Yesterday we drove into the city to have lunch with my mom.
She just turned 86 a few weeks ago and she's doing really well. She lives in her own apartment in a seniors building and enjoys the various clubs and group get togethers that the facility offers. Her mother lived to age 98, so with those good genes, I expect that she will be enjoying life for quite a while yet! She was saying that her friends think it's amazing that she doesn't take any medication at all. She does take quite a few dietary supplements and vitamins, but that's it.
We had a good visit, and then it was back to the house to do some more work.
This is the house.
The house was built around 1895. Ruth's parents moved here in 1966. Then in 1984 her dad completely renovated the house and built a big addition on the back. It really hasn't had a lot of work done since then, although it's still in pretty good shape overall. Our son in law Justin and his work partner just completed redoing the front porch and the back deck.
The front porch faces the main road which overlooks the river...
The view from the front porch.
He also built three out buildings in the back. There is a big insulated heated garage/workshop, a big garden shed, and a smaller tool shed.
The house has a steel roof that will last for a long time yet. It's structurally sound and there are no leaks, but the paint is peeling and it doesn't look the best. We are going to leave that for the new owners to look after if they wish to. Otherwise, we just have some paint work in the basement to do, and some cleaning.
Dinner on the back deck with Ruth's brother Colin and his son Matthew.
This is going to be a busy week. We have to meet with the couple we will be house sitting for and see the house and the cats that we will be looking after. Our son and his girlfriend are coming to visit on Wednesday. Ruth's sister and her family will be coming up this weekend. It's been years since her side of the family and their offspring have all been together at the same time. Then a big family get together next Sunday, and a memorial graveside service for her father a week from today.
And the auction and all the work that goes along with it in between! So we better get to it!
Here is the listing for the auction... http://www.prestoncull.com/august-21-2021.html
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Good deal on this Countertop Ice Maker. Not often you can get one in the $80 price range.
And in Canada...
Great deal on this Samsung Galaxy Tablet.
Man, I hope their auction skills are better than their auction pictures....
ReplyDeleteLol, I am sure that they are! He is a busy man and there are a lot of things to take pictures of but at least people will get a gist of the items that are available.
DeleteIf it's anything like the auction we held for mom & dad, be prepared to see a sofa and loveseat go for $4, beautiful corner table, solid wood $12. Ask if the auction company will let you put reserve prices on some items. Might do better with craigslist or other local avenue ahead of time for some items. The problem with ours was not enough advertising and not enough people. I would put a sign up now announcing the date & time.
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to put a reserve bid on things at the auction, if you find something going to low then you just bid on it yourself, if it doesn't go higher and you think that you can sell it for more then you just buy it and turn around and sell it after the fact. You can't sell the big items before an auction otherwise you won't get the people to the auction. The whole idea behind the auction was to get rid of as much stuff as possible all at one time. We have been doing a ton of advertising and we think that the woodworking shop with all the equipment will be a huge draw plus a lot of the antique stuff will bring people in as well, we may not get a lot for the stuff but at least we rid of a lot of it, or at least we hope that we will.
DeleteWe will put up a sign out in front of the house though, letting everyone who drives by know that there is an auction on Saturday. Thank you for the suggestion.
Forgot to wish you good luck with your auction. Looks like you are making good progress. During our auction, the auctioneer found a Crown Royal bag with 80+ Susan B. Anthony Gold dollars from their 50th anniversary inside the box with the meat slicer. Also we needed to get rid of it all fast. Closing was coming.
DeleteGood for you Kevin for selling it yourself. What's the % RE agents in Canada get these days?
Thank you very much for the good luck wishes, our fingers are crossed that it will all go well. We have been told that our auctioneer is really good and works hard at getting rid of as much as he can.
DeleteWow, that must have been a real shocker finding those coins, I don't think we will come across anything like that. I think we got rid of his stash of collectors coins when we were here last year. I remember it taking us a while to go through them all and then taking them to a coin collector, same with any of their valuable jewellery. Did the coins go up for auction or did you take them to a coin collector as well?
On average they get 5% on the sale unless you are able to make some kind of deal with them.
The coins were only worth a dollar so Mom told us to split them between us. It was our pay for the all the work we did. :)
DeleteAh, ok so not worth more than their face value. We thought when you said gold dollar that they were worth a lot more.
DeleteSorry to keep this going. I was wrong they were Sacagawea dollars. Gold finish. Now worth almost 5 bucks each.
DeleteThere are so many interesting things in that beautiful house and garden. It must be a success!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, A.
Yes, there are many beautiful things in the house but there is also a lot of stuff that is junk, at least in our opinion. It will be interesting to see how the auction goes.
DeleteIt will be sad when everything thing is gone and we walk away from the house. We have had some wonderful memories here over all these years.
Kevin, your mother sounds just like mine! Mine is also 86 (87 this Nov.) and takes only a tiny thyroid pill + supplements. Her parents lived to 94 and 96, and she had two grandmothers who lived well into their 90s, so she obviously inherited those genes, and I hope I did too. I wish you all the best with the auction!
ReplyDeleteYes, it definitely sounds like they are very much the same. Kevin's grandmother had three sisters, two died in their 60's and his grandmother and other sister both lived to 98 and 99, so hopefully those are the genes that Kevin has as well.
DeleteThanks Emily, we are hoping it goes well too. We aren't so worried about how much money we make but rather how much of the stuff we can get rid of. :-)