Catskills - Sullivan County - Ulster County Real Estate -- Catskill Farms Journal

Bryan and Heather pointed out that since I posted my Spring Fever Baby post blog post a week ago, the weather has been terrifically shitty. Touche. This is how far I fall when Lisa and Lucas leave town. Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby, Ms. Debbie's Swiss Roll (i don't even have my maple flavored mini bit frosted mini-wheats represented), just got back from Baker's Tap Room where I chowed 12 wings surrounded by 3 cute country waitresses (also listening to Shelby Lynne 1st one in 1999.)

Now you have to live up here for awhile to appreciate the full meaning of the '3 cute country waitresses'. I mean I'm not from around here, and I don't know if this generalization extends to very rural areas in general, but one does not go around finding '3 cute country waitresses' around every corner up here. I mean, this is the type of place that in the battle of strip joints, one establishment reputes their competitive advantage as 'our girls have teeth'. I've always loved that one for its brutal precision. In a nutshell, the area's natural bounty is not matched by many street corners with '3 cute country waitresses'. Especially here in the middle of NOWHERE, -Eldred NY. And then on my way home from work, I stopped by to talk to our neighbor Theresa - or Tanta, Tantan, or Terry - depending on when you met. She's 70 something.

She's got a new dog, Scampy, after her dog of 15 yrs passed last fall. Theresa has lived here since the late 80's - quietly until Catskill Farms invaded in 2005. Literally, Crawford road is only 2 miles, exactly, long. And now we have 20 homes on the road and 20 nice cars trolling around. You can't see the house from Crawford, but they are still there, hidden away. Now, Harold and Maude-like, this is Lucas' NBF since day one (did I get that symbol right, - I'm trying to say 'new best friend'). So she went from living in the city, moving up to the middle of nowhere by herself, she doesn't drive, has non-100% right arm, to living in the middle of rock stars, broadway music producers, major comedians, an alternative magazine producer, architects, artificial intelligence researchers, creative directors of Levi's, a doctor, a gay guy, a hr pro and me and lisa and lil' Lucas. Talk about 'ruining the neighborhood'. But I don't think she's ever been so happy. She has a pond and each yr her brother visits for a few weeks, and he sits by the pond and nets and hits with a bat catfish from the pond. It's a quixotic effort, since they breed like rabbits.

Cottage 35 is really coming together. It's for sale and quite good-looking. The stone we are cladding the chimney with is excellente, and the first time we used it. Our clients are our biggest asset - they are constantly pushing James and me to experiment and keep it fresh, as well as consistently bring fresh ideas to the table. For instance, the stain on the siding below was tried first by Kelly and Gianni of Cottage 33 fame.

Curtis and Mark, finishing up the day.

Renee our stone mason just getting started, with the break in the weather.

A cabin cottage in the woods twist with a play of paint and stain. The house is less than 1000 sq ft.

Below, Big Ass living, dining and kitchen. From a professional construction site manager, I see a few things. I see if the job site is safe and protected, who has been there, what's in the way, and what is left to be done. For instance, in the picture below (this could be one of those newspaper games), I can pretty much get a pulse of the job - first is the temp inside (hot, cold, propany, windows open, etc...). Note the stand up heater in the middle, off. The sheetrocker left his buckets, the lumber on the ground is probably extra, the hand hewn beams can go back to the ranch (our shop) and are only being damaged by being here. The floor is dirty but well protected with both construction paper and masonite, the kitchen needs to go in, the handrail is incomplete, the electric fixtures, exterior and interior door hardware as well, floor stain, etc... but all in all, a clean, well-protected, safe site. But a great layout, open and roomy.

and then... Old hallelujah sweet jesus sunny day beautiful cottage below (a summer haiku) 4pm, crisp winter day. The sun compliments this house positioning all day long. Sometimes it's that simple - you either get it right or get it wrong.

The Cottage, Cottage 34, lives on 6 acres, on the corner of Wood Oak and Aspen. 2 miles outside of Narrowsburg. It's good.

It's roomy, in a lazy friday early afternoon kind of way.

From the staircase through the fireplace room into the mudroom foyer area.

It's March 24. We are busy, firing efficiently. This might be an extra ordinary type of kind of year. From Shelby Lynne's first, 'I am Shelby Lynne', 1999. Black light blue Heaven's perfect hue the ultimate possession the game you couldn't lose the voice in the corner the song you hardly knew the terrible admission some tragic lonely tune slow the Spanish dancer on a stage

From: http://www.musicbabylon.com

Jubilation risin' on the bayou celebration in the wind Father Pat gives benediction cross the Coden bridge again

Crickets spreadin' rumors by the shoreline with the lonesome lady whine crab trap full of nothin I'm high as the tide, all the time

From: http://www.musicbabylon.com

Black light blue is tearing me in two a mad revelation Shakespeare isn't true the raising of the glasses the falling into sin dying in the desert the loners lonely end in the shifting sand oasis

Black light Blue

I got your message on the phone I hung on every single line you told me what we had was only business hurt me so bad I had to sit down with the sickness oh yeah

Your lies won't leave me alone tore the phone out the wall and it's still ringin' wreck the room and curtains ain't hangin' baby guitar ain't playin'

From: http://www.musicbabylon.com

(Hurts) I'm leavin' (Sad) This time it's for good You should have treated me the way you said you would (Hurts) I'm leavin' (Sad) And you can't make me stay I'm tired of hurtin' you this ain't no good anyway I'm leavin'

I know it's gonna be hard on ya once it really hits you that I'm gone I spent too much time trying to make things right when I really knew all along you'll be O.K. in time baby

That's serious shit - Tom Waits, old school smokey bar ella fitzgerald marvin gaye hot white blond girl type shit. Shelby Lynne, I Am Shelby Lynne. Hi, I'm Smitten.

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After a relentless 12 weeks of snow, ice and cold - then two weeks of rain - yesterday was 55 and today is forecasted to be 60. Nothing like a hard winter to appreciate Spring. No old timer or cliche-inclined person is going to be going around saying 'I remember when winters were tough' type of thing. This was a tough winter. Luckily, I had my new plow-sand truck, and my plow-sand talents. Shack 2 in the House. This house is 500 sq ft and is looking great. It's also for sale.

We used some stain accents, some fun Ikea accents (remind me to tell you about the story of buying too much at Ikea in Philly, then driving home with hardly enough room for me in the car), and a woodstove.

Stainless steel cabinets, white formica top, black faucet.

Sizable bedroom with lots of light and even a view.

Fun bath with a window in the bathtub, round mirror, red cabinet above the toilet, and a modernish vanity and toilet.

And the big bonus at this house is you have a big basement. Most of our houses have basements, but when you are dealing with this type of small house, the future basement space looms large.

I'm not sure why all my recent photos of Farm 15 have unique lighting, but it always adds a funky twist to this cool house that is done done done. And Norm's cleaning 'er up now that the ground is drying out. When we went to dig the foundation, we found a lot of big cool rocks which we use to define the landscaping. Free of charge of course.

And then I was showing off Marcus and Courtney's house on the hill - this house always looks good in the sunlight.

Then we have a few homes to start in the Spring - and I was out there with the Ken from my electric company and Mike from the electric utility company, laying out and engineering the electric infrastructure. Matthew and Sarah's 15 acres of glory in the below pic. They are both City lawyers and have two young children.

And then this 12 acre piece, purchased for Cindy and Bruce, will sport the 1 bedroom 1200 sq ft Barn V. Bruce (a lawyer) and Cindy own a company that is near and dear to me - a real estate tax appeal company, that helps companies and individuals appeal and adjust their real estate taxes.

So, outside the town of Narrowsburg, over the last 15 months, we have introduced a plethora of cool (I was going to joke around 'not talking about you Van', but I thought it would only cause me problems of 'misunderstood humor') people. Talented, skilled diverse professionals. 2 structural engineers. Soho art gallery owner. NY Times fashion writer. 4 Lawyers, all with varied specialties. Commercial interior designer. A 'future planner'. A Dr. of Chemistry. (and please I hope there is no offense taken to other 8 homeowners who I don't know what they do - it's probably better, then I can't stereotype and generalize them and use them as cheap pawns in my 'lovey feeley marketing initiatives). Anyway, it's early, the wife and dog and child and two cats are sleeping, and the sun is shining already and the house is quiet. That's definitely not a bad thing.

Lots of water around after the rain storm and snow melt off. Above is runoff water fall, typically nice but typically not related to Niagara Falls. The Delaware River was bloated as well.

Here I am with Norm, and two new future homeowners, Matthew and Sarah. 15 acres and a Cottage. We tramped around in the rain showers in the woods - funny sight, umbrellas in the woods. I'm sure the locals got a big kick out of us.

Cottage 35 is moving right along and it looks sweeeeeet. It's also for sale $285k 2 beds, 1.5 baths, 5+ acres, screened in porch, wood burning fireplace, front covered porch, full basement, a few miles outside of Narrowsburg.

1st floor shot...

2nd floor shot...

Big bedrooms with wood ceilings.

And then Farm 15 down below. Believe it, this is not a black and white photo - just the coloration of that morning.

CR really brought this one home with some great subtle straight-forward design choices. In the end, trim gets painted black to finish it off.

Just about finished on the inside and had our first final walk thru with the Code Enforcement officer - in the 5 months it took to build this house, the person in that position has changed 3 times, which makes life unpredictable at best. Here we are at the front door, looking through the dining room into the kitchen -

Great kitchen.

Living room.

Through the french doors into the Study.

Powder room.

Upstairs foyer with wainscotting, big windows and a simple rail.

His and Hers, while standing in the shower.

Guest bath below. We should be finishing up and seller 'er off by month's end. Shooting for an April 1 closing date. Can you say 'bringin' another one in for a soft landing."?

And then Awesome Cottage 34. I love this design - we've done it at 1275 sq ft, 960 sq ft, and now pushing 1450 sq ft.

You can see the cleaning ladies' arsenal in the fore. And down below, for the first time on the blog, we present Igor, Town of Tusten Building Inspector. Nice kitchen/dining area with sharp neutral tones.

Most of the extra square footage was gained in the living room and bedrooms.

Rustic post and modern cable rail. Fireplace to the right, and entry and kitchen to the left.

The guest bedroom, with sliding door for Xtra view and light.

Another day, another dollar. Another month, another home sale.

Up above is the immersive quality of the Katrina exhibit in Jackson Square, French Quarter, New Orleans. It's a room where you sit, immersed, in the sounds and 3 screens of the hurricane. The center screen was showing the graphic of the weather map, the left and right the whipping wind of the pre-storm siren. They say it wasn't the hurricane that caused the problem - it was poorly built levees. And then Lucas and me, flying solo late night (7:45pm), Bourbon Street style. Big tall drinks named the 'hand grenade', & the 'hurricane'. Loud, boisterous, with competing wedding bands sounding from all open air establishments.

Our favorite breakfast joint - Camilla's - on the corner of Chatres and something or another. It's one of things that has rubbed off on Lisa - I'm a man of habit, and I like sticking with something I like, so we ended up eating here like 5 times for breakfast. The guys behind the counter really got a kick out of us for some reason (lisa said it was because I wore tube socks with my plaid shorts and sneakers). (Check out the tattooed chick in the fore - the young woman who made my 11am tall boy pina colada actually had a note on her tip jar - "Tattoo fund". She looked like a lot of fun).

The 10th Street Bridge in the early morning fog.

And Lisa coolin' it after Lucas retired for the evening. We had a great room, actually 2 rooms - actually, with the living room, bedroom, and two nice baths, it was actually 4 rooms. The windows looked out over the French Quarter and we couldn't get that fan to stop spinning for the first 3 days.

The thing that makes New Orleans appealing is it seems to be a layered city that no matter how well you know it, it is waiting to revel more. The courtyards and alley ways just one example of the things you don't see from the regular street walking.

Oh boy, the Roosevelt. What a hotel. Just across the street from us, it was old school perfect having seen it's heyday in the 20's, 30's and 40's, and 50's, falling into disrepair, having it's name changed, being damaged and flooded and then having a $170m post-Katrina spruce up back to it's perfect period self. They say Huey Long, the long time govner of Louisiana used the Hotel for a lot of his romps and escapades in the day. If you looked hard enough, you could see the Flappers flirting with the jazz boys.

Here's Lucas feelin' it, communicating with his dinosaurs about life's trials and tribulations, and how you have to stay strong and see it through and not let rejection get you down.

One of the lobby at the Pere Marquette on Commons Street. They did a good job.

I was pretty active - I mean I run 3 businesses and raise a family and have a bunch of employees so I stay pretty busy most times - so on vacation I'm a pretty active guy. We went to the zoo, the aquarium, the insectaturium, the IMAX, did a river boat trip, walked liked 40 miles through the city when you added it all up and I rented a bicycle for 3 days so I could cover some ground while the troops napped and leisured away the afternoon. The below pictured shack pretty much sums up New Orleans with the mangy short legged dog out front.

And this is the damn draw bridge that started going up while I was frickin' on it. "Tourist crushed by draw bridge' headline has run through my mind ever since. This bridge bridged the canal that ruptured and overflow first during Katrina, and on the other side, the 9th ward and beyond, were stories after story, being narrated less by words than by structures and visuals.

So I'm cruising along on my bike which I rented at 'rentthisbike', checking my bike out at the same time that Beyonce's sister was checking out her rental bike (lisa still doesn't believe me even though I double dog swore it true). It was a non-descript 3 speed with a seat too small for my ass but it was fine until it blew a tire 6 miles from town, in the heart of the seedy 9th ward with empty houses and the levee just a stone's throw away. So for some dumb reason I get a flat right in front of Roy and Shannon who were fixing up Roy's mom's house that was damaged in the hurricane 6 yrs ago - so they were super nice and Shannon actually had a tire pump that plugged into the lighter of his jalopy pickup. So he got the pump out, and filled an empty bottle of gatorade with soapy water to help me find the leak - which I found when the bubbly water squirted me in the eye. And here is where it get interesting...

So I'm riding my sissy bike around in a pretty deserted 9th Ward, with lot of abandoned homes around and not much activity when i spring a flat. So I'm farting around the plug-in, loud miniature air pump this guy Shannon carries around. he carries it around because he says after Katrina there was so much shit and broken bottles and nails etc... that he kept getting flat tires. Like I said, he's in the hood because he's helping Roy fix up his Mother's double shotgun style house, to the left in the above photo - it's the same house Roy grew up in. I guess the loud tire pump contraption that plugs into the cigarette lighter (lucky he didn't have a new car) caught the attention of the owner of the shotgun cottage on the right - so this young hip guy with a teeny baby pokes his head out and asks if I need a bike pump, which I do, which he has. We talk and turns out he and his wife bought a ramshackle flooded double shotgun cottage on the right, renovated it, and now live there full-time - interesting since it's a bit isolated - definitely houses around, but not a lot of people or cars. I peeked inside when he left the door open to get the pump and it was pretty macked out. Roy, below, was a pretty big talker in a slow big easy way, and he starts going on about the neighborhood, Katrina, his Ma, etc... I'm not a big small talk guy, but I got an hour + to kill until my replacement bike arrives, so we shoot the shit a bit. So his Mom got flooded, moved out 6 years ago. Received a lot of aid, had good insurance and hired her son to fix up the house - she came out $120k ahead, money in her pocket, post-flood.

Roy's house down the road was flooded as well, and on top of that an oil company's inland oil tank had tipped over during the storm contaminating like a sq mile or more, and Roy's house was in this contamination zone. He had flood insurance, there were gov't grants, and the oil company made some contributions due to their negligence. He retired from the glazier company he worked at and now travels the country in a camper going to destinations like Yosemite and Yellowstone and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's not like he and his Mother are now rich - they just were always poor before and now they have a $100k or 2. That goes a long way when your house was paid off 30 years ago and you like living in a camper half the year.

The below picture are the cabinets that his Dad made back in the day. I didn't realize it but the lower 9th Ward where I know was stranded was, back in the days before Katrina, the most dangerous area in a violent city.

and then you have the attics where so many residents fled to as the water was rising. Living in the attic, then cutting a hole in the roof if you had something to cut with. Otherwise, it's like the book I'm reading currently - "1 Dead in the Attic'. You can kind of get a feeling of the terror of rising water and high winds by looking at this attic.

Then off the new modern homes sprinkling the landscape (I can't use the word 'sprinkles', or any derivative thereof without thinking of my wife's mom, who drinks a fresca and vodka mix she calls a "Sprinkler". I got it wrong on the previous post - it's not the 'hope' homes - they are part of a project named "Make it Right" - and they intend to build 150 of these modern flights of fancy.

I had never been to New Orleans before so I couldn't quite place what was wrong with this place until I realized that all the trees were missing. The New Orleans used to be a place of trees, and they are gone so the landscape has a real feeling of barren-ness. Over on this side of the St. Claude's Avenue, a lot of the ruined houses have been bulldozed over which may have eliminated the abandoned cottage look, but inspired a sort of barren wasteland look.

Life goes on...

Back in the French Quarter, some 1800's architecture. Between riding my bike and walking, I literally - no exaggeration - visited every single street in the French Quarter - I noted a lot of "Oriental Spas" tucked away on the side avenues. Most alleyways and courtyards were protected not just with gates, but sharp pickets and barbed wire, probably to keep the rowdies of Bourbon Street out.

It won't be supereasy to encapsulate this southern sojourn of ours to New Orleans (I'm now a big fan of WWOZ, an New Orleans public radio station). The pictures do the heavy lifting but the narrative has been craftily meandering through my mind, like the Mississippi around the Crescent City of New Orleans, named for the sharp half moon twist of the river around the city. Nawlins has dealt Lisa Lucas and I a fairly fabulous hand of easy travel. Having spent the last few years scratching an archived itch to tour the South, we've since seen Key West, Charleston, Virginia, Beaufort, Augusta and Atlanta. Now a real fundamental city of the South, New Orleans. A few adjectives quickly come to mind as I sit in the fabulous 1920's bar of the Roosevelt. Seriously, this bar is upscale old school, and I'm diggin it bigtime - New Orleans is busy, both touristy busy and from the river barges and freight trains crowing and sailing by; historic, with period architecture everywhere - French, Spanish, American, Creole, Vietnamese; struggling, or perhaps it always has been, since struggle promotes art and New Orleans is art; bohemic, with dirty poor good looking street singers and musicians; loud; quiet; flooded; rebuilt. In sum, extravagant, in a very non-bourgeois, courtney love kind of way. Heard a woman to her her 11 yr old son, on the corner of Chatres and Ann - "If ya don't behave, I'ma gonna beat ja like ja stole sompen'" I loved that - like preventing stealing something is the first defense in the quixotic urban motherhood quest.

Not to digress, but one of our successes at Catskill Farms is our ability to create architecture that - for lack of a better word - emotes. Our new homes, or our renovations, speak, sweat and give back an emotion. For me, architecture and neighborhoods of history, old libraries, poor working class neighborhoods, and jazz era bars do it for me - I feel them. They - through walking or biking osmosis - teach and inform me. That's architecture.

I'm sure modern architecture, clean lines and museums do it for some, but for me - if I indulge the abefore-mentioned - I come out with a refreshed sense of color, depth and appreciation. That's architecture. Sitting in the Sazerac, the Roosevelt Bar off Canal, the perfect 1920's hotel, - the Roosevelt, sparkling after a $170m renovation, post-katrina. It was long gone before Katrina, but I guess the storm reduced it's long gloried history to a cheap enough price where the Waldorf Astoria got interested and the rest is history - and a celebration of history - they say Huey Long the long time govner loved the place (and his pretty mistress) enough to fund and build a very nice highway from the capital Baton Rouge straight to New Orleans. The Martini before that was swallowed whole at the Napoleon house, a 1792 structure built as a wet dream refuge for Napoleon during exile (he never made it there ) - right before that I was at a park along the River along the French Quarter, letting Lucas run wild;

...after picking up a big bag of clothes for Lisa from Anthropology; after going to the Insectaturium (note no pics, due to memory card left at Hotel), where beetles, bugs, roaches and butterflies enthralled us for 50 minutes; after Lisa took the trolley to Whole Foods up by Tulane. I rented a bike where the levee broke. There's Lucas in the Park with a Saxophone and some homeless guys. You got to be careful in New Orleans cause it's the type of city where people don't clean up after their dogs. He could easily come back with a big turd in his hand. It's the kind of city where men, in broad daylight, explicitly describe what they would sexually do to a passing woman.

And brunch off of Magazine Street...

...and a Harley convention at the Spanish Inn.

The old-time St. Charles Street trolley....

Lucas, Lisa (far corner) and I out on Bourbon Street late night (7:30) (yes, I know I've used that lame joke before - but it's a good one I think ).

The Penquin skeleton.

And above, what I pictured my office like in my absence.