05.24.26 All systems go...

 

     Had a wonderful time with the buyers over breakfast yesterday. Everything is moving forward, as planned, even after the dreaded home inspections and contractor visits. Before they got to the house an electrician stopped by with a copy of the home inspection in hand, "The couple wanted me to look at the things in the report". "Well, c'mon in". What he was looking at was the service into the house and the boxes, which are a combination of push and screw in type. 

     I walked around with the guy and showed him the things in the report. After he was done I asked about the difficulty of replacing the panels, and the cost, "It's really not a big deal, we do it all the time". Here I've been thinking for the last 8 years that any type of improvement that doesn't involving patching, taping, or covering, would be impossible. You can, with the right people, and money, redo things from the bottom up, and correctly. 

     We came up with some stuff for the contract, full price, finish around the house what you want or can, leave what you like, close by July 1st, please leave the lawnmower. There you go. So after they left we got on the horn with our South Carolina realtor and told her we'd like to move on the house that I talked about on the blog yesterday, you know the one near the fishing. It would have to include a buyers home sale contingency but they're used to that down there. A few hours later we got a text back, "Unavailable, under contract a few days ago". 

     So it's snooze you lose down there. There are people all over the country doing the same thing we are. Downsizing and relocating and trying to buy a home on the computer. We have another house in mind, it was our #1 pick, but was a few dollars more than we wanted to spend. It still is within range of good wade fishing, in fact, it's closer. 

     As a diversion from Zillow I went and did some research on golf carts. Boy, if you don't know then you don't know. A ton of different manufacturers and a ton of dealers down there. From what I've read and seen on videos Club Car is one of the top brands, and there's a dealer just down the road from the new ranch. 

     I think that's kind of what we're looking for. A 4 Forward model where everyone faces forward. Lifted and street legal with some of the bells and whistles. Of course, I'll be wanting it in white, it'll match the Suburban. Out the door they run about $18,000. While I have always been the used Facebook Marketplace guy I might actually allow myself to buy something new for once in my life. 

Shit's going to be going down real quick. I lose a week with the Vineyard trip, IDGAF I'm going, and a closing before July 1st. Mix in four days of work per week, and the need to get down to open up Cape May, and needless to say it's go time. No rest the weary, or the South Carolina bound. 

05.23.26 What a very good day...

     

     While I was out mowing the grass for the literal 50th time this year my phone pinged for an upcoming message. I've been on high alert waiting for any movement on the sale of the house. Needless to say we've been on edge and feeling powerless since we've started working with this couple. So when I saw it was a text from Theresa and above is what I saw, which to me, could have been the beginnings of a Dear John letter...

     But then I scrolled down and red those six words, "....and we're ready to move forward". 

     While it ain't over until it's over we're still alive, remarkably. We invited them over for dinner to sit down and finalize both sides before the lawyer draws up the one and only contract. Rather then have two realtors going back and forth with each party I'd rather have it where you sit down across from each other, be totally honest and transparent, and fair, and work out the details, couple to couple, seller to buyer. And then break bread and have a drink.

     Kudos to them for being good buyers. They love the house, and want it, but that didn't stop from from not only doing the home inspection, but a separate chimney inspection as well, there's two of them with five fireplaces, and including a contractor to give them the skinny on the costs of getting what they want done. 

     The other night when the heavens opened up the water was pouring over one gutter like Niagra Falls. It's on the high roof and in a tough spot. Hard to get off the ladder and hard to reach down from the gutter line while sprawled out on the roof. My idea was for them to come over for dinner last night, when it wasn't raining, just in case one of those droplets of water, or a bunch of them, would find their way along a ceiling or into the basement. 

     So it raise a ladder on one side of the house to do an up and over to scale down to the gutter and leader that were clogged. As I perched over the gutter, looking down at a 30 foot fall, I thought, "What irony". Here I am ridiculously happy that we sold only to then haven fallen off the roof trying to clean out the gutter. Theresa wasn't around, and neither were the neighbors, so it would have been a lonely and slow death. But I survived my last trip up to one of the five roofs, three pitched, and two flat. 

     Before the good news and the Spiderman act on the roof I got a call from Maaco. "Your truck is ready". Music to my ears, what a way to start the day. So my 80 year old love of a neighbor gave me a ride into Trenton to pick her up. I don't have a name for her yet but soon will. And there she was in all of her 2004 almost looks new, from a distance, glory. 

     While my old iPhone and the different color profiles on my computer versus yours doesn't show the white very well, she is very white. And the somewhat tinted windows and black trim really pop. One of the things I liked is they took off the cargo racks on the roof and did them them over as well. 

     The only thing that looked shitty was the faded from emblem on the grill. I had painted my other trucks Chevy emblem so I went to work. With all the painting I've been doing I had lots of tape and paper around and a good can of spray paint. 

     After a couple of coats it was dry and it looked great. What also looked great was the roof and the hood. It was suffering deterioration after a 22 year old bad original paint job and a little spray paint cover up at home by the previous owner. 

     Well in the end I couldn't have been happier with the results. Now, it was a $1,600 pant job, and it surely isn't ready for one of those Barret-Jackson car collector auctions, but I'm happy. There's some overspray here and there and a little sloppy work around the doors on the inside, which I will make a return trip for them to fix, but it looks great. 

     Next up is a set of mud flaps for her to protect the body and paint from rocks and ashphalt. Then it'll be a big order over at Weather Tech for floor liners and seat protectors all the way around, which will run about $800, but so worth it. Hopefully our next home will be our last and this truck will be my last ride before my dementia kicks in and someone takes the keys from me. I'm into her for $6,100, not bad for a 22 year old truck with 120,000 original miles. 

     I sent over a text to the original owners for them to see her post-spa week visit. Vehicles that are designed for family use become part of the family, and we felt that with the owners when we bought it. Like a home, there are vehicles you hope go to a good family, and will be well cared for. I think they approve of how we're doing with their once family ride.

     It's funny how I wrote more about the truck than the house, but trust me, I'm excited. And now the work begins to get rid of what's left, decide what we're leaving, and packing up the rest for the movers to handle. With the Suburban purchase we've decided I'll tow the Jones Brothers down to North Carolina for it's own facelift and let the movers truck our stuff down to South Carolina. Right now there's no tow bar on the Suburban so I'll get that done, and the trailer onced over, before the trip down south. 

     Things are gonna move fast, which may include buying a home sight unseen, with us depending heavily on our real estate agent. We got a place picked out so we'll see if that's one we're going to put an offer in on. Today another couple is coming to pick up our bedroom set they bought during the Estate Sale and the buyers are coming over to hash out the details of the contract. I'm praying for no hard rain.

     And soon I'll be pulling out of Titusville and New Jersey, but first, and in just a little over three weeks, I been heading north to the Vineyard to finally find my first 2026 striped bass. But before that I'll have to find all of my gear, which could be anywhere and in any bin over at the storage unit. I might have to bum some stuff off the two Joe's or Abe when I get up there. No worries there, that's just the small stuff.

05.22.26 Okay, now what's the move...

 

     It seems like months ago since I tossed the old "Sale by Owner" sign into the first dumpster. Needless to say it's been a long time since we returned from the Lowcountry on January 18th. That's when we decided not to wait until next year to make the move selling the house and moving to South Carolina. You can see that recap, HERE. 

     Selling a house coupled with a big move takes lots of strategy and tactics, and lots of planning. There's no doubt we've busted our butts getting the ball in motion. One of the hard dates we planned for was today, May 22nd. 

That's was going to be the day that the home went on the open market, most likely with a realtor. Well, that's today, and we're not signed up with one and the home isn't hitting the MLS or Zillow. The plans went sideways, well hopefully forward, when a young couple saw our "Coming Soon" sign on the front lawn and gave Theresa a call. That was about a month ago and now we wait for the word if things will move forward with them, following a no-doubt brutal series of home inspections, or will we have to go in a different direction. As Tom Petty sang in his song, The Waiting, "Waiting is the hardest part". I still feel optimistic, somewhat, that these are the buyers, but only time, just a little bit more, will tell. We haven't heard a peep from them all week, which has my doubt meter raised. 

     Luckily this past Monday I kicked off the student's psych semester and the mix of classroom and clinical at Capital Health and the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital has kept my mind busy and not obsessing over things I can't control. Theresa and I are still having early AM and late PM sessions on Zillow looking at what's available down in Sun City, but that is stressful as well. Like I've said before it's hard to house shop 750 miles away. 

     But our search has produced a home that we both agree could be the one. Nice home, good location, and in a realistic price range. It's funny, as soon as we had a price agreed on the sale of our house, we moved up the amount of potential homes down there into the next price bracket. I guess we never learn. "Just some more space". "What if lots of people visit?". "We can afford it". So, with the prospect of giving some money back on the sale we became real, and responsible. The goal is to downsize and simplify, not to get the most for the most. 

      And this house is good in a fishing way as well. Sun City, in Okatie, Jasper County, is about 13 miles from Hilton Head, but there's plenty of fishy water between home and the island. 

     So while checking out the listings on Zillow and looking at kitchens and floor plans which helps rule houses in and out I look for other things as well. Sun City is a huge 5,000 acre complex and finding a home inside can be overwhelming. Things like distances to the amenities and exits are things to consider. I also pull up how the sun travels over each property to see 

what part if the house we can burn insects through the windows during each part of the day. It gets hot, like stupid hot, these days in New Jersey, and even hotter during the summer months down in South Carolina.

     When we toured some houses down there it wasn't uncommon to find handle protectors on the exterior doors, put in place so you don't get 3rd degree burns on your fingers when you go to open your door during the hottest parts of the day.

     But while doing my Google Earth intel gathering I noticed that fishable water is even closer than I thought. Part of Sun City is called Riverbend, why?, well because it borders the Colleton River. The Colleton River is a 7-mile long reach of tidewater that empties into the Chechessee and Broad Rivers and Port Royal Sound, which then opens up to the Atlantic Ocean between Hilton Head to the south and Beaufort County to the north. 

     So our home is a short golf cart drive out of the Sun City North neighborhood to Riverbend, which is just across Route 170. There the headwaters and mud flats on the Colleton River can be accessed at the Riverbend Pool and Park which is private and for homeowners, which will hopefully be us sooner then later.

     I calculated it out with the help of Google Earth and it's a 1.43 mile golf cart drive to the pier at Riverbend Pool and Park. There you can find a long pier and mud flats you can fly fish on incoming tides. 

     And what does the internet tell me about fishing in the Colleton River? Nothing but good, from reds, to cobia, to specks, to tarpon, and sharks. Sounds like a good place for me.

     I hate to say it but it might sound like I'll need some type of additional watercraft other than the Jones to access these skinny water spots. A paddle board? Yeah, no, surely I would fall in and get eaten by the gators. Kayak? I hate fishing from kayaks, but I might have to learn. At least one would get me out to the flats, channels, and oyster beds on lower tides. I'd hate to see Theresa's face when I tell her I need another vessel? In eight years she's seen a bunch come and go. My two-person pontoon boat (sold), my drift boat from the Upper Delaware (sold), my first Jones Brother's boat (sold), Jim's Jones Brother's boat (waiting for the trip south and for some plastic surgery), the first SS Archer (sold), the second SS Archer (now in the Vineyard), two kayaks (sold), and the jet boat (sold). I know it's coming, and probably sooner than later, when we get down there. Walking on those flats and oyster beds and in that pluff mud isn't easy, and can be dangerous. 

     But before that we'll have to get our hands on a golf cart so I can zip around, you know, to the gym, and the pool, and the Colleton River. I'll have to make some type of fly rod carrier so I look cool, otherwise below is what my neighbors will be seeing more often then not.

     And as I end this week in a state of flux I thought about going fishing. Surely after the rain the river bumped up a bit and there will be herring and bass navigating the higher flows....yeah right. We must be in a severe drought by now, I can't remember New Jersey being this dry in years. Soon the massive wildfires will start to flare up. After that deluge of rain the river is still at 

late summer flows. This 3rd week of May and it's running at 7,640 cfs? Cmon man? Someone is going to have to open the gates up at the New York reservoirs soon or else the crabs and bluefish will be up in Trenton due to the creeping salt line with no water keeping it in check downriver. And yes, there have been crabs, bluefish, and even a whale that has hit Trenton over the years.

     Luckily the water temps are now around 70 after almost hitting 80 during the heat we had last week. But even if things were to be different I still haven't picked up my truck after her facelift from Maaco as of yet. Maybe today, that'll make me feel better heading into the rainy Memorial Day Weekend. I already slathered the windows with Rain-X and new wipers, hopefully that'll be all she needs for a while. 

05.21.26 This what selling a house will do to you...

     It's 315 in the afternoon and here's what I looked like. Is that a nice mid-day cat nap? Nope. It's what the work and stress of selling a house will do to you. Mix in a clinical day on the psychiatric inpatient unit and there you have it. While you think I'd be continuing the work to get ready the truth is I'm just exhausted in every way. Add to the stress of the home inspector coming back over to pick up the radon test and the chimney and oil tank inspector who swung back over because he images didn't stick on his iPhone. We're still waiting for the word from the potential buyers, and that's keeping me on edge and in the unknown. Time will only tell where we go from here.

     Of course following the Africa-hot temps we've had lately now we'll have a monsoon or two and rain through the Memorial Day weekend. As I write this it's pouring and the wind is howling and the leaves and branches are already falling. That's great, just a little hurricane or tornado to add to my stress. While we need the rain here in New Jersey, desperately, we don't need 10 inches over four hours to flood things and blow everything out, including the power. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, yeah right. 

 

05.20.26 I'm glad I had a taste of the old Trenton waterfront...

     I found the above image on the "Trenton Memory Lane" page on Facebook. It shows the progress of the construction on the Trenton waterfront just north of the Trenton Thunder ballpark. It was a great place to fish, Tough access, seedy people, maybe dangerous at times, 

but a great place to fish the waters of the Delaware River on the Trenton side. Guys have been fishing that old wharf for over a hundred years, and Delaware Joe tells me great stories of the bass and shad they would catch from that spot. But now the parties over.

     I fished there for years, and the waters were good. The rivers deep on the Trenton side and the current rips through there. when I ran my jet boat I fished it as well, but there's nothing like crawling around and wading, that's my comfort zone. The rocks, and concrete as well, create a hazard to wading and fly fishing as well. With it being tidal, a none foot tide at that, it's important to know when to hold em' and when to fold em'. Many times I found myself nipple deep trying to get up a bit on the dropping tide. 

     But those days are now over. I spent hundreds of hours there with friends, and even Erin as well. They were some of my fondest memories of fishing the Delaware River at Trenton. But now it will become a park, with easy fishing access, that will take away the hunt and fun of the game. Plus, it will make fly fishing just about impossible. 

     I will hopefully be gone, we still haven't heard anything yet, and when I visit it will give me a chance to reflect on the good days, and be glad that I moved south. I've done a lot in Trenton since we moved here in 2018. I've fished it, shopped it, and worked it. The last year at Capital Heath has been, well good. I'm glad my tenure here is over after the semester which started today. We were over at Threaten State Psychiatric Hospital today and will be there for the next four weeks, after the last day I'm off to the Vineyard. 

     And the crew that I'm teaching well I'll call them "The Eleven". That's how many moved on from the difficult second semester of nursing school. Not all made it, it's just the way nursing school is. "The Eleven" is one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs, so I'll leave with a Dead & Company version from 2018, a show that I was at. It's William Tell Bridge into The Eleven, enjoy....

    It's hard to imagine how many times I saw or listened to Bob Weir, who passed away January 10th of this year. I was a Bobby guy over a Gerry guy, so when he was on the mic it always made for good times. 

I hope him and Gerry are having a swell time up there in heaven.

05.19.26 It'll be the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat....

     Well, four guys for 4-1/2 hours. The inspectors picked apart every inch of this 4,200 square foot house. It was the dreaded home inspection day and it didn't disappoint if you were looking for anxiety, chest pain, and feelings of powerlessness. I know it ain't over till it's over but I'm feeling a little deflated. But that's what comes with selling a house. I still feel they want it, so we'll see over the next day or so.

     It all started with a bang, literally, when three cars collided behind the chimney inspector who quickly turned into the driveway. Police, ambulances, and tow trucks set the serene setting for the buyer to look at when he came to meet the inspectors. "How's living on Route 29?", "Oh, no worries". I heard the building inspector must be going for employee of the month and he left no stone unturned. I can see every window, curtain, closet, and cabinet he went through looking for things to report. In the end it is what it is, I keep saying that to prevent the depression from setting in. And no doubt the 100 degree day made the inside of the house feel like, well, 115 degrees. Perfect, and it's not even summer. 

     Before Theresa took me to work yesterday I buried St. Joseph near the front door. He's the patron Saint of selling a house, it might be lore, but at this time I'll take all the help I can get. And the reason I got a ride to work is because today was "Better Get Maaco" day for the new Suburban.

     I was hesitant to go with Maaco because for decades I have known them to be the ones to do quick and cheap paint jobs. You know, a couple hundred bucks to cover your car in paint. That's no prepping, priming, coating, nothing, just paint.

     But last week I spent an hour with the owner, Matt, who went though the truck from head to toe. He was amazed at how clean the truck was for it being a 2004. No rust anywhere, not underneath, not even around the wheel wells, just a tad on the roof. At some point someone tried to repaint this lovely gem, and whoever did it did it poorly.

     I watched Matt go over the truck and mark every spot that needed attention before being primed and painted. There were a few dings here and there that will be taken care of. 

     While the timing may not have been great with me returning to work today I wanted to get it done before it becomes another thing I leave not finished. Plus, I deserve to ride around in a nice looking truck. We're supposed to hear back from the buyer in the next few days and it will coincide with the truck being done. So if the deal doesn't go through at least I can drive around in a little style.

     We have to remain positive and remember they absolutely love the house. It's beautiful, but does need some, well a bunch, of money and work put into it. From what we gathered from them they will do it up right, and not the half-ass hack job I've been doing around here for eight years. I've tried my best, and broke my ass along the way, I just hope it was enough. 

     Tomorrow's another scorcher and Memorial Day weekend looks like a rainout. So the grass will burn for the next three days before the CPR rain falls to bring it back to life. It's May and 

we're already in 90's and high 80's. It's great timing since I ditched all of the air conditions so the house looks good. I guess I'll be sleeping in the buff for the rest of the month. Let the new owners get a glimpse of that.

05.18.26 Biggest (recent) day of our adult lives....

     Well, May 18, 1998, my son Sean was born so on this day I have to acknowledge how proud I am of him and glad to be his Dad. He was born at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. All went well, until he popped out with a nuchal cord, or umbilical cord wrapped around his neck a few times. Luckily it went well and he was and is all good. 

     But May 18th, 2026, BIG day. It's the day the house gets visited by the prospective buyers and their home inspector. I've already given them the skinny on the house, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But now it'll come from a neutral professional. And I'm scared shitless. But the truth is, they want to house, badly, the only question is are there to many things for them to do. So, they'll either stay, or move along looking for their first home. That'll kill me.

     This weekend was murder. We ran around tightening up this, replacing that, and cleaning out the dreaded basement. It's 100 years old, and you can just imagine the dungeon like appearance and feeling you'd get if you went down the stairs. One of my to-do things, that the future owners saw and were a little taken aback by, was the snakelike maze of electrical wires 

that were just hanging around so to speak. So, with the breakers off, all but one, we made short, no pun intended, work of it, and soon had them loaded into the dumpster. 

     I did find a nice 6-foot lightweight ladder that I'll bring up to the Vineyard in a few weeks. No more humping that heavy fiberglass one around, this one is a dream to carry. It was also getting rid of old college refrigerators, turnout gear from the old firehouse days, and my bin of 

old newspaper clippings from when I worked as a photographer. That was tough to go through and load up into the dumpster. But I did have fun remembering some of the assignments that I covered for newspapers from around New Jersey and New York City. Here's some that stick out,

Governor Corzine's accident, I was the only one to get an image out that evening, that was for the Associated Press,

My only NY Post cover, a funeral director who sold body parts. Of course, in NY Post style, one of the later covers called this guy and his creepy friends, "Ghoul and the Gang", 

Four columns, in color, and above the fold, in The NY Times Metro Section. That was a fire in Sea Bright on Ocean Ave, I think it was -50 degrees that day,

A Jersey Journal homicide that I climbed the roof fire escape, in my pajamas, to get the Birds Eye view. That was in Jersey City,

A Red Bank Register photo of a ride I took with Gloria Nelson when she got the first car phone in Monmouth County back in 1986,

And a photo that The NY Times picked up from Getty Images of a shot I got, interestingly enough, of the Delaware River in Trenton,

And my first published spot news image from April 1986 of a guy who got hit by a car while on his motorcycle, that one was special.

     There were a hundred or so more but, it's time to downsize and go, and they all went. I didn't save one. I had a hard time doing that, but who really cares? Theresa? The kids? The maybe grandkids one day? Later, and into the container it went. Sad, but that's how it goes.

     The other thing that stung was 'The Tank". The bigger one went with the last dumpster and now the smaller one will meet it's demise. I had so much fun with them over the last four years and put a ton of fish into them. It was a great way to photograph them and give them a chance to catch their breath before their release. 

     But it is now sitting on top of the "Coming Soon" sale that I put out a few weeks back. So, will I have to make up a new sign after tomorrow? That would totally deflate me if I did. I am done. Tired. Spent. And have no more skill or will to do anything else around the house. If it goes through and we have a signed contract then there's a house down in Sun City we'll buy sight unseen if they accept our sale contingency. We trust our realtor, she said, "This is a good house for you guys. I can see you in this one". So it could be Game, Set, Match. Fingers crossed. I'm going to plant St. Joseph in the ground in the morning. "Dear Saint Joseph.....", just please come through.