Across the state
Oct. 10th, 2022 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrThe last leg of my--delayed--Wisconsin journey report.
We own a second house, in Brookfield, Wisconsin, that Denise inherited from her mom. (This means we get endless speculative postcards, texts and phone messages from realtors in two states.) As it happens, we've no interest in selling, because my oldest brother David works in the area, and has been renting the place from us since 2016. He's also been fixing the place up. As a mid-century ranch with full basement, there were things that needed tending. Old appliances, old wiring, old carpeting and flooring. He's also been maintaining the grounds, planting some fruit trees and a deer-resistant front flower bed. (The back yard was not so well-planned. The buggers ate his tomato plants down to the ground.)
This was the first time we'd been back in five years, and it was impressive how much he'd done. The visible--composite flooring, new paint, a tile wall with electric fireplace in the living room--and subtler things, like getting a carpenter in to fix the handsome but badly designed basement stairs that tried to come apart under me as I lugged dead refrigerators and filing cabinets up them during our heroic clean-out. (When I say "full basement," I mean that in every sense.) The work is ongoing--they installed new wiring and track lighting in the living room while we were there, and a full bathroom refit, removing the no-longer-functional whirlpool tub, is just starting.
We also got to meet his new partner, Charlotte, a lovely woman who works in IT management. They've converted the old sewing room into her home office. His is at the opposite end of the house, in Denise's old bedroom; we slept in the guest bed in what used to be her Dad's office. It was a disconcerting combination of familiar and not.
Took them out to dinner the first night at a nearby restaurant David suggested, which happened to be one of Del and Mary's favorite places. The next night, they treated us to Chicago-style pizza, which gave us plenty of leftovers for the flight home. Came home the first evening to find a white-tail doe sniffing disappointedly at the front flower bed, the second day spotted yearling fawns sleeping in the neighbor's back yard.
We also were visited by dinosaurs: a flock of wild turkeys strolled through the back yard, across the street, and off into the landscaping.
Flew out of the Milwaukee airport at seven the next morning, which still has my favorite ever public signage just past the security checkpoint.
Got home about three in the afternoon, local, and were immediately beset by furious creatures.
I think they missed us.
We own a second house, in Brookfield, Wisconsin, that Denise inherited from her mom. (This means we get endless speculative postcards, texts and phone messages from realtors in two states.) As it happens, we've no interest in selling, because my oldest brother David works in the area, and has been renting the place from us since 2016. He's also been fixing the place up. As a mid-century ranch with full basement, there were things that needed tending. Old appliances, old wiring, old carpeting and flooring. He's also been maintaining the grounds, planting some fruit trees and a deer-resistant front flower bed. (The back yard was not so well-planned. The buggers ate his tomato plants down to the ground.)
This was the first time we'd been back in five years, and it was impressive how much he'd done. The visible--composite flooring, new paint, a tile wall with electric fireplace in the living room--and subtler things, like getting a carpenter in to fix the handsome but badly designed basement stairs that tried to come apart under me as I lugged dead refrigerators and filing cabinets up them during our heroic clean-out. (When I say "full basement," I mean that in every sense.) The work is ongoing--they installed new wiring and track lighting in the living room while we were there, and a full bathroom refit, removing the no-longer-functional whirlpool tub, is just starting.
We also got to meet his new partner, Charlotte, a lovely woman who works in IT management. They've converted the old sewing room into her home office. His is at the opposite end of the house, in Denise's old bedroom; we slept in the guest bed in what used to be her Dad's office. It was a disconcerting combination of familiar and not.
Took them out to dinner the first night at a nearby restaurant David suggested, which happened to be one of Del and Mary's favorite places. The next night, they treated us to Chicago-style pizza, which gave us plenty of leftovers for the flight home. Came home the first evening to find a white-tail doe sniffing disappointedly at the front flower bed, the second day spotted yearling fawns sleeping in the neighbor's back yard.
We also were visited by dinosaurs: a flock of wild turkeys strolled through the back yard, across the street, and off into the landscaping.
Flew out of the Milwaukee airport at seven the next morning, which still has my favorite ever public signage just past the security checkpoint.
Got home about three in the afternoon, local, and were immediately beset by furious creatures.
I think they missed us.