Stealth Tenants

Our new tenants pulled into Claremont around 11:30 last night, and by 8:30 this morning, they were done unpacking their UHaul and getting ready to return it. We didn't hear them at all - amazingly enough!

3 Months, 9 Days later....

Today, July 24, 2009, the cottage renovation is officially finished! We got our final bill, and the trash trailer is currently being loaded and removed! Hooray! Our new tenants move in next Friday. I am washing curtains to hang, and we need to remove a wasp's nest, but other than that, we have a quiet week ahead of us.

Hurray!

Today we rented out our cottage. A new professor of philosophy at Pitzer College agreed to take it based solely on looking at pictures, talking to me on the phone and exchanging emails. He and his fiancee will be moving in on July 31.

4th of July Traditions

Every few years, H decides that we need some sort of project to keep us occupied for the morning of the 4th of July. One year we pulled networking wire through the house to set up an internet network (which we still use today). One year we helped him move his office at school down the hall to another office. That was fun.

This morning our project was to shop! We went to Lowe's, then IKEA, then Home Depot and back to Lowe's. Since the cottage is nearly finished, we needed to get light fixtures, ceiling fans, handles for the cabinets, curtain rods, towel bars, smoke detectors, etc.


The other tradition is the annual Claremont Parade. The usual groups marched along - high school band, cheerleaders, city council, school board, various churches, various retirement centers, etc. Each year we seem to have a new group - and this year one of those was a ukelele group. Behind the pickup truck was a large turkey with a sign which we couldn't read (too many words). Poor turkey took a spill right in front of us, and his head came off! They had to stop and put him back together before continuing. Before the turkey was an elderly gentleman on a "horse" who also took a tumble. I hope it wasn't us who brought the bad luck!

Slow News Day

Summer is really slowing down. Not much to report, but a few little things:

• The new sign is working well - had two civilized calls about the cottage today.
• My ob-gyn is on maternity leave and I found out that she had a baby girl. She named the baby the same as me...
• The cottage is nearly finished being painted.
• I see tomatoes on my vines, but they are still green. Not enough sun, I guess.

Training People

This weekend I put up the old House for Rent sign that H dug out of the garage rafters. I put up fliers that people can take with them with all kinds of pertinent info about the cottage. The old sign had our phone number in big print. Well, now that cell phones are so common (more common than 9 years ago when we last did this), people sit in their cars and just dial the phone to ask about the rental. I got tired of that, so I got a new sign today (looks better anyway) and all it says is "For Rent: Back House, Shown by appt. only." Now people will have to actually get out of their cars and read the info on the flier and then decide if they need to actually bother me.

Now if I could train people to show up when they say they will, or at least call to cancel or reschedule.....

Cottage Progress

Time for a cottage update. Custom cabinets are in place, getting ready to be painted!