Inside the Wheeler House

My lock picking skills are improving!  Shall we take a look inside?  

Hey-- someone left me a bottle of air freshener!  Ugg-- it's gonna take more than a bottle of air freshener to freshen up this place!

What is that furry thing in the corner?  Not sure I wanna know.

The shudders are kind cute!

I don't know if I can handle going into the basement without a respirator.  Seriously.

Someone had died here.  The stench in the house is about 70% rotting flesh, 20% moldy basement, and 10% rodent waste.

On a more positive note-- I like the built-in shelves!

Why has this place been ransacked?

The front door is sealed shut.  Interesting.

Is that a live animal?  Nope, just old furs.

Come on in Mom!  Doesn't she look thrilled?  ;-)

Mom actually likes working with me.  Granted it does seem a bit overwhelming at first, but it's not anything we can't handle.

I see a ton of potential in this house.

I think the roof must be fairly new.  It's no longer leaking and looks good.

Someone was a little too late in replacing it though.  Better late than never, I guess.

Was this a beauty salon?  How cool is it to have a shampoo sink room!?  Wow!

Another ceiling that's caving in!  Bummer.

Someone liked to read!  Sooo many boxes of books and magazines!

There isn't even a path to the window or closet, just a sea of stuff!

I like the real wood floor!

Sooo, let's see-- three bedrooms plus a beauty salon room!  It's a fairly decent layout too!

I can see this house getting one heck of a makeover!

I wonder what's in the attic?

It's exciting to explore and fix up these old houses!  During this initial tour, I held my breath and ran outside periodically for air.  Also, I pulled my shirt up over my mouth and nose.  Next time I work inside, I'm going to have to use a respirator.  A gal cannot be too careful when it comes to her health!

Outside the Wheeler House

Hellloooo!  

Here is my current project:

The house has been abandoned for a couple of years now.

Sadly, the owner of this property died, and none of his family wanted it.  Apparently, no one wanted the cars in the driveway either!

A lot of items were left behind.

The local mechanic has service records for the cars.  I don't plan to fix them up, but someone else might want to.

I found the wheels to this one beside the garage:

The garage had a foot of leaves mixed with tools and hardware covering the floor.

It's a shame no one took care of things here.

The garage is going to need a new roof this summer.

The house was a tax sale property that I won the bid for.  It looks as though it has the same steps as the Kingsford Heights porch had.

True Story: Troy was helping me, when he got a phone call.  He told the caller he was busy pulling down a house in Grovertown.   The next time the same caller called, he was using a sledge hammer to take out a porch. And the next time the caller called, he was watching videos on how to pick locks. What can I say, Troy keeps busy!.
   

The house seems to sit up high, which I like.

As expected, it needs quite a bit of work!

I like that it has a walk-in basement.

Ugg, a septic without a cap is like the symbol for these tax sale houses, lemme tell ya!

The house borders the old Wheeler High School, which is now a community center.

Isn't funny, how the grass is greener over there!

From the outside, it appeared that every room was filled up past the windows with stuff!

Looks like a new storm door and porch is needed here!

I came back a few days later, and someone from the community center had mowed the yard!  How Nice!

Pruners!  I'm going to need the pruners!  And maybe the chainsaw.

After I sold a bunch of firewood that was piled up against the house, I discovered that the basement didn't have any glass in this window!

I reckon, it will be plan B, for entering the house, if the lock picking doesn't go well.  :-)

Turkey Run

This past November I had the opportunity to spend a weekend at Turkey Run State Park!

Thank Goodness for the spa tub!

I hiked my legs off at this place!

It's sooo pretty, my pictures do not do it justice.

The weather was oddly mild (70 degrees) and I was all about the hiking!

The park was not crowded at all, and I suppose it was due to the time of year.

I thought I would give trail 3 a try; parts of it, was indeed, very rugged!  The bridge wasn't one of those parts.  The bridge was totally easy and fun!

The rock formations were grand for bring in the middle of Indiana!  This one is referred to as the Ice Box:

Uncle Bobby said Grandma Miller used to take him camping here often as a kid.

He told me a story of when Grandma twisted her ankle.  Bobby and my brother had to boy scout her back to the campground!  I was totally able to imagine that scenario.

I was surprised and relieved that I didn't see any snakes!

Maybe I didn't look hard enough, I don't know.

I felt exhausted at home enough to lie down and relax right in the middle of the woods!

A storm was moving in, but it didn't send me running.  I didn't want to leave, and I had began to get the feeling that I had been here before.

I remembered this part:

Dad was hiking with Mom and I, and he was joking about his big belly fitting through that space in the rocks!

By the time I reached the bridge at the beginning of the trail, the rain was coming down hard, as was the temperature. 

Turkey Run really is so beautiful!  I can't wait to go back!  I didn't get to hike as much as I wanted, due to the weather and extremely high winds.  

Plus, I know there are some fish in the creek that I'd like to meet!  ;-)