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

There is nothing worse than writing 3/4 of a genius blog post only to have it mysteriously disappear like it did last night- I mean, I'm on my 4th year of blogging - over 450 insightful, intelligent, witty, cutting-edge posts. It has only happened to me a few times but boy does it smart when it happens - one minute it's there, the next second it's gone, gone gone. I mean, posting takes some time - you got your pics to organize, upload, story to tell, story to write, flourishes to conjure. So anyway, I'm over it and up above is a photo from the archives I came across. It's on Lucas' first birthday party, where I arrived with a new Lab puppy I picked up at an Amish farm on the way down to my Dad's, where the party was taking place. And down below is Lucas at the aquarium.

...and Lucas on the shores of the Mississippi, curving around the City of New Orleans...

...and then this picture below that doesn't exist is of Lucas and family at the Insectaturium (or Bug Museum) because I went around snapping photos with a camera whose memory card was left behind in the computer in the hotel room. (non-existent photo slot) I came home, and I conquered, with a good weekend of $1,150,000 of sales signed up - a great renovation on a a lake for Scott and Erica, an awesome Barn house on 12 acres (and lake rights) for Bruce and Cindy, and a Mac-Daddy Cottage/Cabin on 15 with lake rights for Matthew, Sarah and children. Now all we have to do is reel Daisy and Mike in with some tempting offerings, and Gabriel who has been lurking around Cottage 29 and we are really rolling. And it's only February 28. Here's Cottage 35, coming along nicely with the exterior siding up and a lot of the interior taking shape. This house is for sale for $285,000, sits on 5+ acres a few miles outside of Narrowsburg, has 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, full basement and a lot of cool details like a wood burning fireplace and super open floor plan. Should be good.

The first floor, below.

One of the bedrooms...

And the Shack - will be interesting to see who buys this little piece of glory - 500 sq ft with a lot of big sky.

We did a little IKEA in this one, playing with cool norwegian lights, kitchens, vanities and toilets. It's going to be a great getaway for someone, with a woodstove that will heat the place easily (and if not, it's fully equipped with a heating system).

I like the above the toilet cabinet, with a "C" for Chuck, or Catskill Farms.

The bedroom is nothing to sneeze at, with big windows and plenty of space for 2 (or 3 if you swing that way - just kidding, this is a clean act around here and we don't stand for stuff like that in our homes.).

Farm 15 motored right along in my absence, and we are getting the water tested for potability and applying for the certificate of occupancy before too long.

Here's the mudroom, cat area, closet area, 1/2 bath area that should come in real handy.

A shot looking through the house, into the study.

And ol' Cottage 34, turning that final bend in conjunction with Farm 15 - bringing 'er home for Bryan and Heather. In another stupid twist of fate, I can't find the newest pics of this house that I snapped over the weekend.

Well, as you can see, I got a bit of 'vacation brain' still going on, losing shit, erasing shit, forgetting shit - but I'm sure it won't take long to morph back to the Gladiator pose I prefer, kicking some serious real estate butt and building the best the little houses this side of the Mississippi.

I can't go into much detail cause the wife is on me to 'get going' and Lucas keeps playing with the greasy chain on my rented bicycle and then touching himself and everything else with his greasy hands. But I did want to post, since we are digging the Big Easy, for sure. Today we have the Aquarium, City Park and Imax, then Lisa I have a big date on Frenchmen Street tonight, a little off the beaten path where hopefully the music and food we seek shall be found. I rented a bicycle - more on that later - and cruised the city areas hit by the flood. 250,000 homes had water in them. Some, like the ones above and below haven't seen their owners since - whole blocks of deserted homes, overgrown grass, with the haunted symbols of search on the front of the homes - That's the levy that breached on the right, car fenders and mattresses in the fore.

Here's a rickety drawbridge that crosses the canal that breached - Mississippi in the distance.

A 'double shotgun' cottage, with separate residences on the right and left. Called shotgun cottages cause you could shoot a shotgun from the back to the front, a design intended to skirt the real estate tax laws that said any room with a hall was not a separate room, and taxes were formulated from the number of rooms. Funny how no one ever has liked paying real estate taxes, or I guess taxes, period.

A house in the middle of the block, nearly deconstructed.

The house front symbols of search and rescue, 5 years ago.

And then some new homes - these modern homes were super cool, kind of placed in the midst of the abandoned chaos of destruction. They looked brand new - with multiple colors and simple modernist twists of architecture.

I mean, even the grass is green and manicured, which was not common from what I saw in the 9th Ward - and right behind it, and abandoned overgrown field.

And then on the other side of the Clairborne Highway stood the Hope Homes, which is somehow funded or directed by Brad Pitt and his organization. What struck me about these homes was not just the style, or the fact that they were there, but the simple act of bulldozing all the abandoned decrepit homes made a big sky difference - the clutter of debris and broken homes littered the streets and avenues elsewhere.

It's amazing to me these trees still stand - I mean, they had 25' of water and 100 mph winds - the saying should not be 'strong like bull', it should be 'strong like tree'. Life continues as the post man passes. There was a lot of construction in this 8 sq block area, mostly these modern Hope homes, but like much positive economic activity, it propelled and motivated other homesteaders.

I haven't reached this project yet, but I think the homes are intended to go to the original inhabitants, or ones like those. Obviously there is some money behind the project because the buzz of construction was steady, organized and even the yards were finished prettily.

It's funny that even these homes 8' of the ground would have been flooded -

The River to the Right, the new homes to the left.

I covered a lot of turf on my 3 speed girlie rent-a-bike, got a flat tire, met some homesteaders, talked to a guy who was just finishing renovating his mother's home that was flooded in the storm, saw a funeral procession for one of 6 men/boys murdered over the weekend, and had a martini at the Napoleon House, built as a refuge for Napoleon after he was exiled from leadership- A lot of history for sure.

(this post - live, from Commons Street, New Orleans, day 1 of 8 days of pre-Mardi Gras bayou fun)

The above picture is of the Catskill Farms founder, also the owner of this blog - sporting a 3 month old beard, an expensive shirt whose top neck button won't close, and some suspenders brought out from the back of the closet. Luiz Aragon, the Sullivan County Planning Director, invited Lisa and I to join him for the Boy and Girls club fundraiser. Mr Aragon is also the owner of a new tasteful art gallery in Barryville, NY. He renovated an old barn, used our spray foam company - which leads into a funny story about his first opening on a chilly November evening, - he had cranked to cool modern wood stove, and more or less had the whole space cooking at 85 degrees due to the fact that the insulation don't mess around. It keeps in the heat. My 41st birthday pass this past Sunday and Lisa threw me a casual surprise birthday weekend with my friends and my family. Below is Zach and Gina who took time out of their busy schedule to spend the weekend. Zach's one of my oldest friends from my NYC days (actually nights).

Up above is Lucas' line up of boots, monster trucks and dinosaurs. Below is a closeup of me doing my best Paul Krugman.

Dinner on Saturday night was attended by an intimate 6, plus Lisa and me. It was held at our home on Crawford Road.

Not only did the evening end with my favorite carrot cake, but the lettering was thinly sliced carrot as well. Very clever, Gina.

But, since I was nearing the end of my tolerance for the beard, I brought out the fu mung cho for the dinner party, leaving me looking like a cross between Freddy Mercury and the guy who lives down the street.

The next day we really lounged it and no one lounges better than Lucas - here he is waking up from a 3 hour big time Sunday afternoon nap.

Zach feeling the Sunday groove as well.

And some parting shots of our son, who is growing up quickly -

Below, A Coffee Table Still Life.

Jake has now crossed 100 lbs, naked.

A view from the TV room, out in the windows and into the pond.

More travel posts shortly.

Here's a quick tip - if you have a low heat alarm in your country getaway, DO NOT list your wife's best friend Amy as the emergency contact and then go on vacation(and be out of contact) for a week while your alarm keeps going off and she keeps getting calls day and night from the alarm company alerting her of the situation. Trust me, it's a quick way to really annoy someone as their phone rings 4 different times in the middle of the night.