The house fat is disappearing. Its bones are showing.

It's much faster to demolish than to build.  All the appliances, carpets, and windows are gone.  Today they attack the lath.

There it is, the remaining detail.

Dining Room

Living Room

We had a nice surprise when Ted began to take the siding off.  The underlying clapboard is in good shape, and we may be able to save it.  That could save a bundle.

That attractive fellow is Nathan.  You can't tell, but he looks just like his auntie.

Day One

Now the destruction begins, organized by my fabulous contractor, who had himself coiffed for the job today.

He is being ably assisted by Nathan, my nephew, here striking the first blow.

Here is some of Nathan's best work.

Oh what have we done?

Now we Begin

David and I have moved back to Massachusetts after 10 years in Asheville, North Carolina.  We are Yankees after all.  We decided on Northampton,  MA for very important reasons:
1. My brother Ted lives close by
2. My brother Ted lives close by.
3. My brother Ted lives close by.
4. Northampton is the most liberal town in the country.
5. Northampton has real community life.
6. Northampton  is 90 miles from Boston.
7. Northampton is 2 1/2 hours from New York City.
8. Northampton is beautiful.
9. Smith College is right smack in the middle of Northampton.
10. We love the Peoples' Republic of Massachusetts.

But, as with all moves, one must find a new abode.  And, as always in my case, the new home ends up being very, very old.  We wanted to live with in walking distance of downtown Northampton, so our area for house hunting was necessarily very limited.  When we visited last August, the realtor showed us a little 1900 farmhouse on Forbes Avenue that had not been lived in for a couple of years.  It had never been renovated--knob and tube wiring still in use.

Over the winter, I watched the little house sit there, unsold, and thought.  I asked the realtor why it was still on the market.  It turns out the house was part of the estate and that there were five heirs involved.  They had turned down multiple offers over the last year and a half.  I told the realtor that there was going to come a time when the heirs would be willing to give it up, so maybe once we sold our house, we would take a run at them.

We sold our Asheville house in March four days into the listing.  On April 22, 2014, we made an offer to purchase and five days later, had a deal.  34 Forbes Avenue was ours. We closed on May 15, 2014.

Now, the fun begins.  My brother Ted (see reasons to live here above) is a contractor.  Over the years, Ted and I had fantasized about living near each other. Ted offered to build/renovate the perfect little house. So, on Friday May 16, I filed an application for a building permit.  Ted turned off the gas and the water.  The electrician put in new temporary service (goodbye knob and tube) and we are off to the races.

This is what it looks like now

This is the only nice detail we will keep