OK… i wrote LONG Post about this…and posted it….and then it didn’t show up– showing all of you how truly clueless i am…..learn by doing…that is my mantra these days…..(it might prove to be a very bad and expensive habit in other realms…)….    SO!  Finally the WAPA issue is resolved……MANY THANKS to R.A.E. for working so hard to get the power back on…i just don’t understand how people can just leave without paying their bills– but i don’t know or understand the circumstances…still I hope that no one got stuck with an out of pocket on this one.   J-1 has made great progress even in the absence of power and has cut a lot of brush, removed several loads of debris, checked out the windows and did some stealth work on the R.O.U.S.’s– so far none have shown up– but i am still waiting…these for most probably aren’t R.O.U.S.’s (thank you princess bride ….Rodents Of Unusual Size) but for me……yeah, i watched ‘Willard’ as a kid– not a good idea…..But big thank you J-1 for being so great on the clean up — and watching out for the R.O.U.S.’s …ughhhhh ….We are traveling down on Saturday for a short trip to try to prioritize what needs to be done, meet with various folks to discuss the projects we think we want to take on .   I think i might need to stay and extra day or two….(which is kind of a drag < NOT> considering the awesome winter we are having in the Northeast…  ) but I have been away a lot and we have issues here at our home due to a burst pipe… so there is a lot of ongoing work here and staying away is kind of a problem.  life is good .  if i can actually get this to post, i will feel like a winner tonight.

ON February 28th we closed on a house in Estate Hard Labor, St John USVI…. even though it is a relatively newer structure, we understand that the house has, well,….’issues’…..but how many? This we are still discovering….but realize that the list is going to most certainly get longer than shorter! Going in we knew it needed all the doors in front (7 big french doors….) totally replaced–probably with impact resistant glass (unless we want to build shutters?)– we also knew there was a roof leak, tiling issues (re-grouting) and some potential electrical issues (the extent of which we need to figure out), and some general construction type cleanup. Then…….after closing we found out about the rodents–….–ok, the caribbean… I get it– but they did some serious gnawing….on kitchen cabinets….ugh — ..hey, i live in NY!–Rats are a part of life– I just really don’t like them! Then other window issues, some potential lumber issues related to a bad batch of pressure treated lumber…And then there is the fact that the pool wasn’t maintained (and somehow the owners got away with not paying their WAPA bill so the power has been shut off and as of this writing, i believe it is still off! Making resolution of that matter a bit difficult…..) Lucky for us, we have R.A.E. (RealEstate Agent Extraordinaire) working on our behalf to resolve this (and SO THANKFUL FOR THAT!) and (introducing) J-1 our person on the job there who is cleaning stuff up….and delivering good and bad news….. We think that the house has good ‘bones’…..and hoping that that proves to be the case. We have friends old and new who have been giving us advice and assistance along the way and for that we are forever thankful…. Going down on Saturday to see what this really will be about…….and how long the list will be! I am still trying to learn this blog thing–so hopefully this will get better over time!