The Devil you know

The blazing Norway Maple in front of the albatross though a forester told me it was a sugar maple 

there's one here too along with a few other maples that have lost their red leaves

we have lots of pink mums in bloom now

burning bush

We have come to regard our buyers who first presented themselves as this sweet young couple sending us a letter "please accept our offer, please?" as a blood thirsty pair of hyenas. For the past 8 days as they had more specialized inspections, their list of demands grew. Our personal favorite: they had not seen a small crack in the garage floor upon the first 3 showings. Now it was intolerable. They want 8K for this alone to replace the entire floor. Nevermind that the crack is barely noticeable and could easily be filled in. Steve noticed that they removed the threshholds we have under our doors, presumably to see what was under them and they did not put them back (which involves nailing). How dare they do this when it is not their house? I knew that this whole process was not going to be pleasant but they have made it miserable. What recourse do we have? Well there is a buyer who will make an offer if this deal falls through but will not make an offer until then. And what kind of offer will that be when they learn the deal fell through at the inspection stage.  Possibly a worse devil. Also already several parties who said they were going to make an offer the next day or the next week seemed to evaporate. Talk is cheap. Still we used this mythical backup as leverage. So Thursday we had to come up with a counteroffer to their outrageous demands which was mainly they could just learn to live with that crack but we gave in, way too much to other stupid things. We were told that there was no way they would accept life with that crack even though both agents thought they were unreasonable. Neither of us slept that night. By the end of the day yesterday, they did accept the counteroffer. So no more contingencies. They have to close in less then a month, which is way too long for me but maybe they will close sooner.

 

We can move on. FINALLY.

 

Despite the stressful week, I was able to experience some joy when for brief moments I was able to forget this. My friend showed up bright and early yesterday for a bike ride with me. Very pretty but no stopping for photos as she had a tight schedule. Deer jumped in front of us and the maples are now at their peak. I have been riding my bicycle plenty lately. Today I planned for a long run though it is pouring out and once it stops, it will be slippery on the dirt hills. I finished my project. I hung up some treasures purchased the day before.

 

Thursday I saw my friend, who is recovering from a stem cell transplant. She has very little immunity as they suppress the immune system she has from attacking her thus there is a whole set of rules to be followed to keep her safe. It was a nice day but she could not go outside as the mild breeze could disperse dirt and bacteria. No gardening for a year and she is quite the gardener. I was shocked to see her bald and puffy and very pale. All of this should pass. She does like to gab so gab we did for a good part of the afternoon. I did a few tasks for her. I made the rounds of the thrift stores, conveniently near her, before our visit.