When we bought the house, it was in late August, and nothing was blooming. It was also extremely overgrown, and so before winter a lot was ripped out. Some plants remain though- and there are two trees on the side of our house by the walkway to the front door/kitchen door/bedroom back door/up the back of the house that were spared, although they were under consideration to be cut.

These two trees had lots of big buds, but I haven't seen these type before, and wondered what they would open to. Recently, I got a peek.

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Sweet! There are lots of buds, so it will be beautiful when the full tree (and two trees) are in bloom.

More photos at wulfspirit server

But just compare the last two photos of the last post with these:

Who would plant a poor tree in a post of a wall- stupid! Not the tree's fault, but it had to go. Also there was a wisteria tree- pretty, but planted to start like a tree and then trained to wrap around electrical cables on the side of the house so it would eventually ruin the house instead of on trellis or arches that we wouldn't be screwed if it decided to break- so the wisteria too had to go, a pity. Never even got to see it in bloom. I guess the intent was to have to growing as an arch by the kitchen door, or maybe go around the porch- but why steel cables specifically for this purpose weren't put in is a mystery. Of course, this is the same house that put the washer/dryer in the basement and expected the water to go uphill and then drain down… We had plumbers in this week to put in pipes so it would be upstairs off the master bedroom instead, but there's still the task of moving the washer/dryer to tackle next weekend perhaps.

In the front of the house, the rhododendrons were cut back. I'm sure the whole thing looked beautiful in the spring, but the amount of growth was unwieldy. 

Also finally revealed! After much ivy and blackberry pulling, the stairs in the back of the house that lead to two mini decks (which are in total disrepair: there used to be a gazebo, bench swing) can now be seen:

View from up there:

Before

After the first dumpster was filled… and then after the second dumpster was filled this weekend…

Dumpster 1: clearing the ramp to the stairs and revealing the front porch

Dumpster 2: revealing the area below the front porch by cleaning back the "front yard" 

I take no credit, all I did was do clean-up assistance and sweep and poke at a "katamari ball" of vines and weeds down the stairs towards the dumpster once it was already pulled. Both dumpsters were filled! And we'll need the dumpster again… and nothing has really been done to the "back yard" yet.

So in the past few days, I have gotten married, and we have purchased our first house and will be moving into it together after our honeymoon. We have 2 weeks (well, 1.5 weeks now) until our cruise honeymoon to Alaska, and then 3 weeks until we move into our home.

Our house which we just closed on Monday was a listing F found on Craig's List, which is different since all the houses we have seen so far are from the mailing list of a Prudential listing agent- she sends several a week with quick descriptions and then a webpage with some photos. This particular house stood out though because of the area: F can continue to walk downtown to work, and I can head to the Max station to get out to Beaverton. This particular broker also deals with bank-owned homes. This particular home is a short-sale.

F also took some videos of

-Going up from the bottom of the street up to the front door (obviously the plants have overgrown):

-The first floor floor of the house which includes a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and a guest bathroom as well as a large dining and living room area (and fireplace)

-The little back deck that you can access the 2nd floor master bed/bath from going upstairs

-The master bedroom and bathroom

Although it is an older home- actually built in 1910, the previous few owners have put in a lot of initial work already to bring it up to more modern standards. Looking on the internet for a bit of research, the asking price is below the last purchase price of the home, and most of the homes around it are equal or quite a bit more than this house, so it would be a great investment.

We also snuck a look at another home on the market on the other side of this house's neighbor, and our handyman friend loved it as well but it was way too much for a first time homeowner to tackle. We even met our neighbor and he talked a bit about the work the previous owner, a doctor, had sunk in and the guy also talked a lot about what he did for his house… which now is registered as a historic home. The home we had snuck into was actually the architect's home itself! We know that the neighbor on our other side that we hadn't met (who actually has a garage, neither of the 3 homes I have just talked about does) also has a home in great shape and also part of the Jacobberger home row if we make an assumption based on the fact the gate to his home says Jacobberger on it. So that makes two of the houses on one side and the house on the other side all Joseph Jacobberger homes.

It's a little unnerving how excited F is about the house: he has been researching the landscaping around it for more than a week! He never likes planning ahead this much, but after being exhausted by the wedding project I managed, I'm glad to let him be the project manager of the house project. We just got the keys yesterday, and he already cut some of the weeds, checked out the roof, and set up the garbage, water, and electricity.