A happy end, I think

We had a very open December and a lotta digging happened.

Foundations laid, frames went up, roof trusses delivered.

Then winter slammed down.

This was taken February 9th, and the snowman was several days old.

If you look hard between the snowman and the tree trunk, you can see construction in process on the far shore.

The property is purchased by a father-in-law, son-in-law, but split, so there are two separate lots.

That is a good omen in itself.

And I'm predisposed to like anyone who can make a snowman I can't figure out.

Last Sunday Laura and I ventured way onto the property.

Remember, we're trespassing and that does engage my trepidation button.

A lot of debris at the beginning of the drive. It will be cleared. 

I was on a mission to figure out something I learned recently from our zoning inspector.

The lake flows two directions.

It's spring fed, and empties part to the east, part to the west.

I immediately associated that with the Continental Divide, which we sit smack dab on.

However, it's more circuitous that that. In the far middle distance is the eastern outlet.

It flows to the north, then west.

The western drainage flows west. They join up above Kendall Park Road into Haskell Run and continue into the lake at the boy scout camp on State Route 303, which sits on top of the Continental Divide. 

That lake outlets into one of two streams that merge in the valley at the golf course, the source of many header pictures of a willow on a lake.

From there they flow under Akron Peninsula Road and into the Cuyahoga River and into Lake Erie.

I so wanted half this lake to go to the Atlantic and half to the Gulf.

It's very fortunate I'm not a geologist.

Anyway, enough geography.

Here is "the big house."

Laura and I got out for a good look, and we got a bad case of porch envy. 

The porch will go across the front (we can see supports), then around the side.

See the door up there?

I think a garage is behind the two windows under the four windows.

Here is "the little house."

It will have a fabulous porch wrapping around on the left. A garage probably under the right side.

This swath of mud I'm betting covers the culvert that handles the western side drainage.

So, who else sees two families here?

The grandparents in the little house; the new family in the big house.

Someone already built a snowman here.

And now there's a minnow net in the road.

A boat pulled up,

A tire swing left.

From Kendall Road, then, here is the big house across the lake.

And the little house.

And both houses.

I will be stopping in August to get my petition for the ballot signed.

I may confess I have kept track of them.

A better end

Picture heavy, get a cup of coffee.

In 2013 I turned into this abandoned property, but left when I saw it was posted against trespassers.

By fall I had gathered more information on the property, and decided a sad end should be recorded.

It was Lazy Lake Acres, on Kendall Park Road, in the Township,

run from 1942 until the death of the husband, not that many years ago.

I could imagine it as a happy weekend or even summer retreat,

A couple of cabins, half a dozen camping sites.

A lake with a dock.

I took some pictures of it for our township website.

The property went on the market, and the "For Sale" sign was up for a year.

 Then it was sold, and demo began in March, last year.

Of course I went to look.

A snowstorm the end of the month.

August of last year some grading of the property began.

The dock was breaking away,

The tire swing by the cabins remained.

And that was where I left off picture taking, last October.

Sometimes there were crews working, but no one challenged me.

Even waved on occasion.

And, I did not go far back, where some real digging was going on. 

The path was fit only for construction equipment.

I left off until last weekend, taking pictures.

And for fear of more pictures than Blogger can handle,

I'll tell more tomorrow.

Last visit

I started keeping track of this abandoned barn late in 2013,

And first wrote about it in March, 2014.

I may have mentioned it once or twice after that,

But stopping by became too sad.

I remember showing you these; 

the barn lost all color, except a few red shingles.

And it fell. I knew I should go back, but didn't.

I mentioned my reluctance to Barbara Judge at Folkway's Notebook.

She's a serious recorder.

She sent me back.

Not the hair she left home with

Mrs. P, her art teacher, says "That girl has some spice in her."

She certainly does know what she wants.

Laura explained what her new hair would look like,

and I thought, worse case, a short hair cut will solve all.

So, before:

Holy moly!

I asked her if she got exactly what she wanted because she explained so carefully to the hairdresser, or because the hairdresser did such a very good job.

"Both,' she replied.

I am looking forward to Mrs. P's reaction at art class tomorrow.