Good news and bad news...

Not much to post this time related to Dark Secret's progress.

This just in from the Careful What You Wish For Department - it looks like we got the Thomaston, Maine house after all. We expended a great deal of resources back in the spring getting everything together to buy the property before foreclosure. We did our due diligence, inpections, title search, paperwork, financing, etc., etc., but were unable to stop the foreclosure process.

At that point, it went into a big bucket of other properties that needed leg work. We were told that there were dozens of properties in line ahead of it and that it would not get any attention in the forseeable future. We offered to move forward with our purchase, but were told "There are procedures that need to be followed."

With winter setting in, they apparently decided that they are not in the business of owning properties like this, so it was put up for auction. We secured the winning bid and are now anxiously awaiting a January closing date.

The up side is that by waiting out the process we were able to get it for significantly less than the previous price; the down side is that we lost an entire summer that would have served to deal with most, if not all, of the exterior weather-tightness issues. This is not insurmountable, but it means that I'll be up on the roof periodically shovelling out one section between a second-story addition and an original dog house dormer. As you can see in one of the photos, snow, ice, and rain will pile up in there and wreak havoc. That entire section will be re-configured during renovation anyway, but we need to avoid damage to other areas that will be remaining intact.

So there will be dedicated shop space in the barn for all of the tools, projects, parts, lumber, etc., but there is a LOOOOOOOOONG hill to climb before we can occupy the house.

I figure I have about a month to finish Dark Secret's spars, rigging, rudder, hardware, and finishes before I get shut down. There is also stuff to get done on the house in Gloucester (Anyone interested in a Cape Ann two-family?). Strider is, unfortunately, on indefinite hold. No time for cruising, anyway.

Wish us luck. Stay tuned for further developments.