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

Jake, my 6 month old Chocolate lab, and I like to take walks, and since he's a pretty good boy for being a puppy and a lab, he gets to walk through the woods without a leash. So far, so good, meaning he hasn't run off yet. I walking on some land around my house (couple of hundred acres) and came across these retro hunting stands.

Can't say they look too sturdy, and I wonder if that's a 'stop work order' from the local building department posted on the front?

Ever green juniper.

And the big blue sky as I exited the woods. Good brisk walk on a Sunday morning with my dog in the middle of the woods. Now that's living pretty large.

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It's Saturday night again, what seems to be my most frequent go-to blogging night. My dog just farted in his sleep - it's a real doozie - I'm watching Band of Brothers (all 14 hrs) for about the 12th time. Lisa bought me the box set a few years back. Steve Jobs, in a Times interview said last week - “A defining quality of Apple has been design restraint,” says Paul Saffo, a technology forecaster and consultant in Silicon Valley.

Great products, according to Mr. Jobs, are triumphs of “taste.” And taste, he explains, is a byproduct of study, observation and being steeped in the culture of the past and present, of “trying to expose yourself to the best things humans have done and then bring those things into what you are doing.”

I agree, and have been saying something similar, although less articulated, for years.

Here's Laurie, Tony and Eva (hope I got the spelling right) checking out there mid-century pad earlier today. Started their house back in November, and finishing it up in late February. Mid-Century Ranch #2, following in the illustrious and hard to fill shoes of Erin and Greg. It's a funky little abode with lots of personality and big views. They chose a 3 light front door from a wide selections and offerings.

2 hrs outside the city sits a small little getaway with all the space and functionality and style and carefree potential anyone could really need.

Today, Saturday, James and I had 3 final walkthrus with the soon to be owners of the Cottages on Lake Ridge, outside of Narrowsburg, up above the old and drained Lucky Lake. James pointed out that these houses came in 4 weeks AHEAD of schedule, even though we are in the heat of winter, when things are triply difficult.

Cottage 24 has been one of our favorite designs and we have built iterations of it on several occasions - Cottage 2, Cottage 6, Cottage 18, Cottage 22 - and each time we keep coming up with ways to keep it real, keep it unique, because of all of the necessary ingredients critical to the integrity of our process - uniqueness of each individual home is paramount, integral, to the integrity of our efforts. Mark, below, came up with his family from Queens, -his partner was skiing out west somewhere (must be nice!)- his final walk-thru also was scheduled and everything was pretty much finished and we hope to close on this home this coming Friday.

They got themselves one of our famous Dutch doors, that split in two.

And Susan, friend of Gayle at Cottage 15, friend of Bryce and Thom at Cottage 17. She selected the little brown cabin cottage on top of the hill. All my photos of the little cabin are back at the office, while here I sit in my sunken living room jousting off a flatulent and sleeping dog.

She went for the 9 light 2 panel front door, painted red. Lisa always hates when I take pictures where I show up in the glass, reflected.

For the first time in maybe my life, I got some sort of stomach bug that knocked me on my ass for a few days - literally didn't go to work, which I think may definitely be a first. And considering we are short handed in the office and loaded with a half dozen buildings going up, it was no time to be horizontal. But all's good that ends well, and feeling better here on Saturday, found a new leash for Jake who keeps chewing through his leashes. It's not super easy finding a leash up here in the sticks, and when I finally found a shop in Narrowsburg that sold one, they didn't take credit cards so that sent me searching for an ATM. 3 more houses nearly finished, and I'll be posting numerous photos in the next week or so.

It's hard to believe - but our last remaining house was reserved today by Steve, a gentleman who makes his living building fine picture frames. Good for us. Good for him. You got to love a happy ending. 7 houses under construction - 7 houses under contract.

It's cold up here, and January this year feels like 100 yrs long - which I don't really mind since the slower time goes the more we get done. Here's Cottage 20, selling to Susan before too long. With the grounds all cleaned up, and a cold winter afternoon blowing through, it's looking pretty picture perfect, up there on the ridge above Lucky Lake. My old friend Jack from the TV network was in town for the commencement of filming of this house renovation we are doing together and I took him over to the houses to check them out. He's a design and construction connoisseur, and goes all over the country scouting locations, builders and designers - and he likes our stuff so I like to show it off every time he's around.

Anyway, long story short, I love the back deck on this house - it kind of cantilevers out over the hillside, and is 10 deep or so and I wanted to show Jack the deck and so I go out there and right before he's about ready to follow me out he checks the door handle and it was locked. Now, this deck is way up on a hill, facing the wind, with no staircase down as of yet, with a drop of 10' feet. And it was about 0 degrees - I had a bunch of layers, but Jack the Southerner was in jeans and jacket. Anyway, disaster narrowly averted - Lisa painted a picture over Martinis of Jack and I hugging in the corner, trying to share body heat, waiting to be rescued.

That reminds me of the disaster narrowly averted at Cottage 24, when my new Ford Ranger went high-tailin' it down the mountainside, only to be stopped by a small tree which remarkably stopped the truck cold - with very little damage. Below is the modern house - Ranch 2 - which is coming along nicely -all 960 sq ft of it. Tony and Laurie really hitting it out of the park, in my opinion.

And Richard's Barn House #2 - with the straw-colored siding, green roof and cavernous interior.

Daniel's 800 sq ft Micro Cottage #3, with its sagey green siding, 2 bedrooms, porch, rear deck and an awesome piece of wunder - land.

The Shaker House, coming along with the roof on, windows in, and the electric and plumbing started. John, Wendy and 3 young uns should be styling on 7+acres, big porches, and lots of easy living just two hours from all the hub-bub.

And last but definitely not least is Cottage 25, the only Cottage we have for sale - remarkably.

Blog posting has been a bit neglected here as of late, but it's not because we have slowed or hit any hurdles we can't readily surmount. It's a lot of construction, a lot original design, and a lot of commitment to building the best homes we can for the money.