Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Useful Knowledge




I could use an owner’s manual for our new place.
It’s too bad that in most cases by the time we all work our way through the skirmishes of purchasing a home with offers and counter offers, inspections and the resulting demands for fuse box repairs, buyer and seller have a pretty edgy relationship.

          We're unlikely to invite the previous owners over after they left behind a six-foot artificial tree for us to deal with, and I doubt if they’re putting together the menu for a visit from us after we forced them to knock several thousand dollars off the asking price.

          The previous owners were kind enough to leave behind paperwork on the major appliances, but I could use a bit more specific information. I did finally figure out that the hook by the sink was a good place to put a dish towel, but there’s a lot more I’d like to know. 

          I wish I could call them up to ask the best way to clean the cavernous shower, with its nine foot ceiling and big enough to clean an entire basketball team. At once.  

          And what does that third switch in that bank of four go to?

          How do I care for the kitchen floor? I’m not used to a hardwood floor in the kitchen even if it is polyeurothaned.

          What’s the purpose of the big metal ring embedded outside the porch?

          They were apparently manic gardeners, even with the small allotment of land for each owner. Did they sneak off to the woods in back of us to dispose of their weeds and clippings?

          And it would really save us some time if they could fill us in on which neighbors to embrace and which to avoid.
         

9 comments:

  1. How true it is.
    Particularly the last sentence.

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    1. That's the trickiest part of a new neighborhood.

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  2. I think I'd call anyway. They probably would be happy to fill you in.

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  3. Yikes! This sounds like it will take a little while to get accustomed to. Not your usual questions, that's for sure! That shower sounds awesome. :-)

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    1. It's a bit cavernous. I'm used to my elbow usually hitting the shower curtain.

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  4. Kitchen floor? Sweep and damp mop. It's just like vinyl flooring or linoleum. If it gets too scratched up after a few years, fifteen or twenty, get it resealed.

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    1. Thanks, River! Up till now I've always been a linoleum girl.

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  5. Is the metal ring copper and buried in the ground? If so, I wonder if it's to keep slugs away from something growing within the ring. Slugs supposedly won't cross a copper enclosure. (For some reason that's what I pictured, though your ring could just as easily be in your wall or sidewalk!)

    Every house has mysterious light switches that don't seem to go to anything. I assume they go to outlets that just don't have a lamp plugged into them at the moment.

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    1. Never heard of the slug theory. Interesting.
      Yes, we lived in our last house for over 20 years and I never solved the mystery of a switch in the living room.

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Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear what you think.