Southern Colors and a Bass Guitar

PICTURE BY PAM ROBERTS

We were up early Saturday morning to meet a guy in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He was driving from Tennessee to pick up a bass guitar I had for sale. We told him several days before that we would meet him in Hendersonville since we wanted to see the fall colors. The drive up Hwy 11 to 25 is always a good chance to see spectacular scenery in the fall, and since we drive a two-seat convertible sports car, we are on the road every chance we get. It’s usually a relaxing way to spend the day, unless you also have a bass guitar in a hard shell case taking the ride with you. That somehow puts a damper on things.
Our plan was to put the guitar in the back of the truck, head up to Hendersonville and enjoy the day. Unfortunately, our youngest son’s car wound up in the shop so we loaned him the truck for the week. Now, I’m not one to let life’s little obstacles change a plan and evidently I’m not one to listen to good advice as in: we-should-trade-cars-with-our-oldest-son-since-it’s-raining-and-we’ll-be-lugging-a-bass-guitar-along-with-us. Ok, now that we’ve driven and hour and a half with a 2 ½ foot wide base guitar wedged in from the back window to the front windshield I can see that taking the Miata was somewhat of a miscalculation on my part, but at least the gentleman was where he said he would be and we were able to comfortably continue on our trip to Hendersonville.
Hendersonville is a nice little town to explore and as and added surprise they were having a goat auction downtown. Not real goats but statues that were being auctioned off for charity. They called it “The Kidding Around Public Art Display”. The auction raised $10,850 with half the proceeds going to local charities in Hendersonville County.
Even though we did have some rain we were able to take some really nice pictures. It’s easy to understand why so many are moving to the upstate and surrounding counties.
Just Saying!
oer

Speaking Spanish

So Pam and I go to the local Mexican restaurant and we ordered in Spanish. The waiter smiled and said in English, "No really what do you want and just say it in English so I make sure I get it right"...Hmmmmm. We'll practice and try in again next week !

Just Saying !
oer
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The Old Yellow House on Main Street

One of the favorite pastimes of my wife Pam and I was to drive around on weekends and look at the houses in our area that are for sale. We had done this for years and actually that’s how we found the house we are living in now; just happened upon it one day. It was just too good of a deal to pass up so we decided to make and offer to buy it. The owner accepted our offer and with it being a newer house at the time there was only cosmetic things to do as some would say, we just had to put “lipstick on a pig” and it was a beautiful house for us.
One weekend before our 25th anniversary we were riding around and we spotted an old yellow house for sale on Main Street. I just saw it as a big old yellow house, but much to my surprise this was not just any old house, this was THE yellow house that as a child my wife had walked by everyday from school on the way to her grandmother’s house and had dreamed of living in all of her life. This came as kind of a shock to me because, as I had stated before, we had been married 25 years and this was the first time I remember ever hearing about this house and her childhood dream of sitting on the front porch watching the traffic go by.
I thought it would be a wonderful idea to make an appointment to just take a look at the house while we were on our way out of town, to celebrate our 25 great years together as husband and wife. We met the real estate agent at the appointed time and he began to show us this “dream house” with the warped wood floors, ceilings stained from water leaks, no closets to speak of, and bathrooms that were clearly an afterthought and so small that I couldn’t even get in one of them and still close the door. The wiring was the oldest in existence, and the roofing was completely gone, and the plumbing was a joke. Truly, the termites and a prayer were all that was holding Pam’s mansion together. All I could think of was, “where would you even start?” The house would cost more to remodel than it would to just to build it from scratch. Then I heard the words most feared my any husband from his wife, “Honey I want it! I’ve never ask you for anything in 25 years of marriage and I just love it.” I was speechless. I did manage to somehow thank the real estate person for taking the time to show us the property and assured my wife that this needed a lot more discussion and we could run the numbers to see where we stood after we returned from our anniversary weekend.
Whoever said timing is everything just didn’t say it loud enough because I didn’t hear them! Our weekend of celebration turned into a full-fledged assault on how and why we should buy the house. On our early return, we immediately started getting estimates and making plans on how she, I mean we were going to make this happen. This is one time no matter how I explained it 2 + 2 wasn’t going to add up to 4. This was the one time it would take a divined intervention to save me.
The next week we contacted the real estate company and made a solid offer on the house. To my dismay the representative seemed sure this was a done deal but would let us know within a few days. I felt as if I had just jumped out of a plane and had forgotten my parachute, but in her mind, Pam had totally redecorated the entire home, both floors, top to bottom.
I found myself counting the hours which turned into days and finally the dreaded phone call came. To my surprise the voice at the other end said, “I’m sorry to inform you but the County has offered $15,000 more than your offer.” They wanted the site for the new court house.
Now I’m certainly not a person to stand in the way of progress and if it was meant to be and all of that you understand. We lost the bid on my brides dream house and as fate would have it, the county didn’t tear it down. It didn’t die like a bad memory that in time would be forgotten. Instead they moved it down around the corner, put it up on blocks in a vacant lot and it has remained empty so all could see in its ruined state of existence. Even now 5 years later, I am reminded regularly of my failure to mankind.
So what do we all learn from this? Sometimes the cost of the purchase has nothing to do with what you’re getting, but has everything to do with what you not getting.
Maybe that’s what is meant by “PRICELESS”.
Just Saying !
oer
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