...this man at the wheel is my attorney

After getting that tree cleared out of the driveway it took just a bit more work to get our house ready to list on the market. Selling this house is by far the most significant obstacle in the way. It's been listed for a week and we haven't had any action yet, though the Realtor (c) open house and regular open house are yet to come.

We live in a town that is highly desirable but it is a small town and only transacts about 50 properties per year so you have to be pateint, waiting for the right buyer to come along. It's been a pain in the neck that we actually have to keep the house clean, all the time, but it's also nice actually having a clean house!

Since I'll be gone before the house transacts, I needed to assign Power of Attorney to my wife so she can sell the house on our behalf, and then move to the islands with the lawn guy. Here's how that works:

Our lawyer drafted up a document assigning her POA. It has a list of things she can do (i.e. sell a house, open up a bank account) in my name and I can cross out any or none of them. I then bring it to a notary public; my bank did this for free. The notary and two witnesses (bank employees) watch me sign it and then emboss a stamp on it. That's it. My wife didn't even have to be there.

The next issue will occur if Shirley leaves before we are able close. Then she can assign both of our Powers of Attorney to our friend, Lumpy, who can then sell the house on our behalf. In thinking of Lumpy as my attorney, I am reminded of Duke and Dr. Gonzo in Fear and Loathing..., just the notion of referring to him as "my attorney" is kind of funny. I hope Lumpy doesn't run away with the lawn guy.

Another milestone is putting our other Basset Hound, Ozzie, into foster care. We were about ready to pull the trigger and then he had a lump on his eyelid that got worse and started to infect his eye so we took him in to have it surgically removed. Now he has to wear the "cone of shame" for 2 weeks and go back in for a checkup. Once cleared he'll be off the DL and into foster care. He's absolutely miserable but once the mescaline wears off and we get that cone off he should be fine.

As of now I'm waiting on my travel request to be approved in Taiwan so I can arrange plane tickets. It's not at all uncommon for this to be done at the last minute. I wonder if the flight I want will still be available by the time it get's approved.

taiwanderyears.blogspot.com

Getting by with a little help from my friends

As if the flat tire wasn't enough bad luck for the time being, I came home Wed night to find a humongous oak tree lying across my driveway! The first thought that went through my head was, "Too bad it didn't fall onto the house." Luckily, it did NOT fall on the house because it certainly would not have "totaled" the house which was my initial thought, but we'd be battling with insurance and contractors just to get it sell-able, and we wanted to put in on the market this weekend.

We had a rainstorm Mon-Wed and got somewhere near a half foot of rain. The root ball had eroded and the tree came toppling over. Shirley's car was in the garage at the time so she was now stuck on the other side unable to get down the driveway. Luckily I had come home late from work that day and ended up downstream of the tree and therefore, able to still get off the property. I first thought I'd call a "tree guy" but then decided it might be something I could handle on my own, or with a little help from my friends.

It always pays to have a buddy with chainsaw. I went and borrowed it right away and decided to tackle the job the next day after work. He came by to help out but we ultimately hit a wall with a dull chain and ended our night's work with the driveway still blocked. Next day, new chain, the thing cut like butter. It's still a complicated situation: depending on how the segment you are cutting is supported, it will either tend to pinch the saw on the top or on the bottom. And then you have to watch out when branches are loaded; they can spring back in your face and then you may sever your head. We ended the night by rolling the main pieces into the woods and freeing up the driveway. Success!

Now I had to figure out a way to get the wood off the property and make it look to potential buyers that there isn't a significant chance of a 10,000 pound tree crushing them. This guy at work, Jim, had mentioned that if I ever have a tree go down in the woods, to give him a call. He's looking for firewood. I emailed him the photos and he was ready to come get the wood. He showed up on Saturday and was a bit awestruck at the sheer size of this tree. Before coming up, he suggested that he might just come up with his SUV and fill that, and, if required, make another run up with the trailer. I hinted that we'd fill that SUV up in 10 minutes; fortunately he heeded my word and brought a 5000 lbs. capacity trailer.

It was a hard day's work but we were able to roll all of the big logs out of the woods and onto the trailer. They weighed about 400 pounds each and that trailer was dragging when he finally hauled it away. There's still a pile of smaller pieces left and he's going to come by tomorrow and haul the rest away. I carried all of the brush out into the woods and the yard is looking decent now. I think we are going to list the house next weekend.

taiwanderyears.blogspot.com