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

We are just starting to build a house in a little 'community' outside of Barryville. The house will be 1300 sq ft, big open loft, big fireplace 2 bedrooms, 6+ acres, and a glorious pond view. Here's what we saw on the way in the other day - a Hawk and her friend, the Bald Eagle.

And another pic of my new company truck with James exiting Left. I look like a real builder with this truck even though I really don't do a whole lot of nail hammerin'.

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so me and lisa and lucas and my dad and his wife alta who were in town from lancaster pa in order to visit with our new son went to narrowsburg ny to 15 main for some dinner last night and i went to the local art gallery with luke to check out what's new and lo and behold an expensive framed photograph that i purchased a few months back for what could only be seen as some real coin was sitting right there, in the same frame, the same photo - like someone said, hey that worked, let's do the exact same thing, lessening my perception of what I purchased. not that i really care, but it makes me realize what makes our homes so special - we are not lazy, and we rage against the 'easy way' and reinvent our design techniques and materials on every single house. nothing is harder than building a different house every time we build one - much easier to imitate ourselves, to repeat ourselves, to pretend we value the artistic achievement born from each collaboration from catskill farms and the individual owners. how much easier it would be to just order 2 of those faucets, one for this house, and then we could just go ahead and use the other one for the next house. it's just comes down to respect - i respect the fact that uniqueness and originality, while arduous and not risk free - produces the product that has made us what we are, warts and all. it's a principle that is readily evident to anyone who knows our homes and efforts. the hardwork associated with keeping it real obviously has value - since even in these difficult times, we are able to help families achieve their dream of living inside a piece of original art at a price tag that is astonishly affordable.

Our large cottage at Highland Farms is nearing completion. This 2000 sq ft cottage is actually a little larger since we created a walkout basement and then finished it off. The owners of this house have really done a nice job keeping it real and the clean modern design is complimented throughout with detail. Such as a glossy black tile fireplace with white grout, large piece of glass instead of spindles, big darkly stained floors, big projection/media room in the basement, an office space with blood red carpet for the man of the house, the rest of the basement is carpeted with that material they use on playgrounds or pre-school - soft rubber/foam that snaps together. White porcelain doorknobs, antique doors, kickass deck with built in seats and beer holders. And amazing, this house started with the Owners bringing me a vague outline from a book of cottage photos - from there, with only $6000 dedicated to architecture we have come a long way, nearly finished with this pretty cool home that we started in June. Big wall of windows in the mid-morning sun.

This bad photo captures the fireplace, the stairwell that will have glass installed, and a 4 panel door stained jacobean with a high gloss finish.

Here is another bad picture in bad lighting of the salvaged door we found, coupled on the right with a sliding chalkboard door for that never-ending always expanding honey do list.

Now this deck really creams the coffee. Not only is it a nice size, but we designed it so the safety spindles guiderail was designed and built at seating, so no furniture necessary. One less honey do item - 'bring in the furniture, honey'. Not at this house. Great design, great execution, great craftsmanship.

Won't be long and this house we be finished. We are hoping to bring her in for a soft landing a little after thanksgiving.

Regardless of the depression, international currency crash, liquidity crisis, job losses and a host of overblown points of media interest, we plan on closing this house after thanksgiving, Cottage 9 in early December, Cottage 15 in early December, Cottage 14 in Early January, Cottage 13 in late January, and Farmhouse 10 in early February.

We just started clearing land for our next 3 homes that will come onto the market in early next year. A 1000 sq ft modern ranch on 5 acres with big views, a 800 sq ft cottage with a big stream on 5+ acres, and a very cool expanded cottage 8, with a pond view, loft space, 2 bedrooms.

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Since I don't want to taunt or mislead the ladies who may have taken the title of this blog literally and are heatedly scrolling down for the picture, let me put it out there that it's a figurative reference and no picture with my pants down exists in this post- But what did happen was completely unexpected and turned this upstate Catskill region on its head over the last few days. We got snow - 5-7 inches of it, wet, heavy snow that pushed tree limbs onto electric lines, and covered a lot of Sullivan County in a very premature and unexpected ways - An upstate winter is a state of mind, mostly, you got to be ready for it, mentally as well as in other ways such as having the shovels handy, snow plows dug out from the garage, winter wear pulled from the attic. Let's just say a big storm before the leaves of the trees are even fully shed is a problem in many ways. I mean, it's been a rough few days of weather. Saturday it started raining, an it rained all day - the type of rain that prevents you from even taking your dog out for a walk - no respite, all day, into the night, not even a few minutes of break. Then Sunday was perfect - picture, pretty perfect. Then Monday the same type of rain - no break, all day rain. Then we go to sleep and wake up naturally when the electric goes out (ever notice that?) and I look out the window and see everything COVERED IN SNOW. And wake up a few hours later with no electric, schools canceled, the heat dropping in the house, and what will evolve into total chaos at the 5 construction sites we have open. Here's pic of our house last night.

And a pic out of my office door at the International Headquarters yesterday.

And then here is the apple tree on our small little property, the same one I walked by last night with my dog as I was leaving our unheated house, only to have 3 bears shimmy down and run off into the woods. Not cool - I appreciate a bear spotting as much as the next guy, but to surprise them and vice versa is not cool at all.

At 2pm, I decided to relocate Lisa and Lucas up to a friend's house at Chapin Estate until the electric came back on, which happened about 36 hrs later.

Here's me in front of my new truck, with the baby and the dog.

And sadly, the retirement of Old Yeller, a truck I bought when I first moved up here in 2001 from Dicks Auto Sales in Jeffersonville NY. I was the only sucker who would buy a rear wheel drive truck in 4x4 country, but hey, this truck owes me nothing - it has paid for itself over and over, and boy did we use it hard. Hauling stones, hauling lumber, hauling trash - she's a trooper and she's earned her reserved locker in the Catskill Farms Hall of Fame locker room, right beside the dedicated lockers of other Catskill Farms superstars such as Boogie whose now back in Poland with child and wife.

And then on this beautiful Sunday when Lisa and Lucas and I took a stroll down to Cottage 9 that we are selling in 5 weeks.

And I promise not turn this into a baby blog, here is a photo of me feeding the boy as we waited patiently for Mom's boobies to get up and operational. At 9 lbs, the boy can eat.

And a quick pic in Callicoon of the wine store, Callicoon Wine Merchant. Not a ton of liquer wine stores in the region - one in narrowsburg, white lake, jeffersonville and a few other here and there.

And a shot of Zach giving me a ride on his harley - he brought it up to store in my warehouse in Eldred for the winter. I can't believe how much weight I have gained since February - this picture really sums it all up - I remember thinking how this person or that person has 'really put on the poundage' but anyone would have a hard time keeping up with achievement. True, it does coincide with quitting smoking the same day Lisa found out she was pregnant, as well as all the temptation surrounding all the ice cream around the house during the long months of pregnancy, as well as the daily lunches of huge cheeseburgers and fries at Hanks and Sue's in Yulan - so it was not all for naught, and hopefully now that some things are straightened out, I can get my focus on my mid-section.

Here's me swinging me and my friend, my gut, onto my friend's harley. He lives in the city, and brought the bike up here to store it in my bus garage.

Dinner with my friend Amy (she's single, gentlemen), and Deborah and Pete and Gabby at a local Korean restaurant- Deborah and Pete own a restuarant in Narrowsburg named 15 Main - an oasis of fine dining in a pretty bleak Sullivan County dining landscape. With his fresh and changing menu, Pete brought some pretty sophisticated chef talent to this area where he grew up, returning after 20 years to work his magic locally. http://www.restaurant15main.com/ - well worth the trip from anywhere in the region.

And a wintery pic of Cottage 14 coming along, with the siding being applied.

Well, that's it for now. Another day, another couple dollars, and a few more gray hairs.

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