Space Place House

Our belongings were to arrive after us on a huge moving truck.  The car as well.  The day we arrived it was raining cats and dogs.  The apartment was beautiful and had a fantastic view but we had to deal with no furniture.  We drove in our rental car to the nearest futon store in the pouring rain and purchased two futon mattresses.  We used boxes as side tables and a funny thing was it became John’s work table.  The cat and the dog now had to be inside and the cat did not seem too happy with that.  She basically stayed in the corner of the closet the entire time.  Our 6 pound Maltese dog, Fellini, however,  got walked 3 times a day, for the first time in five years, and he seemed to really love it.  We had a back yard that was large enough for him to use in Dover and we hardly ever walked him.  A major problem we noticed immediately was that we had a train station very close by and the trains would sound their horns all night long.  The owner had said that the noise would be minimal at best and would not bother us.  This information was completely false and we felt duped.  There were also the lights of the city to contend with and at one point and even though we were on the 12th floor, far above the tallest building in our vicinity I had to tape brown craft paper over all the beautiful windows to block it out.  The landlord eventually installed some fancy shades but the light still seeped through and the windows were over 10 feet tall.  The constant parade of thick grey clouds hung above us, obscuring our magnificent view of the West Hills.  The Hills are quite a sight to behold, dotted in its steep angle with hundreds of mansions built around the turn of the century by wealthy timber, logging and shipping prospectors.  

a house we put an offer on

this was a FSBO we almost bought but again, the seller did not negotiate with us very well and it fell through

The rain, when it arrives, is relentless and the constant gloominess made me feel trapped like a fish in an aquarium storm.  John was not happy about the rain either, although he spent most of his time at the computer screen, feverishly writing code, or programming software for his employer back east.  When the building cranes started arriving one night and were laid across the street next to the park complex we soon saw that a building was breaking ground almost in front of ours and the hydraulic hammer or piledriver as tall as a small skyscraper started going all day.  A way out for me was to run around Portland looking at houses.  I became obsessed with finding a house.  It seemed the only way we could have a peaceful life in Portland.  I called agents and made appointments every day.  I saw houses all over Portland.  I did not know the town and was always disoriented so after a few months of constant looking I took it upon myself to get to know the city.  I got the maps and the guides and started educating myself.  I saw homes in every quadrant and decided the best spots were in the northeast or the southeast, the east side of the river, that is. The West side was very expensive and that whole area was mostly condos.  I looked at a few but knew that space would be an issue.  What we could afford was usually a one bedroom or a studio. 

The search became a crusade, I felt utterly trapped.

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