Hi! I know, technically it is Monday... Sundays speed by... An eventful day at the building! Visitors - many of them students of mine - drawn to investigate and.... with the promise of participating and watching my version of the "Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS." It was our first, I hope of many, charitable events at 419 West Main!
Fun! I know: Comments here, please (and no one could be as critical as me of myself....such as "what's going on with the hair, Steph?" or "Can you talk any more with your hands than you already do?" I just want to scream "Stop it!" But I am not the focus - the disease and the research efforts of prevention and treatment are the focal points of the 'Ice Bucket Challenge'. Please give generously!
http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html
By the way, I have never seen such preparation for ice and ice water as I did today - it was a blast (thanks everyone!!). Plus, it was the first 'event' at the building. These students also had much advice for the next event!!
So it goes with the building!
But life got real. Real fast. Weeding. Digging them up neatly at first, just as planned; by nightfall I was yanking with abandon and slicing and chopping with the shovel. Moments of tears and moments of bliss as I cleared the adjoining lot. Again I looked at the wall. I looked up to watch clouds, wondering at this journey with my building.
Then I thought of my path to date....oh! and the second point I had from yesterday! And I think it needs mention, but only once. As I progress with renovations, I will let you know if it changes because it would be part of the story. "It" is the topic of money. Someone asked me on Saturday at a community event, why I would be spending their tax dollars on this building.
At first I was stunned speechless. No, tax dollars are not funding this project. My ultimate dream would be never using TIF or other tax-type funding. I cannot make that promise. But to date and for the first phase I have used no tax dollars for the project. And, no the building was not sold to me for one dollar. I caution anyone about believing such things. Yes, a sale price might be one dollar, but usually then such properties are 'as is.' 'As is' is code for asbestos, ground contamination, underground storage tanks, or some other known but not determined problem that must be addressed before developing the land or building or property site. In my building's case it was asbestos. The previous owner contracted a company from Eau Claire for the abatement. Healthier? Yes. But sometimes with buildings it would be like someone ripping your skin off, then removing the underlayers of dermis. Not the case here either. Most of the asbestos here sealed plumbing.
Gone. Adios. Bye-bye. (Thank goodness. I am not sure why, but asbestos was one issue I did not want to handle. Abatement has to be done professionally anyway, but I think had it been present, I am not sure I would have wanted to deal with any of it. Again, fate or hand of God. Whichever a person would like to believe. Even when the plan was the demolition of the building, the asbestos needed to be removed first. It was good fortune, really, that I began inquiring about the building when I did: Between asbestos removal and slated demolition date.
I did have another visitor - but that is a story for another day....
My day ended with scraping windows. I learned the Joy of.....Sandpaper! That's a positive. A negative? My door handle broke...on the door with my brand new lock. I am back to crawling under the garage door. Could be worse. Could always be worse.
Another joy? A new broom. (Make obvious jokes here....)
I think I had one more for the 'negative' side of progress for the day, but I cannot remember (other than a general feeling of unsatisfactory scraping on the windows I have already done.
Learning. Always learning...
That's today's story. A lot of activity - some fun and some work. A lot of dreaming and pondering life...that is always a good thing...
Happy Trails....
Thank you....And Blessings upon your week.
~ stephanie
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| A great view of ending the day.... |
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