Mission Impossible??

This is the beginning of my blog on the biggest project I have ever taken on, and by "I" I really mean "WE".  Gloria and I are attempting to bring my childhood home back from it's current neglected state with the intent of moving in.

My family moved to this house in the fall of 1960.  At that time it could have been described as a house in the country.  The house is on 10 acres and at the time had farms around it.  At that time it was outside the city limits.  Today it sits within the city limits, surrounded by modern neighborhoods of plastic houses on tiny lots.  Over the years my Dad turned down many offers for the property from developers but always told them to get lost.  He managed to live in the house until he was 96 years old.   After his passing last fall my brother and sister and I had to figure out what to do with it.  They agreed to let me buy them out for a very reasonable price.  I think they both wanted to see it stay in the family, not necessarily their family.

In mid may 2015 it officially became our property problem.  The job of rejuvenating the property is actually many jobs in one: cleaner, sorter, junk remover, construction manager, handyman, farmer and family archivist.  Here is a picture of the back of the house:

Here is the "back field":

As you can see it is well on it's way to returning to a forest!