The Caton House is officially ours! We signed papers the 20th and hope to take possession before the June 4th deadline. The nice folks we bought it from have found some old tile and hardware that they're giving to us! They're really glad that we bought it because they know us and they know we can make the house look beautiful again.
There's an estate sale company going through the inside sorting stuff for the estate sale next month, and our employees and I have been working in the yard. I was there most of the day today and my arms are so sore I can hardly lift them! Take a look at the latest photo, that's John with the loppers. We made a lot of headway, and actually found the magnolia tree that's deep in the blackberries. And that's just one patch of them - the whole alley is lined with a huge blackberry "hedge"! Then there's the bamboo which I'm fairly certain is the running kind which means it spreads like wildfire! Not good. I like bamboo but it can be extremely hard to control unless it's the clumping kind. There are also forget-me-nots (Myosotis) blooming, as well as blue bells (Hyacinthoides) and of course dandelions! So there's a lot of work ahead in the yard as well as in the house! The starlings are raising a family in a birdhouse that's nailed to a huge black walnut tree at the rear of the property so we were being serenaded by the chicks peeping and the adults scolding us.
Brian has been working on the plans to restore the exterior as well as looking for replacement materials that are in keeping with the period of the house. We've found that part of it has wooden gutters! We are also looking into roofing material that will be historically accurate-looking, so either cedar shakes or a composite material that looks like cedar but is far less combustable. I'll post the results of our research as I find out the details.
Now, I'm going to go soak my sore muscles in the Jacuzzi!
