Don't Pop The Champagne Cork Yet!

Aggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Sorry, did I wake you? Three months of waiting and when the week of closing arrives it turns out that one of the sellers had an undeclared lien on a little piece of the property. The company holding the lien couldn't get the paperwork turned around in time so everything was postponed until next week. We had a locksmith, a builder, a bee keeper (don't ask!), an arborist, the next door neighbor and good friends from Houston all poised in the wings waiting to descend on this little piece of Texas just as soon as the ink was dry. Well it wasn't going to happen so we came home.    

I wanted to mention the state of the property. By that I mean the state that the sellers are leaving for us to clean up. I can't believe that people are so irresponsible. I can't imagine that people don't feel an acute sense of embarassment having people see them live in such conditions. We stopped by the property on the way out to dinner last night and noticed that a gate was missing. Not the puny garden variety, but a large please-close-it-or-the-cows-will-get-out type of gate. Turns out the sellers just wanted an extra gate - you know how you can never find one when you need it - so they simply took one home with them.                          

We spent the night at the Captain Clay, a wonderful B&B in Independence, Texas, population 125. This historic house is owned by a darling, mature lady called Thelma. As well as managing a B&B, Thelma - who is remarkably sprite despite her frail size and advanced years - keeps goats and minature horses. As if to prove she takes no shit from anyone (and she is refreshingly forthright) she also drives a Hummer. Thelma is an Anglophile and takes pride in her British heritage over that of the Germans and Czechs who also settled the area. In fact Independence was settled by the English, who for once in their history didn't plant a Union Jack in the ground and declare war against the locals on behalf of the empire. Perhaps it was because Texas had several flags already. Formerly known as Coles Settlement and established in 1824, Independence was the place to be in Washington County until Brenham beat it out by two votes as the seat of the county government in a county-wide vote . And yes, they changed the name to celebrate Texas' independence from Mexico. The Brits are never far away from a good fight are they?