180 Degrees

Well, it's been awhile and a lot has happened since the last post.  We definitively pulled the plug on building down in Richwood.  I've set a firm retirement date (Feb 28, 2014).  And we've aimed our retirement future back to SWLouisiana.

In fact we're close to nailing down a property on which we put an offer...forty (40) acres and an old homestead about 20 minutes north of Lake Charles.  There are the usual contigencies before it closes, but it's a 1700 sq ft house dating from 1892 (probably framed in virgin pine).  There were additions in 1930 and 1980; it has been re-wired and plumbed with central air and heat with a new metal roof installed in 2007.  

Here's the front, side and rear of the house...

Here's some driveway shots...from the entrance and from the house looking back.

The southwest "point" of the 40 acres is where the driveway hits the curve in the road.  It's the SE quarter of the SE quarter of a section, so it's a square piece of property.  There a little bit of clearing to the north and to the east along the property lines, bit it is mostly wooded.  The next parcel to the east has the Hickory Branch bottom running through...I'm thinking deer, squirrels and other woodland creatures.  There are some nice hardwoods in the back...I saw hickory, white oak, red oak and water oaks in with the pines.  Also saw a number of huckleberry bushes, so Denise's famous huckleberry jelly may only be a season away.  There's some pecan trees up by the house, along with an ancient magnolia and some (yech) sycamores.

here's a couple of pictures I took when we walked around the property (the rest of these are from the realtor site).

The best thing is that this entire property will cost less than what we were getting ready to spend on building in Brazoria county, and the taxes and ongoing costs (special coastal windstorm insurance) will be avoided.

I'm rusty on blogging, but now we'll have something to blog about.  There's lots more to tell, but I'll just dole it out in pieces to try and make it worthwhile to check the blog every so often...but I will leave you with this year's cactus blooms.  We had a total of 5 on the little cactus this year, they closed at night and only lasted two days.