House Hunting and Hex Painting

We are in big househunting mode... have looked at a couple and given them a pass.. one a major fixer-upper on a lot in a nearby town... one a lot that used to have a mobile home on it, still with pad and well and septic, a little more land and that's it.

Right now we have two in our consideration pile, hoping that one of the owners will be willing to carry it...

This first image, is a 2 BR house on 3 acres that just came on the market here in the town of Milo.











The second image, a log cabin on one acre in an unincorporated area, is also one we are looking into. it has some serious damage to the logs on one side... Neither has woods, unfortunately.

and we do not know if either owner will be interested in carrying a contract. I feel better about the white one, even though it is in town (not in the "civilized, close neighbors" sense, but in the Maine sense of being in a township.) "Town" in Maine is a legal term; most of the state is carved up into them... "township" areas... you will be driving along in what -- for all intents and purposes looks like the total boonies and you will see a town limit sign.. either a fancy designed one, or on the less major roads, a vertical white post with a town name written along its length. You may got for several miles before you encounter homes close enough to see each other and -- unless you look sharp -- may never notice the (likely volunteer) fire dept or the town office building. There might be a mom-and-pop general store which might or might not sell gas, also house the post office, but likely sells groceries, a bit of hardware and maybe soft drinks and beer... IF you get there before 5 pm. You will never see a 7-11 or franchised convenience store; they are not allowed. Towns have higher taxes and some sort of organization, building permit system, inspectors that may or may not care... depending on who is in office, and the general attitude of the town. It varies from one town to another.

Unorganized areas have fewer "amenties" and legal issues, and lower taxes but depending on what you want to do, you may not be able to as the STATE covers such things as commercial kitchen inspection and they don't at present have the $$ to send folks out to inspect, or so I understand from friends. But on the other hand, they don't look down your neck when you build either, which suits me just fine..

We had to run to Bangor today in search of a couple of 12" embroidery hoops, as my supply was down to one and I have orders in hand for 3 of that size. We must be getting the hang of this as we were able to look at the house on Liford (on the way in) and swung north east of the city to Howland, where we did a drive by on one that got rejected out of hand, down I95 to the airport mall (check out the progress of a BigLots type store that we heard was coming... not here yet... ) then back to the Bangor Mall area to check on progress of K's Rx at WalMart (they had not been able to make contact with the clinic in NC yet.. ), stopped at JoAnns Fabric and crafts for the hoops and to check out the store that I had not visited yet. I had previously check out an other crafts store which I knew had the hoops, but Jo Anns came first and I had an excuse to go in.. I will go to the other store for arts and craft stuff, I think and Jo Anns for fabrics when I start sewing again, but I did get the hoops. Then we ate lunch (as neither of us had taken breakfast) at Tim Hortons and were home before 2 pm! We must be getting somewhere in sync with the flow here, as this is the second Bangor run that has not taken all day, and the first that included K!

After coming home I ordered more 12" hoops from my wholesale outfit (cross fingers that Brown can find us in this terribly badly signed -- even for Maine -- trailer park! Also ordered some floating wicks and other stuff to consider for my "perpetual" symbolic hearth flame. I am hoping to be able to keep an oil lamp burning instead of the candles I have not been able to find, and we were unsuccessful in finding floating oil wicks in town either. I am hoping to find something that I can refill before it goes out and while the flame is still burning. We will see.

Now it is not quite time for supper, I have two hex sign frames filled ready to start, two more to stretch muslin in and allow to dry and time to start them.

One thing I am noticing, which seems quite a change even from other northern places I have lived, is that it feels to me much later in the year -- based on the length of the day -- than what the ground outside says. The sun rises just before 6 and doesn't set until 7:15 and the sky is light until 8:30 or later... but the trees have yet to begin budding and while I am reading reports of crocus and such, I have yet to see the first sprout of green with my own two eyes.