).Back-story: We’ve been renting for the past dozen or so years, since we moved back from Las Vegas. Had a good landlord, didn’t really need the mortgage interest tax deduction, we could pretty much do what we wanted with the property and it was pretty nice to be able to call someone else when the a/c went out or some such.
Our house (and my studio) was right in the middle of the city (not downtown, but at the edge of a nice older residential area and adjacent to a small shopping area with a few restaurants and shops. Very convenient: my wife was 5 minutes from her office, my daughter was 3 minutes from her school and I was a dozen steps from my studio. To accommodate my slick collection I had rented a 1800 square foot shop a few miles away.
We started getting crap from one of the neighbors who complained to the city about our cats not staying in our yard (or being on a leash). Yes, there’s city ordnance stating same. This brought “code compliance” into the picture and the situation escalated from there. I would have told them to screw themselves, but my landlord was freaking as they were threatening to fine them.
Mid July my wife and I said, “to heck with this” and started looking for a place in the country that could accommodate our animal population and my slick hobby and give us a more relaxed lifestyle.
After looking for a few days, we lucked up on a piece of property that had been basically vacant for several years due to a dispute among siblings after their parent’s deaths. Made an offer and then started trying to get financing. Let me tell you its tough getting a loan when you’re self employed (which we both are). Kudos to my bride as she worked a miracle with one of her banker friends and gathered all the documentation, pushed it through and we had a loan approved and we closed in 21 days. Started moving the next day.
The move was three weeks of “moving hell”. August in Louisiana isn’t fun. Didn’t realize we had accumulated so much stuff.
I still have to move my Slick Shop from West Monroe, but have to do some work on the new shop before that happens. I have two slicks at the new place, Little Red and the Long Uni BBW.
Here’s the details on the new place (aerial photo below)
- 2.65 acres about 10 miles out in the Parish (county) in the rear of an established neighborhood. Not really country, but definitely rural. Most of our neighbors have acre lots and many have been there for 30 or 40 years.
- 1,800 square foot, 3 bedroom two bath house (perfect size for us)
- Oversized double carport (with 8X24 storage)
- 40X60 Shop (steel building) with one-bedroom apartment at the end (which leaves a 40X40 shop) and a single carport. (PO had built rooms inside the shop area for some kind of business, which all needs to be torn out).
- Small lake, probably 6-8 acres (we actually have title to the end portion of the lake, which means we can pump water to irrigate if we want to.)
- Pool and pool house (both need lots of work, but doesn’t have to be done now)
- Property is backed by about 20 acres of nice woods. Hoping to be able to pickup an 8 acre parcel that is immediately behind out house which is coming on the market.
Aerial Photo of Property
House
View from Street
Vacant Lot (behind shop) for larger shop or maybe a helo pad
Shop (New Slick Shop)
View from our Dock (where we have morning coffee and evening adult beverages)
Here's a shot of one of our waterfowl, a beautiful Blue Heron which visits twice a day for some fishing.
We also have a couple of Egrets, a couple of Kingfishers, and a family of wood ducks.
Of course, buying the house and moving prevented Slick Stock and Crusin' the Coast attendance this year. (We had had a house reserved in Gulfport since January).
As you can probably understand, we are quite thrilled with our new place. I go for days that I never leave the property, partially because I have so darned much work to do (and I work slow)
Guess this means we’ll have to have a “Shop Warming” for the new Slick Shop. Details to come.
