STILL SETTLING IN

It's been six months now since we sold our home of 27 years and moved into a townhouse. While we have made considerable progress, we are still not entirely settled in. Clearly we misjudged the difference in space from the old house to the new townhouse. We also underestimated the amount of work needed to be done.

The old house was certainly not a mansion or even huge. It was about 2100 square feet. We also had a full basement and a two car garage. We bought the house in 1986 from my wife's mother. My wife had lived in the house for 47 years so I expected that the move might be hard on her. I was wrong. We both love the new place and the lack of maintenance. However, the new place is only 1400 square feet but that is still a third smaller as the old house. Even though we downsized quite a bit, it wasn't enough. The basement is also smaller and even though we have a two car garage, it is a smaller two car garage. My bad.

Living in a townhouse, much of our outdoor maintenance is taken care of through our association fees. I certainly don't miss shoveling snow and raking leaves. Our driveway was about a 150 feet long. We also had the beautiful old oaks that were over 200 years old on the property and it took about 75 bags each year to bag the  leaves. I do miss the garden and mowing the lawn, which I found to be therapeutic. I also loved the English Tudor style. I am often asked why we sold. Well, the kids are gone and there is only the two of us now and who knew we needed all that space. But, the biggest reason was the property taxes. We paid over $10,000 a year on property taxes and if I were to ever to retire, we could no longer afford those taxes. Our taxes now are about a third of that. Quite a difference. It is criminal what we pay out in property taxes, most of which go to the schools, and certainly isn't a fair formula.

We still have some projects remaining at the new place. Next up will be finishing the basement. That will make a big difference in our lives and enable us to finally fully unpack. Next will be adding ladder/stairs to the attic. This was a surprise. We have substantial usable space in the attic and it has electrical and lighting up there. We need to add the pull down stairs/ladder for access and put a floor up there and we are good to go. Perfect space for storage which we need. This summer we will continue putting hardwood floor in the house. We put hardwood floors or ceramic tile throughout the downstairs right after we moved in. Next we will do the stairs going up to the second floor. That should make a difference. Doing the upstairs will be more problematic because we have everything in place and would have to move it to put in the floor and it requires about two weeks for the entire process. We have no where to store this stuff for such a long period of time. We may have to do it piece meal.

This post is a little different than what I usually write but I hope you find it amusing nonetheless.

Answer To Brain Teaser

The previous post presented the problem of the "clever cook". Now, I will give you the answer.

Pour the five-ounce  container full from the jug. Pour the three-ounce container full from the five-ounce container, leaving two ounces in the five-ounce container. Pour the three-ounce container back into the jug. Then pour the two ounces remaining in the five-ounce container into the three-ounce container. Pour the five-ounce container full from the jug. Fill the remaining one ounce of the three-ounce container from the five-ounce container leaving four ounces in the five-ounce container.

Pretty clever. Did you figure it out? Hopefully, you enjoyed this little exercise and maybe I'll do it again.

A LITTLE BRAIN TEASER

Today, let's do something completely different. Jim Fixx was the author of "The Complete Book of Running" which helped start the running/jogging craze. Unfortunately he did of a heart attack at age 52. Jim Fixx was not only an exercise advocate, he was also a very smart individual. He was a member of Mensa which is the club for high IQ individuals. Along those lines, he also wrote a book titled "Games For The Super-intelligent" which was published by Doubleday in 1972. The book is full of all kinds of games and puzzles that will have you scratching your head for hours. Today, I want to pose one of those problems for you. I will give you the answer in the next post so no looking and good luck.

Case Of The Clever Cook

A camp cook wants to measure four ounces of vinegar out of a jug, but he only has a five-ounce and a three-ounce container. How can he do it?

Seems simple doesn't it. Have at it.