The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

Rarely, very rarely, after swimming through a sea of bad writing, poorly thought-out plots, grandiose but failed visions, and just plain crap, I'll stumble across a book that reminds me of why I really do enjoy science fiction and fantasy, and why I started reading them in the first place.

This is one of them, completely free for the download. If anyone has trouble downloading it for any reason I can host the HTML version.

This is the real thing. Sometimes creepy, sometimes insightful, sometimes downright funny, but always something to make you think, something that makes you reevaluate the world around you. I can't pick a favorite, although Out, Wit! certainly ranks fairly high up there. Ah, the joys of academia...

Highly recommended, and free. What more could you possibly ask for?

While I'm on the subject of books I've been reading lately...

I finished The Poisonwood Bible at somewhere around 1AM this morning (and yes, I had to get up at 5 to go to work). The book isn't the reason I was up so late - it's not necessarily an engrossing and suspenseful page-turner, but I have to recommend it highly nonetheless.

The basic premise is as follows: A Southern Baptist missionary family goes to the Congo in the 1960s to spread the word of God. It's separated into several books, each covering a major portion of the story. The narrative structure is fairly unusual - the first chapter in each book is told from the mother's point of view, set in the present and looking back. Each subsequent chapter is told from the point of view of one of the four daughters as the events unfold. I can safely say that Adah with her warped view of the world and love of poetry and word games was my favorite, while Rachel reminded me far too much of my own sister Rachel. She has more of a voice in the later chapters, which is perhaps why I didn't enjoy them quite as much as the early and middle ones.

I can't quite work out how this book made me feel. Disquieted, certainly. Perhaps uneasy. I'm not entirely sure why. It got off to a slow start, but drew me in relentlessly. Perhaps it's the shadow that Orleanna's chapters throw on the whole narrative, I don't know.

I even forgive this book for being recommended by Oprah.

We've found two home listings that have piqued both mine and Erik's interest. Both on 10 acres, but two totally different houses - one is very close to where I work, and basically needs new innards. Plumbing, drywall, possibly flooring and cabinets. The plus? It's cheap. Damn cheap, for something in a fairly good location on 10.56 acres. Due to an odd twist of fate I also know exactly where it is - It's about a mile from a coworker's house, the same house I went to the week before last to wash my car. Spiffy!

Anyway, it would take very little work for us to get one room and one bathroom livable, which is all I need to start with - the rest of the house can follow. An added benefit of this house is that it has no fewer than three outbuildings - a separate garage, a shed, and a "workshop." This gives us the opportunity to move all our stuff (sans books, those would have to go into air conditioned storage) into the outbuildings, fix up just one room and a bathroom, and move in. The rest of the fixing-up can happen as it happens. We'd have to put the fence up fairly quickly so Spur has a place to stay, but that's not really a big deal - Erik and I have both put up fances before. It's just a lot of work.

The biggest benefit of this is that we'll have a tiny mortgage payment, around what we're currently paying for rent, and by the time we're finished we'll have a sizable amount of equity in the place. Equity++ (provided you're not depending on Equity Fairies as my mother-in-law is).

The other one is in Orange, and adds about 20 miles to both of our commutes - it's finished, on 9 acres, with fenced paddock and pasture, and is all around a nice house. It's a fair bit pricier than the other one, which is another negative. Erik likes it, and we'll take a look at that one as well, but I'm leaning towards cheap.

I don't know at this point how big the King George house is, but it looks at least as large as the Evil House (you pick which), which is all I ask.

Yay! I need to get a good "jubulation" icon. I feel better now despite only three hours of sleep (amusingly, I just typed "hours" as "house") than I have in months.

Being the impatient sort, I went and looked at the house after work today. "Fixer-upper" is a bit of an understatement in this case - I didn't even see any elecrtical wiring - nothing but the studs and piles of...stuff, for lack of a better word, inside. At least one of the basement windows is broken and needs replacing. The stucco on the other three sides of the house needs redoing, the chimney needs to be repaired and stoned up, and there's so much work that would need to be done to make it livable it's not even funny.

But still...I think I want that house. It's small, probably somewhere around 1000 square feet, but there's a basement too, and the garage, and the two HUGE sheds. One of which would probably be converted to a barn, with the other reserved for the punching bag and weight bench.

JD can do the wiring, for pretty much just the cost of the materials. I think we can get Zoli to help us with the drywall and floor, and I can paint. We'll likely have to hire someone to put in the bathroom, which will be the hardest part and biggest expense - my mother estimates around $2,500, and we'll have to do it in cash, but I think we can make this work. I want a house. Desperately.

The yard is huge and gorgeous - most of it cleared, with the back portion still wooded. There's a line of trees in front of the road blocking the house, and the house itself is set a good ways back from the road. It's perfect.

I'm hoping the realtor calls me tomorrow. This house is too good to pass up.

"But it's small"
"But it has a basement, too"
"But it's so small!"
"There's a basement, AND two sheds for storing silly stuff like Erik's old school desk that we can't get rid of that's taking up so much space"
"But it's tiny!"
"But we can put the punching bag and weights in the garage, and a library/office and guest room in the basement"
"...I have to see inside."

Yea. Lusting after this house. Parents are suggesting lowballing the offer by a fairly sizable amount, based on the amount of work we have to do and the fact that the listing's been up for so long. They also suggested renting a trailer to live out of until we get things like running water and a working bathroom in the house. Mother expressed concern about things like cooking, to which I say "HA!" I live off peanut butter sandwiches, cereal, and quesadillas now - it's easy enough to cut the quesadillas out. Cheap food, too - more money to go to supplies like drywall and hardwood floors (possibly the faux variety). Family labor will suffice for the electric, drywall, and flooring. I do the paint and probably the kitchen cabinets. We hire someone to do the plumbing.

Need to find out about when the well was last tested, and what the septic situation is. Those are important, hopefully something I don't have to worry about.

No walls and needing to rewire brings one thing to mind: Gigabit ethernet in every room!

I'm going to have to cheat and keep my camera in my car, in case I get ahold of the realtor and can meet her out there one day after work. Need pictures. My parents are talking about coming with us if we go out this weekend, which would be welcome. Terry = my hero when it comes to housing things that I know nothing about.

(Yes, expect numerous entries obsessing about my house for the indefinite future. Now that I can actually move forward on this I'm getting really, really excited. So many possibilities! Suggestions and comments welcome!)