Ruth and the sunset at the island of Dhiffushi, Maldives.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Saturday, September 19, 2020

The property where we are staying

The property where we are staying has belonged to Ruth's father Tony since they bought it in 1966. 

So he lived here for over fifty years. Ruth was only four years old when they moved in, and she lived here until she left for Ottawa at age nineteen.

When I met Ruth in 1983, her parents were actually living in the house next door which they had also purchased, and they lived there while adding a major addition to this house. They moved back into this house when the addition was completed in 1985.

We think the original house was built in 1895. In fact, many years ago when Tony was doing some renovations on the original part of the house, they were removing some very old wallpaper and they found two signatures. It was the names of two men, along with the date and it actually said "Paper Hanger" under each of the names. The first signature was dated October 18, 1898 and the second one was April 13, 1922.

Unfortunately, the last ten years or so he didn't do very much maintenance on the place. He was always a do it yourself kind of guy, and didn't trust anybody else to do as good a job as he would have done. He always figured his health was going to improve enough to get back to doing it himself, which of course wasn't very realistic. So instead of paying someone to do it... it just didn't get done at all.

The front porch is falling apart, but we already have our son in law Justin and his business partner scheduled to do the job next April.

And you'll notice in the picture above that the paint on the roof is peeling. It's a structurally sound steel roof, but it looks terrible. Unfortunately it's a very steep pitch and we haven't been able to find anybody yet who is interested in doing the job.

It has a beautiful big yard, with three outbuildings.


The back deck.

The building shown in the photo above on the other side of the back deck is an oversized garden shed. It has light and electricity, but is not heated or insulated.

The back of the house.
This is the part that was built new around 1986.

The backyard.

Looking down from the workshop.

The garage (workshop).

Tony was an avid woodworker, and the big workshop is insulated and heated. Of course it is well equipped with all the woodworking toys.

Another smaller shed where he kept tools and stuff.

Lots of gardens too!


Hey, you can see Ruth doing some gardening.




This area was just redone last fall. 
Our son in law Justin and his business partner do nice work!

There is a covered finished car port.

Looking at the back yard from the master bedroom balcony.

It's a beautiful property, but man... it's a lot of work to upkeep. We have no ambition to ever own a house again. But, someone will take it on. We have a meeting with a real estate agent next week in preparation for listing next spring.

Another day, I will show you the interior.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dog Bed. Clip the 10% off coupon showing on the product page, then enter code 286TX3SJ at checkout for another 40% off. Code works on all sizes and colors.

And in Canada...



18 comments:

  1. Looking so nice, you sure spruced it up!!!❤️

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Connie, we still have plenty more to do to it though and we are running out of time.

      Delete
  2. "We have no ambition to ever own a house again." Amen to that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We certainly have no regrets selling our house so many years ago and staying here always reminds of us of the time and commitment a house takes!

      Delete
  3. My mom had her barn roof painted (Arnprior area) and it was a steep pitch (sorry, she's since passed away so I can't find out a name) but somebody in that area does it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The pitch isn't the only problem it is the accessibility to the roof from around the house. We had a guy come and look at it and his company does a lot of roofs but he said there was just no way to do it safely and turned down the job. If you do find his name out, let us know and we will call him just in case, thanks!

      Delete
  4. Maybe if you put in an ad on fb marketplace, somebody will know somebody, regarding the roof. Oh yes, the home can be demanding. We will probably stay in this one but I have to tell you, after being away for a month, the weeds just grow little muscles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have called several companies already but it is the accessibility to the roof from around the house that is the problem. We even had one guy who's company paints a lot of roofs come and look it over. He spent half an hour walking around the house trying to figure out how to do it safely and in the end turned the job down. We definitely want someone that is professional and knows what they are doing in order to have the roof done properly.

      Yep a house requires a lot of work and maintenance and on top of that we are having to try to go through all my Dad's stuff and get rid of the junk and all the old paperwork which is very daunting but we are slowly getting through some of it. There is no way we will it all done before we leave if a few weeks though. And don't talk to me about weeds!!! ;-)

      Delete
  5. Beautiful property! Someone will be interested in buying it for sure! Good luck on the work ahead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a beautiful property and I am sure we will have no problem selling it next year.

      Delete
  6. Definitely a beautiful property but as you pointed out lots of work to maintain.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Every time we come to Ottawa and stay in my Dad's house, we are reminded why we don't ever want to own a house again! Definitely lots of work and maintenance to one. We really enjoy our nomad life better. :-)

      Delete
  7. Sounds like you 2 doing a lot of work, it's looking good!Rawn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have been trying to do a lot while we have been here but we know there is still a lot more to be do.

      Delete
  8. It is a beautiful property, especially the yard and gardens. I have no doubt that you will find a delighted buyer. Looking forward to seeing the interior!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a beautiful home for sure and we also have no doubt that someone will snap it up when it eventually hits the market.

      Delete

There are more comments on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TravelwithKevinAndRuth

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.