MY LITTLE CORNER OF THE INTERNET
by: Doug
June 20, 2008
When I began considering moving to Texas three years ago my parents began to consider retiring and moving to upstate New York. My sister had moved there 10 years earlier when she got married. The housing market was great and retirement seemed like a good idea. So they retired, sold the house (just weeks before the market started to decline), and moved 10 minutes from my sister. Since moving up here they have really gotten into country living. Slow, peaceful, and relaxing. From time to there are opportunities for them to do something different. One such opportunity is to go flying. A family friend up here is a pilot with his own plane. 
Last week I had the chance to go up with him and get some photos. What started as a nice calm day didn’t last for too long. While there were no storms the temperature did heat up and the wind was swirling around more than is ideal. Basically conditions that are ideal for a bumpy ride. While it wasn’t great for taking pictures it was a fun ride and did give me the chance to see what I could do at the controls when its not perfect conditions. As you can obviously tell I didn’t crash the plane. In perfect conditions it really is easy to fly. Conditions like this were a different story, but I held my own.
So getting back to my parents moving to NY. They were fortunate enough to find a very nice house for them for a great price. The downside is the neighbors are so close (but they are family of my brother-in-law). At least its got a small lawn for my dad to mow. 
It has plenty of space for the grandkids to run around and play and my mother has more than enough space to grow fresh vegetables for themselves (and the local rabbits). It is one of those quiet neighborhoods where when you hear a car coming up the road you look to see who it is because there is a good chance it is someone you know coming to the house.
My sister and her husband have been ‘building’ a house the last 10 years. Well, they bought the land 10 years ago, cleared some space maybe 4 or 5 years ago, and finally began the real work about 2 years ago. They are now nearly complete. It needs stairs on the front porch and they can get the certificate of occupancy and move in. It will be a big change for them. Right now the 5 of them share one bathroom. Fortunately only 3 of them actually need the bathroom (the other girls are 26 and 4 months old). The road is also a fairly busy road (as several of their former cats can attest to) with several houses close by…at least by local standards. The new house will have much more room for them, as well as lots of space to have others over and provide space for visiting uncles. It is also on a dead end road with just a few houses, and lots of privacy. 
The house was almost entirely built by family and friends. His brother-in-law works for the phone company and wired the house for phone, cable and internet (including at least 2 ethernet ports in every room). His nephew installs radiant heating systems (hot water that runs in the floors to provide the heat….very nice!). He has access to any heavy equipment he needs from work. Mike’s friend was a huge help when he was home from the mission field over the summer and his father (the pilot) has built houses and provided a lot of advice and more ‘precise’ work (lets just say Mike’s experience building bridges doesn’t always translate well when working with little details). My father did all the plumbing (this is where my family reading this laughs…). It was definitely a group effort with lots of people helping where they could. 
For the time being the house will be a nice “Tyvec blue”. Siding is not needed to get the CO. Now that this project is done the retired guys get a bit of a break, and then on to the next project. While life up here is more laid back and quiet, they keep busy and productive. Next weekend they hope to move in and begin to enjoy 3x the space. Mikaela will be able to have lots of room to be her energetic self and Erin will be able to escape ‘the beast’ to do her schoolwork (well, not until the fall when school starts again). We’re all excited to see this happen, its been a long time in the making and its been a lot of work and time for Mike.
So thats a bit of a glimpse inside life up here in NY with the family.