motel, that the house had burned down during the night. Huge fire. Upper floors collapsed into the lower floors. Shop in the basement was full of debris and water. Coldest night of the year. Fireman had fallen off the roof as the water from the hoses froze. Firemen used hammers on the buckles of their slickers to break the ice to remove the garments. When I tell you I have tools from 1974 and before .... they were all excavated from that basement, under those conditions. In 1972, I headed off to college. The first night, I talked to a young lady student ... we made arrangements to attend a soccer game the next day. When I went to get my car, it was gone. Yeah, it was locked. And, it was on a well lit parking lot, on the campus of Washington Bible College. My fault? Probably.

The point? I could go on with quite a few other examples, of the absurd, abnormal types off things that just are not your "normal" bad risk, lazy, dumb choice, cause for finding yourself in a pickle.

The facts:

It's just about 100% certain, that I'm going to have to go back to Maryland. I'd rather have all my teeth pulled. But; evidently I'm the only one who has ever learned how to do simple repairs. I often look around me, and find myself surprised that there are buildings and such ... because I don't recall building them. But - I must have. Since I'm the only one with tools, a phone, and knowledge to complete a task. You recall the furnace fiasco of last year? The trailer with brakes which cannot be fixed? The truck outside, with the lousy brakes? Yeah ... those would be the things needed to go to Md.

I've been digging deep, to make items with solid value. BTW - EVERY account we have is current. Consider that task completed, to date, in this mess. I sincerely appreciate every friend who has purchased. I know that some have over extended themselves to help. There are several hundreds of members here. Watching. I can't turn the tide on the group that are just plain mad, and they aren't gonna spend a dollar more until they get their item purchased. But there might be a few more reading, that see some items of value, and may decide to join the group that are keeping the bills paid until all this settles.

If you think it was a hairbrain scheme to think I could sell a six bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, three story Victorian, 50 miles from Washington ... then you got me. What a dope! And that was on top of screwing up my health by staying alive! Good Grief! Look at the calendar, I was supposed to have this done forever ago. I will not expect a "Jelly of the month Club" coupon in my Christmas Bonus this year.

If you can help ... as before ... I haven't asked anyone for a dime. If you see something of value, and can help, it will be much appreciated. The work completed after this shakes out, will reflect those who helped. We are grateful for progress.

God Bless,
Gary and Kelly

Now that is really great news! Hope the process goes smoothly!
Cheers
Neil

Sweet !

It would be the best Christmas present for you and Kelly. Good luck on the following steps of this transaction.

Holding my fingers crossed for you and miss Kelly.

I swear I heard something the other day that sounded like the beginnings of a huge sigh of relief, I had no idea it was coming from North Florida! Gary you are a saint, I'm sure it will not go unnoticed. Kelly too!

Thks Sal.

She's an Angel, anyway. I just work here.

Gary

Hopefully, here to closing is the last BPN series of PIA!

That is VERY promising news and I am happy for both of you!

Will keep fingers crossed that everything continues moving forward...

on the other topic - any plans for making more earrings?

I'd be very interested in a few sets for myself...




OK, not really for me but for the "significant women" in my life - wife and daughter

Hi Bill,

I have my engraved dies for various designs of the Repousse' in Sterling.

I also have the scroll design Alum. Alloy which everyone has seemed to enjoy. I have those here. Have the die struck tooling functional.

Tell me which you had in mind. I think you had the Snowmen design before.

Thks,
Gary

Like everyone here, I to hope that the deal goes through. Wishing you didn't have to make another trip up to MD for repair work. Praying that this really works out for you! I cannot empathize with you as I haven't had to deal with this scenario. Just had a taste of it when we moved.

In my thoughts & prayers....

Pedro

Hey Gary

The ones I'm thinking of were repousse copper I think...or maybe silver?

How big are the Al scroll ones - couldn't tell from the foot...

Here are two pr. I have at the house.

I can pull some dies and maybe get some pics tomorrow. I have aged copper, sterling. Of course, you need sterling wires. Most of my Repouse' have been in Sterling.

Gary

Keeping my fingers crossed as well. With any luck at all, (despite the probably road-trip north) the end result will be a substantial load lifted off your shoulders. Got to keep the final goal in mind, despite the inevitable bumps in the road that always appear.

We'll save the flowered shirts and grilling steaks for another time.

Positive thought's only my friend. ......

If your closing is before Christmas what a great Christmas present, hopefully your road trip and final touch-up repairs go smoothly. Best wishes on finalizing this chapter in the Barnes story.

Gary

We appreciate the kind thoughts of all if you. We will see it thru.

The inspection is Sunday. Guess we can pray the inspector is in a good mood.

I'm doing all possible here, to get work out.

Many thanks,
Gary

Hey Gary

fingers crossed for inspection!!!

I will take the "M" earrings

will need another pair, so I'll wait to see what you come up with for copper/silver for that one

thanks

Hello Gary, you might want to get on the phone with your real estate person in reference to picking the "right" home inspector. I don't know if your team has any input into the selection process, but there can be a big difference between individual inspectors. Some guys have inspected mostly newer homes and will freak out about anything they're unfamiliar with...which will be most everything in a hundred-year-old home. Other guys have seen it all and know the difference between something that's defective and something that's just different. If you get the guy who hasn't inspected anything older than his first car, you're going to get stuck with a report including tons of "faulty" items that aren't actually broken at all.

The real problem is when you get a guy who thinks he knows what's "up to code", since they're almost always wrong. There have been so many changes to the building codes over the years that figuring out what's up to code and what's not is an almost impenetrable tangle. If all homes sold had to be brought up to the latest "code", nobody would ever be able to sell a house, we'd have to bulldoze and start over every time.

Sean

Thks Sean,

They saw you coming Sean.

Maryland requires a Lottery system of lender appraisers. However; with my luck - no worries. I suspect I'll get some guy with a Monacle and Riding Crop.

Gary

Appraiser, or home inspector? Up here we don't get to select appraisers either, but the home inspector (if any) typically gets chosen by whichever party is paying for the inspection. While there seems no way to escape the subjectivity inherent to the appraisal process (overpaid prima-donnas, the lot of them), the appraisers are paragons of efficiency and virtue compared to the home inspectors. Almost anyone can hang out their shingle as an "inspector", their experience levels are all over the place. Some really know their stuff, while others...not so much.

Curious minds want to know...How did the inspection go, and if you have to revisit MD to correct items? (not Dr MD but state MD)

Gary

Hi Diver,

We are with you. Curious as well. Our Realtor told us they have 10 days to respond. Today was 6 according to her responce. Not sure how that works.

No news of any snag to date. There is an outline they follow, I'm told. Inspector responds to their Realtor. Their Realtor responds to prospective buyer. Guess they Caucsus. Then our Realtor hears. Guess we are the last to know.

Sounds to me as if they've built a nice little framework wherein they all get a nice piece of pie, they control the flow, and we just pay when told to. I'm no fan of this process.

Thanks for asking. Regarding going up there - I'd do much to avoid it. I have some State Government hoops to jump through. May well be I can avoid having to do any physical repairs. But I can't avoid the other needs.

As it is, I have some Medical needs to attend to. Still feeling lousy. Chest X-Ray tomorrow. Drs. appt. Etc. I'm sorry, I just work here. Don't think I recall what feeling decent is. If I ever get straightened out, can't wait to see what neat work I might do!

Ill keep at it. Thanks much.
Gary