In 1976, when our son Lyle was two years old, Baker, my son Harry and I moved from a rented rambler in Bellevue Washington to the state capitol Olympia. Harry was nine and angry about the jolt to his suburban world. We rented a place on the outskirts of town and I went searching for a home we could afford.
Olympia was in the process of changing from a mid-sized town with small neighborhoods surrounded by Puget Sound on north. We were broke. One morning I read an add for a small house with three acres on Gull Harbor Road. It was available on a real estate contract for $19,000.I drove out to the edge of town and and down a long drive between a ditch and a field of Queen Ann's Lace with a few scraggy fruit trees scattered around. There were giant holly trees on each side of the short brick path to the front door. Deana Stone answered the door and showed me around. The House was tiny,450 square feet, with two very small bedrooms and a small wood stove in the kitchen. It was funky and sweet to me, a transplant from Jamaica New York. I loved it.
Deanna told me the property was available on a real estate contract for $19,000. She had one offer. But, she said, "I'll sell it to you if you agree to give me the walnuts from the two trees out back." I agreed and called Baker. He came out talked to Deana and we agreed.
We lived there enlarging and remodeling the house for over forty years. We paid off the mortgage, learned to grow our own food; care for chickens and goats and rescue and train hound dogs. I obtained a Masters Degree from The Evergreen State Collège. Baker got a good job with a state agency.
Deana died, the old walnut trees too. The boys grew up and left home.
Baker and I are both retired. We sold the house and land a few years ago. Now we live on a cul-de-sac, close to town a 1960's rambler.
— Julian
Olympia was in the process of changing from a mid-sized town with small neighborhoods surrounded by Puget Sound on north. We were broke. One morning I read an add for a small house with three acres on Gull Harbor Road. It was available on a real estate contract for $19,000.I drove out to the edge of town and and down a long drive between a ditch and a field of Queen Ann's Lace with a few scraggy fruit trees scattered around. There were giant holly trees on each side of the short brick path to the front door. Deana Stone answered the door and showed me around. The House was tiny,450 square feet, with two very small bedrooms and a small wood stove in the kitchen. It was funky and sweet to me, a transplant from Jamaica New York. I loved it.
Deanna told me the property was available on a real estate contract for $19,000. She had one offer. But, she said, "I'll sell it to you if you agree to give me the walnuts from the two trees out back." I agreed and called Baker. He came out talked to Deana and we agreed.
We lived there enlarging and remodeling the house for over forty years. We paid off the mortgage, learned to grow our own food; care for chickens and goats and rescue and train hound dogs. I obtained a Masters Degree from The Evergreen State Collège. Baker got a good job with a state agency.
Deana died, the old walnut trees too. The boys grew up and left home.
Baker and I are both retired. We sold the house and land a few years ago. Now we live on a cul-de-sac, close to town a 1960's rambler.
— Julian
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