I refer to our two hundred year old home as a white elephant. I am in the greenhouse business and my husband is a rabid gardener, so the grounds are planted with rare trees and flower gardens and go on for acres. Over the years we have added a large gazebo and a spring fed pond. yadayadayada. Only a person who knows old homes first hand, and has the time or money to hire a professional full-time gardener, should ever buy it. There'll be lots of people to come look when it goes up for sale, but it would not be for the weak of heart. Heating bills. Put that at the top of your list. Even if you let the house fall down around you, they'll just keep coming. We've installed new double-paned energy efficient windows. Caulked. Weather stripped. Built a solarium across 2/3 of the northern exposure of the home for solar gain, replaced the roof, put in a new boiler, converted from electric to gas heat (yes we had to pay to have lines ran), and placed gas grates in strategic spots to take off chill or use when it wasn't too cold. Use reversing ceiling fans to distribute the heat. We've cut our heating bill IN HALF as far as energy consumption. But, rates rise and will keep rising. We still have six hundred dollar a month heating bills in winter. And this is an old farmhouse. It does not have fourteen foot ceilings. It also is nowhere near 6,000k square feet. And, until we put a small fortune in the energy efficiency items, a draft from a window on one side of the room could blow out a candle on the other. It's comfy now, and even cool in summer so we don't need air conditioning, but for the first fifteen years of my marriage you needed a wet suit to take a bath. Think also about the bones of the house. Redecorating is great, but get somebody in there who knows construction really well to look at the skeleton of the house before you even consider buying it. The last two winters, we replaced the beams and joists under our kitchen and dining room. They were logs with the bark still on them, or logs cut on site and hand hewn to nearly square. They were ENORMOUS,and likely dragged into place by teams of horses. We needed to chain saw them to even think about getting them out. We had to gut these rooms clean down to the dirt underneath and after we got new joists up then replaced floors. Moolah. BTW, we never thought about replacing joists and floor beams in this house. After all, they'd withstood two centuries before us. Then termites happened. LOL. The roofer left about a hundred bats homeless when we replaced the slate for modern shingles. We've put in a new entrance box and had to rewire the whole house and it has solid brick interior walls. The logistics of running electricals, and the plumbing for the boiler system were staggering. If you see fuse boxes that should send up a red flag to check out the electricals for modern wiring. Moolah. We had to restucco over the seventy five year old stucco over the bricks. (major, major moolah) We've had to repair or renovate chimneys and it's hard to find brickmasons here who are familiar with the old craftsmanship. That's another thing about very old houses. Nearly everything in seriously old house is done by methods not common to craftsmen anymore and that includes materials. If you have to replace parts of woodwork it's going to be something like oak or mahogany and large. Not box store kickplates. My walls are so old, it's not even plaster on most of them, it's a sandy almost concrete covering. If we put together all the money we have spent in the last two and a half decades breathing life back into our wonderful old home, we could be living in a really fancy new one. We don't want to. We love our old home and pretty much know it inside and out by now. But, it's like a marriage and yes.............we are the volunteer caretakers to an historic old building we couldn't see being left to ruin. But, it's going to take a very special person to want the job after us. Now, ask me about the plastering schedule where the doors and windows are. LOL. Old houses just keep settling. Not a door in this house even resembles a rectangle. They all have been trimmed or had wood added to them to fit the openings. Every window was custom made and no two are the same size. The house is nearly regained its integrity now, and I can see the end in sight of the major issues. But, if we had been forced to sell this at any point along our long path of renovation, and somebody else had to pick up where we'd left off, if they knew up from down, you can take it to the bank our money and sweat wouldn't have left much room for profit. There'd have been no quick sells. The end results perfect for us. It's rustic yet and even has a pitcher pump in the kitchen to pull up the spring water for the house. But you always live with a foot in the past where people lived simpler and made do in some respects. Some people can do that. Some people can't. It fits our lifestyle well.........simple and hard working. But, it was purchased because my husband wanted an old large home in a rural setting. If he'd just wanted "room" it wouldn't have even been in the game. Good luck whatever you decide.

We have a message posted at the entrance driveway to the private school where I teach (grades 1-8). It says "Please, no cell phone use!" and is intended for both kids and the parents driving in to drop off their children. It is far too congested to allow anyone to be distracted during those drop off and pick up times. When I am on duty during pick up or drop off, I often have to remind drivers about the rule. Yet I know any parent would suffer tremendous guilt if they were to hit someone. You'd think it would just be common sense, but we are so used to the convenience of multi-tasking, we sometimes just don't think! Susan

I get the feeling that 50 Shades is not meant to be a romance. Now, I might be wrong in what I am about to type because I only heard this second-hand, and my source was someone who had nothing at all to do with the writing of the novel, and - not only THAT - but I detected in her, my source, a big dollop of envy. But this book, apparently, started life on the internet, with everyone who wanted to, adding a paragraph or so. Hands up anyone who has ever been involved with such a saga? I have, and the temptation is great to write the most outlandish things. The result can be rather funny, certainly totally crazy and really something that in Real Life (a writer sitting at his or her desk) would usually avoid. I haven't read the book but I must say I am starting to become curious. I feel quite certain that this Christian Grey fellow is a sleaze, a &^%$# and possibly even a (*&#@%^^&. Maybe I'll even attempt to write my own revolting novel. I think whoever thought of the title, Fifty Shades of Grey, was brilliant.

I saw this this morning. I know some will refuse to view it because of the source (eyeroll) but is it a very well thought out opinion. IMO Even if you believe the worst is happening at our border, the parents and the children are being well cared for. They are being clothed, fed three meals a day, and provided housing with indoor plumbing and exercise facilities. They have medical care and they are safe from drug dealers and gangs. My God, this is the United States of America. To accuse any American of acting in the same manner Nazis treated Jews and Gays and other hated groups is beyond the pale. Just stop it. People who invoke “Nazis” as it relates to the present day demean themselves and our country as a whole. Take a deep breath. Remember we live in the U.S.A. and be thankful and be gracious to the people with whom you disagree and then they will be gracious to you. Then vote when you have a chance for people who support your positions. That is how we settle our disagreements in this republic https://townhall.com/columnists/brucebialosky/2018/07/01/stop-whining-about-discord-when-you-are-causing-the-discord-n2495394?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=