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

I have watched at least a dozen episodes of TruTv's 'Rehab:Party at the Hard Rock Cafe' since Friday after work. I love it, and it's definitely probably not the type of show I would get to watch if the wifee and son were in Town. I mean, this is where we are different - she likes "Top Chef" and bunch of other food shows (and Project Runway, which she tries to tape and erase before she thinks I will notice that she is watching Project Runway, or America's Next Top Model). I like "World's Most Shocking" videos of police chases, car accidents and redneck convenience store robberies. Also, I'm a big fan of the those new military training shows about boot camp and the like, and I like 'Flipping Out' - the home show that Deborah my bookkeeper says reminds her a lot of me. Anyway, maybe next year I'll some Rehab parties here at my house by the pond - 'Rehab:67 Crawford Road' - and lots of hot babes in skimpy outfits playing badminton, doing jackknifes of the cliffs and dancing to a cool techno groove. I'll have $2000 minimums by the pond-side Cabanas, and big Crystal bottles of bubbly for the high rollers. So, I forgot how pathetic I am alone. There's animal guts on the front patio (that's where I am now) that one of the cat's drug home - and since it's 3 days old it kind of stinks and the flies are all around it. The kitchen is a wreck, I've eaten nothing but breaded chicken tenders for 3 days and inside of the house is starting to feel very 'lived in', if I can beg a clumsy euphemism. I always like to to take the dog Jake out for a big walk in the woods, without his leash, when I can, because the exertion of energy of his part mellows him for the whole day. So today I tried to double up on tasks and went on over to Tuthill Road to let Jake run, visit with some homeowners and grab some photos for the website and for the upcoming Sullivan County Showcase of Real Estate, which we use to monopolize, but then started getting shut out after we made too many enemies - oh, the good times, good times. So I start at the top, at Cottage 22, and say Hi to Courtney and Bronson and their bulldog Polly started mixing it up with Jake, and they just got this new floppy bulldog puppy which was cute even to me. It was a great sunny day of light and I took some great shots. Then off to Cottage 19, where Justen and Jason and company were out drinking coffee, cueing up the badminton and drinking some joe on the porch. Grabbed some great shots. Then over the Daniel's at Micro Cottage 3 where he was doing some sort of construction. Again, grabbed some shots and then off to Cottage 17 where Thom was planting and gardening. Across the street to Richard's of Baker's Tap Room fame, where the yellow stain of the Barn 2 was looking pretty sweet. So I walk the 3/8 of a mile back to my car, load up a tuckered out Jake and cruise back to the office. It was about then that I realized I had forgotten to put the memory card in the camera. Hey, I'm only building 7 homes, running 3 businesses, developing 4 pieces of land, designing 3 homes, showing prospective clients our homes, etc... I got plenty of time to do shit twice. Luckily there was some ying to this yang- we closed on a house 2 weeks ago, close on Ranch III this week, Barn III in two more weeks. We have also signed letters of commitment on 3 (that's right) on 3 new deals. Cottage 34, Cottage 31 and Cottage 33. One guy who wishes to be known as the 'international art dealer power couple who is going to bring punk rock back to the Catskills', actually wants to trade a Warhol for part of a house. Now, that's really pretty flattering. But like I've been saying for years- these homes are little pieces of art. Should be a busy winter. God, someone really has clean up those guts on the front porch. They really stink.

Now I’m pissed. I just spent a good hour liquering up to the correct degree, downloading some pics, queing up some Tom Waits – I mean, really taking the time to set up the atmosphere, - and I’m nearly complete with the opening genius of a great blog paragraph when somehow my reflexive hands hit the 4 wrong keys at the same time and 17 pictures and a paragraph of genius is gone baby gone.

So then you are left which the indelible instinct to go watch some Law & Order instead of writing about this total love and affection for life’s little travails. And the thing about it, the travails really usually aren’t that trivial or nuanced, they are serious and attention-getting and in the end, really just the guts of life.

'Now the sun is coming up and I'm riding with lady luck freeway cars and trucks stars are beginning to fade and I leave the parade' - --- just me trying to stay up with a Tom Waits tune -

These Modern little houses like the one above repel people like a Tom Waits song can do to the wrong crowd, - like a bad David Cross joke, or a sick Gavin McInnes plot line, or a lame joke about burned butts - these new little modern houses really have a tendency to rise the ire of the long-time country set. The 2-D version of the plan submitted to my friends at the building department always motivates some gutteral real negative response.

For me, I love them. Retro Ranches, turning the joke inside out on themselves. Proving the often proved cliche that you can't please all the people all the time.

By Mr Waits - " i spent all my money in a mexican whorehouse, across the street from a catholic church, and then i wiped off my revolver, and i buttoned up my burgundy shirt, i shot the morning in the back, with my red wings on, i told the sun he'd better go back down, and if i can find a book of matches, i'm goin' to burn this hotel down. well willard's knocked out on a bottle of heat, drivin' dangerous curves across the dirty sheets, he said when the bitch is wound up, and her parents are gone, man you ought to hear her with the siren on. you got to tell me brave captain, why are the wicked so strong, how do the angels get to sleep, when the devil leaves the porchlight on." I mean, this is no Nantucket talk, Martha Vineyard's whisper, Key West line or Aruba tunage. This is strong stuff for strong stomachs. Waits always kicks it clear of good taste and foot-tapping cleanliness. Mr & Mrs Mitchell's 2600 sq ft farmhouse on 20 acres has never looked so good. Nearly 60% complete, without a hiccup, a home starts the big bend towards the home stretch of finish and livability. "Down the shore everything all right, don't you my dreams come true when I'm down the street with you..."

My wife and young son are out of town for a 11 days - not just out of town, but out of touch, in rural Ohio, for some wedding way out in the boonies. Lisa always accuses me of not listening, but I definitely didn't catch the part that she was out of touch - no cellphone, no landline, no passenger pigeon can reach this girl of mine. The Callicoon Farmhouse on the hill outside of Callicoon Center is really taking shape. Talk about kicking ass and not taking names - I mean, this was hillside pasture 800' off the road just 2 months ago - and now we we will be painting in another 3 weeks.

And Cottage 29 just about wrapping up. Just a few faucets and sinks and countertops and grass growing and then we will really have something.

Here's Van and Eric checking out Cottage 29. They are building a very nice new design with us - Cottage 31 on lot 11 on Lake Ridge Road. That house will start construction here in about 10 days.

And Barn III looking real sharp. I don't when we got the building permit but this house will be finished in 7 days and the Tenkman family will be in, enjoying the fall breezes by the end of the month. I'm currently in shorts in my office, and the chill in the air is decidely Autumn in character.

This big wide open barn with 2 bedrooms and a grand loft is killer space.

Above, in these pics, we are installing the handhewn beams across the ceilings that really made the whole house pop.

Steve working away in the bath.

And the bad ass red countertop. I love it - I mean - bam - what a risk - totally worked and a great accent.

Van in the house, getting some ideas and inspiration for his soon-to-be-construction abode.

Screened in porches are all in fashion all of a sudden.

Here's the whole crew - James in the foreground, and Nikki and Gary and 2 very handsome children in the background. Van with the man purse and Eric taking it all in.

Here's a beauty - Cottage 28.

and Susan's Cottage 20.

And the entry way to Ranch III, which we are just finishing up and set to close on Wednesday.

And some great pics of some deep sleeping beauties. Lucas looks like he is 15 already - 'who's that man in my bed?!'

Big long weekend - every one of my homes seems to be occupied this weekend - pretty cool to provide the country way of life to so many.

Hot, wet and humid - and no, I'm not describing my first spring break fling at Panama City. I'm describing the Town I have been dying to visit for at least 20 years - a town wedged in my mind as Southern, Sleepy and Romantic. Seldom does such a lengthy build-up reveal a city that can live up to such an advance billing, but Charleston exceeded any measuring stick I mentally set. Beside the Indian food delivery guy taking 12 minutes to take my order in a perfectly southern fashion, it was perfect. It even rained half the days, and was a typical sweltering 98 plus humidity on the moments when not raining. Like a frickin' brick wall of heat when you stepped Above is King Street, and below is obviously Mr. King's car, shadowed by the cannons that protected the Battery during the mid 1850's.

I can't say I got any super inspired architectural ideas, although I did love the architecture. A lot big stuff, ornamental stuff, old stuff, but no perfect low country bungalows that I saw. Granted, I was kind of memorized by the glitz of Old Town, probably not the place where the little cottages were typically built.

On the pic below, Lucas was cooling off in the community fountain, playing around with lots of other southern kids. He's learning a lot of words and he just really took a liking to 'poo poo', so whenever Lisa and I are going into a bathroom, with or without him, to do whatever, he starts screaming 'poo poo - poo poo' - Lisa said she was reduced to saying 'no lucas, it's only pee pee' a few times while traveling just to make it clear to all the other people hearing this exchange.

And at the Charleson aquarium.

And after a hot morning walking round. Lucas loves his leisure. Lisa and I seem to choose towns we can walk around in - Charleston, Key West, Florence, Portsmouth NH. I like to pick up one of those multi-colored tourist maps when we first arrive and then trace or mark every road/alley or street we walk during our trip so we see as much as possible. Lisa thinks its embarrassing, like wearing black socks and tennis shoes on vacation. She's square that way.

Lucas is a bit of a drama queen, so after the flash went off in his eyes once, he then proceeded to close his eyes any time a camera came near.

Then we were heading down to Savannah GA on a day road trip, but ended up in Beaufort SC which was pretty cool, on the water and a great place to waste an afternoon. There are a bunch of islands that stretch out beyond it.

Lucas loves hotels, loves to run down the halls of hotels, loves to push the buttons on hotel elevators and loves to scream as he is running around. This is our hotel in Atlanta, the real destination of our trip - where one of Lisa's 4 cousins was getting married. I, on the other hand, have 94 first cousins. Some weddings are big and fancy, some are perfectly planned, others at exotic destinations - this one between Paul and Lindsey was all the above, but mostly was one of those weddings that seem to reinforce the institution in general - you could feel the emotion of the participants.

So, that about wraps up our trip. Caught up on the latest Blog Cabin episodes on DIY - first the kitchen show, now the living room show - both seemed like a lot people taking credit for our design and workmanship, but hey, I guess that's Hollywood (although this show is out of Tennessee). Barely a mention so far (although pretty much everyone on the team has had a little face time, or since they are mostly working, butt and back time), but we have high hopes for the end of September finale. Stopped in Lancaster PA to see the folks on the way home and arrived home to his intriguing letter in our mailbox - "Hi - I stopped in front of your house yesterday and took some pictures. My inlaws owned the house in the 70's and 80's. What a great job you have done to the property. The red roof over the porch is spectacular! What an eye-catcher and I love the soft green of the siding. We used to bring our 4 boys there when they were young and they always talk about the good times we had there. For many years the house seemed to be empty and unkept. It is great to see it taken car of and improved so much. i hope you have many happy years enjoying your home."

About the land for sale I posted about the other day, that has now been reserved by Van and Eric. That's how quick things happen for us, and while I always feel sales-manie when saying our houses and land consistently move quickly, they do, in fact, move quickly.