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original introductory entry, 2003
my name is kaite and i have just returned from a two year stint
in savannah, georgia, one of the most horribly crime-ridden ghettos of the deep south, where the husband (senor) and i restored
two old houses: one tiny victorian from the turn of the century and an enourmous 1920s neoclassical monstrosity. for
periods of time we lived without: running water, electricity, toilets, an oven, air conditioning or heat. we bathed
in a clawfoot bathtub on the back porch and did our laundry in an old 1946 maytag washing machine. we learned how to
rebuild pier and beam foundations from underneath the house, repair old lathe and plaster walls, tar and re-silver
a tin roof, run plumbing, refinish old wood floors, reconstruct porches, and a myriad of other things that i never thought
i would get roped into several years ago when i said, "hey lets move across the country and fix up an old house."
and in all honesty, through all the trauma, filth, sweat, blood,
and moments of confused desperation, i cannot think of any other way i would want to live my life. but i'd much rather
be doing it in texas. and so we packed up our masses of antiques and decrepit oddities and loaded as much as we could
into a 26 foot moving van in the pouring rain until 11 at night; what didn't fit we had to leave for the taking.
we slept for 4 last hours in the house that we spent almost 2 years rebuilding, empty and hollow feeling.
at 3 AM we shoved our mattress into what little space was left in the back of the moving van, loaded 6 cats and 2 chickens
into my pickup truck, the dogs in the van, and headed out west for the longest 22 hour drive of my life.
and so now we're here. where we grew up. where our
families and friends reside. in an old victorian house that is neither too small, nor too large, with high ceilings,
tall windows, and a generous plot of land that we imagine will be a perfect spot for weddings, plenty of room for the chickens
and dogs, the site of a future garden, and above all, the place we will call home for a very, very long time.
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