que pasa at the reluctant casa

It's harvest time, and I'm in the process of canning dilly beans and green tomatoes, drying herbs, and slow-roasting cherry and plum tomatoes for freezing. We had a rough season in the Willamette Valley, I'll confess. Cold nights that really never broke 60 degrees for more than a few days, even in 90-degree heat spells, a late last frost, and a relatively cool summer. Made for some really unfriendly growing conditions. Still, I got a decent crop of tomatoes, some great paprika peppers (pictured, my new drying method) and an oddly happy bumper crop of tarragon!

Mr. Reluctant pulled in the watering hoses yesterday. If that's not the sign of the end of the season, I don't know what is.

We've done very little on our growing list of remodeling projects lately. I've been struggling to finish an article that took much longer to write than I thought it would, and Mr. R. has been engaged in finishing his own article and his book, and traveling. Plus, we've been entertaining quite a bit, and experimenting with the BBQ. Priorities, yanno.

I did manage to cut down the hateful wisteria next to our grapevines and buy replacement handles for the laundry room cabinets, recaulk the kitchen window, and buy more curtains and shades at Ikea. Mr. R. got a few quotes for the roof replacement and ordered replacement panels for the storm windows, and I bought exterior paint. Not so much to report, no?

Part of the delay is that I'll be going to southern California for about three months starting next week. I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging from there, since I won't have a home to remodel, even reluctantly, and I won't be cooking much for myself. I think that I'll probably be an occasional blogger for a while.

In other news, the turquoise WWII cottage down the street, it turns out, sold for $300K. Woo-hoo property values! They immediately put in a white picket fence around the front. I had my doubts, but it turned out rather cute.

Hope you're all having a great fall!

there goes the neighborhood?

The little turquoise cottage I mentioned in my blog entry about mid-century vernacular architecture in Eugene is on the market. Two bed, one bath. Only about 950 square feet, but the real estate agent/owner is trying to claim that the "finished" (i.e., not a dirt floor) basement ups the square footage to almost 2000. Um, no. The yard is actually quite nice in the back, with a dramatic terrace effect and mature roses and some overgrown hedges and fruit trees. A gardener could make it really lovely. The kitchen has original cabinetry, first growth Doug fir floors, and it's very, very cute but small. The floors have some condition problems but could be refinished easily (although the kitchen is Doug fir, the rest of the house is in short slat red and white oak, like our floors). The house was built in 1938 (if I remember correctly) and it's a true WWII cottage, with wrap-around windows, a compact footprint, low ceilings, and small rooms. The house itself is adorable but really small, unless you are a couple with no kids and no need for a study. The major down side is that the house is next to the neighborhood convenience store market and restaurant, and the yard abuts the garbage dumpsters for the restaurant. Sure, there are privacy fences, but still. The convenience store is situated on a busy corner of two thoroughfares, and the house doesn't have much of a front yard (see picture). The neighbor on the other side is a house of about the same era that was built too close to the cottage, so the houses look like they're huddling together next to the restaurant parking lot. In short, the location is a dealbreaker.

So how much would you pay for this little gem? If you're not singing to the tune of $325K, you'd be left out in the cold.

Crazy, huh? All I can say is I hope it sells for that, because then my house will be as valuable as the Hope Diamond.