Looks like a fixer-upper

It all starts with something leaking. Water heater. Dishwasher. Sky light during a heavy rain. It doesn’t matter. Let’s say dishwasher. And the next thing you know, you discover it’s been leaking for a while which explains why the floor seems kind of soft and spongy. No doubt about it, this is going to cost money. 

Hopefully the kitchen cabinets that have been nailed to the wall for more than 37 years won’t have to be torn out and replaced. Along with the countertops. The blue ones which were the reason you bought the house in the first place. But you won’t know until floor demolition takes place.

Could you live without a dishwasher? Your partner says “NO!” End of discussion.

Before the carpenters can come to rip up and replace the subfloor, the air conditioner goes out. On a Sunday morning. Luckily, there’s an AC guy on call. Which means more money. 

Ants. Ants in the outside AC unit. Ants southern fried in the contactor. Why are there so many ant mounds around here? More than you’ve ever seen before. Probably because of the rain. Lots of rain. More rain than you’ve seen since 2015 when the rain washed away your gravel driveway. 

And here you are again on the verge of losing another driveway. All you can do is hope the rain, rain will go away and come again some other day when you can afford a new driveway along with that new dishwasher, kitchen floor and cabinets (possibly), AC unit and now a new water heater. Yep, there was no hot water this morning. Probably more ants. 

Could you live without a hot water heater? Well, maybe YOU could, but your partner again says “NO!” End of discussion.

Do you know how much a year’s worth of ant bait costs? A bit, but not as much as the new battery you had to buy for your dead truck. At least it wasn’t an alternator problem. You should have driven the truck more often instead of letting it sit in the driveway since the last time you had to buy a new battery. You said you were going to, but you’ve had other things on your mind and the truck got lost in all the static.

Could you live without your pickup truck? “Of course you could,” your partner says. “We could use the money for gutters on the house.”

Of course. You forgot about the gutters.

Replace the toilets? Might as well. Aren’t you tired of having to unclog them after almost every flush? Why not new showers? Walk-ins with Spanish tile and a no-slip floor. Speaking of floor, go ahead and replace the carpet with wood planks, the outside siding with new cedar, replace the copper pipes with Plex, and install solar panels on the roof to do your part in saving the environment. 

Either that or tear down the whole place and let nature run its course, giving the raccoons, blue birds and the neighborhood fox a place to relax and socialize.

Could you live in a Yurt for the rest of your life? “You can live in whatever you think is best,” your partner says. “I’ll be moving to Port Isaac, Cornwall, United Kingdom. Yes. That’s pretty specific. I’ve given it some thought for the last 40 years.” End of discussion.

We’re only here on this planet a short while. Plenty enough time to fix the place up. Renovate. Restore and rejuvenate. Make it better for those who come after us. Make it such a nice place that you’d want to spend all your remaining days sitting on the porch watching the squirrels play chase through the trees.