904 Cardigan Court

We went to visit this house today, in the hopes of purchasing it. It is in Wright's Mill, the aforementioned neighborhood with the hokey water wheel at the entrance. The house has been foreclosed and we knew that it needed some cosmetic work on the inside. The previous "owner" trashed the place before leaving and didn't bother to repair some things, like a gaping hole in the roof.

What we didn't know is that it has some major foundation problems. The foundation has shifted and one side of the house dropped about 1.5 inches. And it really shows. There are big cracks everywhere and one of the front doors looks like it could pop out at any minute.

It makes me begin to wonder if living in Wright's Mill is just a pipe dream...

Jackson Skyrats

Canadian geese are sort of like the pigeons of Jackson. They used to be migratory birds and would stop over here in the south, but these days they are staying longer and longer. Or not even leaving at all.

I (un)affectionately like to refer to them as poo-makers. They're always leaving their business behind on the greens at my golf course, which is pretty icky when it's not dry. They're also very aggressive. They will continue coming at you with their wings a-flying even when you are brandishing a weighty sand wedge. I made sure to stand clear and make use of my camera's zoom feature for this picture. You can see one of them was eyeing me though, ready to attack, if threatened.

Beagle Bagel Reprise

Today I had a lovely lunch at the Beagle Bagel Cafe. It was a lox lovers sandwich on a black Russian bagel with a side of bagel chips. Delicious!

Expansion

This construction site is just next to the apartments where I live. Apparently, they're adding (even!) more retail space to the area. I don't know why, because there is so much empty retail space already. But, if there's a buck to be made, someone's going to be chasing after it, even if it's not sustainable.

When they were clearing this site, I heard backhoes and earth movers beeping all day long. It really took me back to the days of Bussy St Georges. There was a big apartment building going up across the street from me. It was always noisy in the mornings (it kept me from oversleeping) and there were perpetual clouds of dust. At least the housing in Bussy was needed though.

I am going to post a photo of this worksite once a week, in order to track its progress. Feel free to place your bets on how long it will take. My vote is for three months.

The Red Store

This picture was actually taken in Oklahoma City. I was there visiting family over the Labor Day weekend. This red store is even bigger than the one in Jackson.

Shopping is definitely a different experience in the US, here they actually have cashiers manning almost every station! In the green store in France, you were lucky if there were five registers open, and two of those were usually for holders of the green store card only. America is more democratic in their customer service, and I like it.