Old Glory

Since I mentioned it in my last post, I thought maybe I should explain just what Old Glory is.  Before Cam and I got married, we purchased 24 acres near Patoka Lake.  Our original intention was to build a log cabin from scratch and live out there.  However, we realized that my interpreting work would be in the Louisville area and an hour commute each way was not what either of us wanted to do.  We kept it as a getaway spot and spent lots of weekends there camping, going to the lake, and improving on the land.  However, once Lila was born, and especially after we got goats, it became harder and harder to make the 40 minute drive from our home.  We eventually decided to sell it and look for something closer to home.  

It just so happened that at the end of our road, there was a beautiful property that seemed to have been abandoned.  It did, not however, seem to be for sale.  But, Cam had big dreams for this property.  It couldn’t get much closer than the mile down our road.  The property had an oooold… um… house might be too strong a word..shack that had been abandoned since the 1960’s.  Needless to say, it was in quite a state of disrepair.  It had at one time, been a bustling home, but not any time recently.

 

The property is bordered on two sides by Big Indian Creek, a definite plus for us.  It did not have electricity or running water, but it had promise.  It had a large field that had at one time been a crop field.  Cam decided to contact the owner.  At that time, the owner told Cam he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with it.  Cam was persistent over the next few months, calling and writing the owner, continuing to express interest.  We later found out that shortly before Cam’s first call, the owner’s son had passed away.  The owner had planned to give the property to the son, and so was trying to decide what to do with it now.  Cam let it rest for a month or two and finally gave it one last shot.  At this point, the owner was ready to sell and accepted the offer that we had made on the property.  The owner had decided to sell the property and give the money to children of his deceased son. 

After the sale, the fun began.  Not one to shy away from hard work, Cam jumped right in and got his hands dirty. Quite literally.  There was trash in the house from the 60’s.  An old sofa had been lived in by mice and other critters. 

But, once we were through with it, it actually is quite a nice little retreat. 

Both Cam and I love to take something worn and ragged that most people have disregarded as junk, and turn it into something really cool. 

Since we painted it red, white, and blue, we started affectionately calling it “Old Glory”.  Since we bought it, we have cleared the overgrown field, put up a fence to try to keep little kiddos out of the creek, built a barn, renewed the house, cleared some trails, enjoyed the creek, and had several camp-outs complete with campfires.  The girls love to go down there.  It’s our little private retreat.