Hello folks,

Well, I'm officially moved into my new house, and it is WONDERFUL!!
After years of working on other people's places and getting my credit
polished up until it shines like a new penny, I've finally got a house
of my own. To keep it on a woodworking level- It's got not only an
excellent basement shop with an oversized door leading directly into
the garage, but an 8' x 12' (approximately- we're getting deluged with
snow right now so I'm not going to go measure it) shed on a nice
foundation with electrical outlets. As far as other stuff goes, it
was built in 1946 with Oak framing and floor joists, and was owned by
only one family- the lady selling it was 97 years old, and the place
still looks like it was just built. All the woodwork is custom-milled
natural maple, much of it with fiddleback grain and bird's-eyes- with
the exception of the upstairs bedroom, which was trimmed in african
mahogany. We're in a town with less than 5000 residents now, but it
has two excellent hardware stores, a couple of great resturants, and a
couple of lumber suppliers. The place was listed for $73k, and we
didn't even bother negotiating the price- nothing else was even close
to the condition of this house even in the $150k price range. I'm so
happy I could just about bust open! Sorry to go on and on, but it's a
big deal for me- I'm sure it's fun for anyone to get their first home,
but for a carpenter and woodworker, it's close to a religious
experience! Spent $300 at the hardware store today getting all sorts
of material to tweak it just the way I'd like it, and even though It's
costing me a fair amount of dough and I'm likely to be working
continuously for weeks or months on it (it doesn't *need* any work,
but it's getting it anyhow) it's great fun! No more downstairs
neighbors blasting music until the wee hours of the morning, no more
funny smells or cars parked in the backyard, not even a hint of rotted
moulding or faulty electrical wiring.... I'm in heaven here- I don't
think I've smiled this much in my entire life!

Anyhow, thanks for getting this far (if you did) It's probably not a
gloat, but it's a great thing for me, and I figured I'd share.
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam