The clean up has begun. Gonna try to photo chronicle this as best I can. Progress however may dictate that the pictures be spaced out a bit. 

In the meantime please enjoy these memories we found while cleaning. 

My how time flies.  

So, we got about five good hours in on the garage.  No where near done but looking better. 



This old house has been here since 1970. My parents bought it in 1971 while I was in basic training. When I came back to Ashland after six weeks in San Antonio not knowing exactly where my parents had moved. I had gone with them when they were looking at houses the summer before I went into the service, but I could not remember the address so when I got off the bus in downtown Ashland and got into a cab and the cab driver asked me where to I said, “I don’t know”.  That was not a reply he was expecting. So I followed it up with an explanation about how my parents had moved while I was in basic and I only knew the approximate location of the house. I remembered that it was behind the prison so I suggested we look there first. While searching for the house I also remembered getting a letter from my parents telling me they had also bought a knew car while I was away and I was counting on finding the old car parked in front of the new house but now I realized that option was taken.  I truly felt lost. How was I going to find my house?  We drove around for a few minutes going up one road then the next and then I saw it. I guess it sparked something in my memory because I had seen the house once before several months ago and if asked to describe it I would be at a loss but somehow I knew this was the place. New car and all. I asked the cab driver to pull in the driveway and wait while I went to the door to be sure. He acquiesced and I walked up the drive and knocked on the door. There she was, my stepmother totally surprised as I had not told them I was coming home.  I went back to pay the cab driver and then walked back in the house. At some point in the conversation I jokingly asked my parents if they were trying to hide from me telling them what a time I had finding the house. And also jokingly asking if I ate so much while living with them that once I left they were able to buy a new house and a new car on what they saved in groceries. We all had a good laugh but they never did answer either question. 

Anyway the house has survived and now it provides shelter for my wife, her mother and myself. God bless us all.