The snow is finally gone. There was a little mound of snow in front of the front door as little as two weeks ago. The grass is beginning to pop out and turn green. The birch trees turned green with leaves a couple of weeks ago, too. They go from bare to green overnight on one particular day. It is greening up day. Kate told me the day it would happen. The trees turned green for them one day before they popped here.
Mother's Day weekend, I had asked Rob and Kate to take me on a tour of the houses. These were the homes that they had looked at during the house search for my new home. We had talked about it before COVID interfered. Last summer we were mostly in lockdown. We did not get together much at all during the summer and when we did it was quick in and out visits.
Rob and Kate were in town for several events. I had hoped to spend Mother's Day doing the drive around, but Kate thought it better to tack it on at the end of their long day, so that is what we did. Rob did not have a chance to make a plan for which houses to look at, but we managed to hit some of the ones that we had liked and that we considered seriously, so I was happy. I am still hoping that we can make another trip or two to see others. These were all in and around the center of Fairbanks and out to the area where I did end up living.
The first home we drove to was the split foyer house that they had put a bid on. This is the one that they backed out of the contract once the Inspection was complete. I had my camera with me, but the new owners were sitting outside in the driveway and I did not even attempt to take pictures.
This is one of several 2-story houses that they checked out. Rob had started the search trying to find a single-story home so I would not have to deal with steps. We will see a couple of these in the other photos.
This house that they finally bought is going to be the house that they move into when enough time passes (they have a timeline in mind) or when health issues might dictate a move earlier. So the house had to be large enough to accommodate my craft and fabric stash as well as my Happy embroidery machine. In addition, it had to be suited for all three of us to be under the same roof without being in each other's way. The house above was one of the first 2-story homes they investigated. It did not make the cut!!
This is the only house that was actually located in downtown Fairbanks. This house was the biggest one by square feet. It was also the most interesting. Rob liked it because it had solar panels so the cost to run the house would have been less. The house was big enough that we could have lived in it... all of us... and would never have crossed paths for days. This house had nooks and crannies, stairs, and odd rooms in different places. The lower floor that you see in the stone was a section of the house that could have been an office and a storefront. It was accessed by going through the garage from the main house. The master bedroom was on the top floor. It was huge. There was a small kitchen-like area, a glassed-in porch where there would be lots of room for sewing machines and light to make sewing easy. There were a couple of other bedrooms. The kitchen had been redone and the living room had lots and lots of places to have books. I think this house had started as something smaller and over the years had additions added. It was unique and I thought it would have been an interesting place to live. It did not sell until after we had settled on the current house, so it was always on my list.
A view at the other side. It was a corner lot but there was no yard for the dogs. And the steps would have been difficult for Winston. The dogs could have gotten lost in this house easily.
The light-colored house is one side of a duplex that the Realtor thought we might like. It was on one of the sloughs so it was considered waterfront. The unit they looked at was on the other side of the trees. There was a fenced-in yard but I could see the dogs getting into trouble all of the time because of the water.
This is another duplex that was on our list. The entire inside had been redecorated and it was lovely. There was a loft. The great room could have held sewing and maybe the quilt frame, but not Happy. We have no idea why there was a dividing beam on the roof. The yard would have worked for the dogs. But there was just something that did not suit us, so we kept looking. I think this may have been the last one where we concentrated on single-story homes.
There are still some other ones that I want to see. An A-frame that I liked but Rob thought it was too remote as well as others. So there should be another drive around later during the summer. But based on what I saw, I think that this house that I am now in was the perfect fit!!!
