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@just4him (317089)
Green Bay, Wisconsin
March 30, 2017 4:17pm CST
The home I lived in for 8 years is gone. Not by earthquake, fire, flood, or other natural disaster, but by a bulldozer.
For two years I hemmed and hawed about trying to save my home while I was in foreclosure and then going through the application for modification. I finally decided a year ago it wasn't worth saving.
Well it wasn't. All that's left as of an hour ago is the foundation. You can see the bulldozer at the back of what used to be the house and the only thing still standing is the front porch. I'm sure before all is said and done, that will be gone as well.
My older son called yesterday to say the bulldozer was in the driveway. I tried to remember my camera when I went to do laundry, and if I had, I could have gotten a picture of at least half the house still standing as of noon today. This picture was taken at 3. Nothing left except the memories.
In other news, I now have three chapters finished or about finished on Freedom's Cry. I was almost finished with the next chapter when I had to leave to do laundry. I'll be going back to it and get that chapter done before I go to bed. This makes the book almost finished. I just need to finish up the final details of the book. I did run into some interesting facts yesterday that almost had me worried about certain aspects of the novel, but a few added paragraphs and a minor change took care of that newly found information. I have also determined there was a blockade by the English in place in around Boston in 1775, so I will be dealing with that as well before the end of the book.
That's my news. I will be back with all of you before too long on a daily basis. I should be putting the final paragraphs on the book soon.
March that normally goes in like a lion out like a lamb or vice versa is contrary this year. In like a lion, out like a lion. It's been snowing all day. Nothing is staying, it's been too warm for that.
How are things in your neck of the woods? Thanks for reading.
40 people like this
41 responses
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
30 Mar 17
How sad was it to see the house being knocked down? It must have tugged at your heart strings. Obviously you weren't living there so maybe not so sad. Glad to hear about the book and you are spot on with the lion at the end of the month, we have had snow all day too but nothing is white, just very wet.. It must have been a lot of research to set a story in an era so far back. Thankfully I'm sure it was not hard to find info from the 1775 in Mass, my 8th great grandfather was there.
6 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
31 Mar 17
@just4him We had huge ones about lunch time today when I was visiting with my mom. They looked to be the size of soft balls or thereabouts, but that was looking through the window. I don't know that I've seen them that large before.
2 people like this
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
31 Mar 17
@MarshaMusselman That is large. Today is clouds with the sun trying to push through.
2 people like this
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Mar 17
No, it's not. I am working in the time of the Revolutionary War with this last novel and just need to make sure I get the historic facts right. Something I found yesterday was something I never learned in school or had heard of before. Just a minor adjustment and everything is back on track. Very interesting about your many times great grandfather.
Very wet here. Right now I'm looking out the window at huge flakes coming down. They've ranged from the barely seeable size to the huge, which they are now.
4 people like this
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Mar 17
Spring will come. They said we would get accumulation but it's too warm for it. I hope it doesn't stick with you.
@Juliaacv (51081)
• Canada
30 Mar 17
@just4him Its pouring rain out, just miserable, and we came home from the lawyer's office a little while ago, and just the thought that as we pulled into the garage, that this would be for the very last time. When we first moved here, it was only a carport, but we had someone finish it for us and we've really enjoyed the garage.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (247186)
• United States
31 Mar 17
I'm stopping by briefly to say a quick hello. So sort tonhear about your house, but you do have the memories. I haven't been on much at all. I've been truly vacationing and having the time of my life. The weather has been so awesome, I'm wary of returning home to that brrrr. However, I'm so excited to see my loved ones and my dear friends. Doodles, too!
2 people like this
@Happy2BeMe (99380)
• Canada
30 Mar 17
I was thinking of you earlier today and wondering how your writing was coming along so I am glad that you updated us. Sad to see you home go but like you said you have the memories. Things are good with me.
3 people like this
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Mar 17
@Happy2BeMe Thanks. I'm happy it's almost finished.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
30 Mar 17
If it couldn't be saved then the right decision was made. Things are very windy here...
2 people like this
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Mar 17
Yes, it was the right decision. It will be interesting to see what gets put up in its place.
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Mar 17
@AbbyGreenhill Somebody's dream home, I'm sure. I expect Habitat for Humanity will be putting it up.
@Tampa_girl7 (50317)
• United States
31 Mar 17
@just4him we bought back the home in West Virginia that my parents once owned. My husband and I have been restoring it since 2003. It was in horrid shape. We are not rich and have made most of the repairs ourself. 
1 person likes this
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
31 Mar 17
@Tampa_girl7 If I could have kept the house, I might have done the same, but I lost it to foreclosure last year.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40298)
• Laguna Woods, California
31 Mar 17
Congratulations on being so close to the end of your book. My retirement book is going well, too, although I am waiting for the Foreward to be finished, and there will be other things which will take time, too. I am excited about your book. It sounds interesting. Sorry to hear it is snowing!
1 person likes this
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
31 Mar 17
It's March and Wisconsin, it can do anything here. Yes, I'm very excited the book is almost finished. I've gotten three chapters finished this week so far and hoping for a couple more before the weekend is over. I'm glad your book is also coming along well.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40298)
• Laguna Woods, California
3 Apr 17
@just4him - It is a very satisfying feeling to see a book come together. It feels a little like raising a child! LOL 
1 person likes this
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
25 Jun 17
I'm doing very well, thank you. I love my apartment. I'll be here a year in August. It could have been a bad experience, but it really wasn't. It was sad when they tore the house down. I've been thinking about going by there to see if another house is going up there yet. I was by there a couple months ago and it was still a vacant lot.
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14749)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
31 Mar 17
What made you decide to bulldoze a home you once fought to keep?
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14749)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
31 Mar 17
@just4him Okay, now it makes sense.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
31 Mar 17
it's sad to see a place gone, the home I grew up in is like that, the kitchen had been built in the 1800s with pegs, sad it at least couldnt have been saved
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
31 Mar 17
@just4him yeah, often they wont go the save whats there route, which is sad, but understandable
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
31 Mar 17
We've had a wintry mix today, but it will warm enough by the weekend that it won't stay around long. Even though we had snow off and on most of the day since this morning it never really amounted to much, but I think that's because it was a combination of snow and rain. Now it seems to be ice that's coming down, or sleet or whatever. I'm hopeful I won't need to clean much of my windows off before pt tomorrow, but at least now I'll remember it might be a possibility.
We just bought a new used vehicle a couple of days ago, and yesterday was my first day to drive myself to PT. I forgot all about warming up the car first as my husband has been taking me in his car.
How exciting to be almost done with this next book of yours. I'm impressed. One day I hope to buy one or all of what you've written as I'd like to own all the books that I've edited. So far, I've only bought one a children's book.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
31 Mar 17
@just4him I've not completed anything I've started writing yet, Valerie. The book I have in my 'library' is a book I merely edited. It' kinds of cool just the same. I was doing quite a bit of editing for Vivian from wdc, I'm not sure whether you ever knew her or not? She started up a small press some years ago. Maybe by next year I'll make some type of royalty from the books I've done that have sold. This year I was under the ten dollar minimum.
@just4him (317089)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
31 Mar 17
We started out with clouds this morning, but they are white fluffy ones with lots of blue sky right now. I hope your snow/ice is melted. I didn't pay attention to what the temps are for the weekend, but it's in the 40's today.
I'm very happy this book is almost finished. I've been trying to think when I actually started it and I think it was back in the 90's when it got it's start. I had a lot of writer's block with it, and then I had to change up the timeline. I was and wasn't thinking about the Revolutionary War when I started it and had the timeline wrong. For some strange reason I was thinking the war ended in 1776. I had one of those DUH moments when I started really getting to work on it and realized the reason for my writer's block was centered on the misguided timeline for the Revolutionary War. The book doesn't focus on the war, but it does work on that timeline so I need to have all the historical facts right for it. The most I'll be dealing with the war is in the final chapters of the book. I'm on the home stretch now.
Having a copy of a book you've written in your library must make you feel awesome. I have two of my books and just holding Scarred the first time was an awe inspiring moment for me.
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (103100)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
31 Mar 17
Surviving a severe thunderstorm that hit the Lake Charles region on Thursday evening and hoping that another storm that is supposed to hit the area on Sunday in a false alarm.
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (103100)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
1 Apr 17
@just4him After Sunday the weather will be cool again.
1 person likes this
