Standing at a safe distance, our realtor gestured with a shrug toward the front door and said, “You can go inside if you want, but I’m not going in there.”

We were surprised to see a cabin on the property.  The ad didn’t mention it.  We couldn’t see it from the road.

I followed as Sir Lots-a-Wit stepped through the front door into the kitchen.  At the same moment, we saw something peculiar on the counter.  I knew what he was thinking.  “What the …?”

There on the kitchen counter was an open bottle of Pine Sol, a bucket half full of water, a pair of yellow Playtex gloves turned inside out, obviously ripped off in a hurry, a brush and some rags.  I was expecting someone to walk around the corner of the next room saying – “Oh, hi there, sorry for the mess, I was just cleaning…”

But the eerie reality was they had suddenly run out and never looked back.

This place was a mess of epic proportions.

As we tiptoed into the living room – a wooden folding chair was facing the view of the woods outside the windows.  On a nasty end table were a pair of binoculars and a coffee cup stained down the sides from someone with an obvious hole in their lip.

There was also a cast iron wood stove full of ashes from last months frosty nights.  Everywhere we looked, on every surface, mice had left proof that they are the true party animals.

The bathroom wins the prize for the most hilarious and most mysterious.  The tub was almost long enough to reach the wall, missing by only a few inches.

So close!

The shower was a PVC pipe which was held with a shoestring that bridged the gap between the tub and the sheetrock.  Now I want you to imagine for just a moment – turning on the water and watching it spray everywhere as that pipe whips wildly from side to side from that flimsy shoestring.

Now for the mysterious.

Whoever was here last used at least one roll of duct tape to seal up the toilet.  Whatever was in there was trapped and never getting out.  Our imaginations ran wild with what could be so awful that you would seal the entire toilet with duct tape?

After seeing the entire cabin, and without touching anything, we carefully stepped back outdoors where the realtor was safely waiting for us,

“We’ll take it!!!”

 

Knowing that any work done would be temporary, we set a small budget for improvements – a good percentage of that budget was spent on cleaning supplies and mouse proofing.  We were happy to have the conveniences of running water, electricity, a kitchen, and bath.  However, the bath was the last room we tackled, being a bit afraid of what might be lurking in that toilet.

After about 6 weekends of serious scrubbing, we could remove our gloves and relax.

We could not avoid it any longer, it was finally time for the unveiling of the mysterious toilet. I stood several feet back with a death grip on a fireplace poker while Sir Lots-a-Wit slowly unwrapped wad after wad of duct tape.  Carefully he opened the lid expecting the worse…

We both peered in from a distance, then we began to crowd in for a closer look…

There was nothing.

A big fat nothing.

We were never so grateful for “NOTHING” as we were this day!

The whole cabin has always been crooked.  It was comforting to know that when buildings collapse under their own weight, they do it slowly.

Each night we just hoped it would stay standing until the next morning.

This is where it all began.

Our crooked little cabin.

We were like two kids playing house.

It was just a weekend place for us at the time.

An escape.

Our private getaway deep in the woods, away from the stress of work and life in general.

A place where we were delighted with no cell service.

A place where the cosmos in the evening sky was more entertaining than anything HBO had to offer.

A place where the sweet melody of natures symphony flowed into our open windows.

We never wanted to leave.

We spent most of our weekends in that little cabin for the next 8 years.

Then we made the decision to make this piece of paradise our permanent home.

Our temporary weekend getaway became our home for 8 months while our dream home was being built, right outside the front door.

Once we moved out of the cabin and into our new home just 150 steps away, we often talked about what to do with it.  It had served its purpose as our private getaway, but now what?

Should we bulldoze it?

Then last December our sheep arrived, and one by one – they each gave birth to a precious little lamb in our old bedroom, complete with individual sheep stalls and hay bunkers.

The living room became hay storage.

The kitchen is now my “She-Shed” used for potting flowers and herbs.

And that mysterious toilet comes in handy from time to time!

We are so glad the bulldozer wouldn’t start!

Now, each night when we put our sheep to bed, we cross our fingers and hope that it is still standing by morning.

How long has the Leaning Tower of Pisa been standing?

***

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All photos, thoughts, experiences, and opinions are my own.

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