Good News From The Adirondack Mountains!!!

where my heart lives

Well, big news! If you have been following me all these years, you know that there is a box in my brain labelled,"Fretting About My Parents' Adirondack Camp." It's a long label, but it was a big brain box. My parents bought this hunting cabin in 1983, no central heating or running water. When I was a child I spent at least one weekend a month there all year round. As I grew, my parents' interests went in different directions, and the house has fallen into disrepair. Basically, they fixed it up really cute and cosy in 1983, and haven't touched a thing since. Now, 27 years later, just about everything in the house needs to be replaced.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I made the five hour trip up there with my family. I took a look at the house. All I could see was decay, and I didn't even know where to start. I was so mad that my parents didn't seem to care! The truth is, they didn't know what to do, either. They debated selling the place. They thought they might add on, but if they were going to do construction, they didn't want to move anything in the house that would later be torn out. The situation seemed to be in stalemate.

When I was a toddler, my mother hung white contact paper up in the outhouse, and all of us kids and all of our visitors drew pictures and left messages on the walls. Now, the drywall had molded and rotted, and the paper was cracked and faded. There was almost nothing to save. I sat in the doorway of the outhouse last weekend, and let the tears flow down.

I drove the hour to the big hardware store, and bought new wallboard and contact paper. I took photos of all the doodles that were still visible. I got a crowbar and tore the disgusting drywall out. Wet leaves had rested against the wood, and the farther down I went, the more decay I found. I pulled out old nails with a hammer. I cut new wallboard and hung new contact paper where I could.

I got a rake and started raking. I cleaned out around the firepit. I weeded the stairs and the flowerbeds. I found a packet of wildflower seeds and sprinkled them. Over the years, the tree had absorbed the pulley for the clothesline, so I ran to town and got new pulleys and line. I climbed up the ladder and put up a new clothesline.

In the house, I cleaned out the medicine cabinet, throwing out bottles marked 1985. I bought a new welcome mat, and laid it down. While I was doing all this, my parents' had a guy come and look at the house. He looked at the foundation, and the pipe of the woodstove (not up to code!). My parents deliberated and decided to add a second story loft to the house,with a folding up staircase, and expand the deck space.

We are not selling! We are building on!

 Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!

Man, I can not describe the RELIEF I feel. I don't care, really, if they add on or not, but watching the house fall down was ripping my heart out. I hope that the new project will renew their interest in the space, and they will remember why they fell in love with it in the first place. The whole family was so happy. My mother's dream has always been to expand. My father didn't want to ruin the original integrity of the house by adding water and heat. I just wanted the house to get some attention, and now we all have our way!

Meanwhile, the girls got plenty of time to play on the beach of the lake. My husband and I got a lot of time walking around town, holding hands and eating icecream. My older daughter said,"I am the most happy here! I am off of the charts of happiness when I am here!" I am so grateful that I can give my girls that, as my parents did for me. My husband seems to be falling in love with the place just as much as I am. He's no natural mountain man, but he has discovered a passion for campfires and chopping wood.

Now that I know that the house is saved, I'm not satiated. I want to live there. :)