‘Twas the night before the night before Christmas...

The potty was placed on the driveway with care,

in hopes that the workers would soon be there…

The porta-potty was positioned and supplies delivered on Dec 23rd. We also had four windows replaced at the front of the house, where we plan to stay during construction. We have spent our days moving stuff to the garage, basement, and living room, so demolition can start.

The dumpster got delivered on the 29^th after a previous attempt. Because our street is narrow and has many cars parked, it’s sometimes hard to even back our Honda Civic into the driveway. Steve, our General Contractor, ground-guided Samuel as he maneuvered the 30 yard dumpster into the narrow chute of a driveway.

When we came to Arlington, we didn't expect any future moves, but this is a lot like a PCS (permanent change of station)--can't find anything and a feeling of being unsettled. The random access is the worst part—not remembering what box stuff went into.

Serviceberry tree

We had a new tree planted on the winter solstice. The tree was a grant from the 2011 Arlington County Tree Canopy Fund, whose purpose is to restore and increase tree cover in this urban area.

Our serviceberry, also called juneberry, looks more like a bush than a tree with multiple stems. It sits near the front sidewalk and replaces a pine that was removed because of interference with power lines.

Many people think that the serviceberry tree is one of the most beautiful trees in the US, according to my research. I will take it on faith that the beauty will emerge when it blooms in the spring.

Thanks to Michael Reamy and the Tree Stewards http://treestewards.org/ for their assistance with site selection and coordinating planting.

Welcome, tree!

Walkable was one of the main qualities we were looking for with our house, because you can't renovate for location. Having been paralyzed in a military parachute accident and having had the ability to walk restored, I am a walking & biking advocate.  As the song says, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”

Dan was in Kabul while I was looking for a house. When he returned from AFG, his company headquarters was in DC. His priority for where to live was a place that didn’t require driving to work.

I concentrated my search around Metro stations. I first looked around Takoma Park in southern Maryland. Then, a friend, Kathy, invited me to view her condo in Crystal City.  It was spacious with a wonderful view of the Potomac, but I wasn’t sure about condo living or the ongoing maintenance fees. On Zillow http://www.zillow.com/ , I found a house listed that was within walking distance of Kathy’s place. I walked down 15^th Street, past Costco, Nordstrom’s, and Pentagon City Mall where the entrance to the Metro is.  I cut across Virginia Highlands Park with the Aurora Hills library and senior center.  I knew that I had found a walkable location, even without putting the address into Walkscore. At  http://www.walkscore.com/, addresses are given a score from 0-100, based on how easy it is to walk to the places where you regularly go—stores, restaurants, entertainment, etc.  Our address is rated 71—very walkable.  When we lived at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, our address was considered to be car-dependent. Even getting to the St Louis airport took 2.5 hours, in good weather and with no delays. There was no way we wanted to be dependent on driving to get places. You don’t have to live in metro DC to know how bad traffic is here.  Being #1 in traffic congestion is not a selling point.  

But even after a few years of decline, housing prices around DC are scary.  It’s been said that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The same principle applies to buying a house.  So with visions of green ($$$ & environmentally) dancing before our eyes, we made an offer.

Thanks to Scott for the bumper sticker.

house goals

These are our house goals:

·         Create a sense of coherence & integration, inside and out 

·         Arlington green home choice certification—Increase energy efficiency and comfort

·         Improve functionality & openness (to 2nd floor & handicapped access)

·         Have a healthy indoor environment 

·         Reduce resource consumption, especially water usage—work towards zero energy home 

·         A place of sanctuary & hospitality  

·         Live lightly and consider the impact on the next 7 generations

A friend, Mike, called it the Dr. Seuss house because of the unusual layout.  As you can see from the photo, the back of the house (added in the 70's) looks nothing like the Spanish-style stucco entrance to the 1928 bungalow.

Retirement place goal sheet

For several years, we discussed the attributes we wanted in our retirement location and home. I collected these in a Retirement place goal sheet (see chart). My friend, Diana, shared the items she had used to select their house in Oregon, which primed the pump for the list we compiled.

As we got nearer to leaving the military, we continued refining the qualities in house and location that were desirable to us. In deciding where we would spend our post-active duty time, I wanted to be sure that we evaluated properties based on the qualities important to us and not be mesmerized by the "new house" smell. Having lived in a variety of states and overseas, helped us refine the things that mattered. For instance, when we lived in Tampa, we were able to bike to work.  In Heidelberg, Germany, our house bordered the woods and bike paths.  Easy access to transportation alternatives would allow us to visit our son and his family wherever the Coast Guard sent them.

As you view the Retirement places chart, there are a lot of phrases on this list, but there are two sets of words that capture the essence. One set is Walkable, sustainable, accessible and the other group of words is community, sanctuary, mystery. On upcoming postings, I’ll elaborate on what those mean to us.

Habitat for Serenity

Habitat for Serenity is what we are calling our home. When the renovation is complete, we
hope our house will be a place of respite for us and hospitality for visitors.

This blog will detail the upcoming renovations and review the work we've already accomplished.

Thanks to Cynthia and Melissa who encouraged me to document this process.