For this frivolous Friday post I present, as promised, an installment on the progress of The Capranica Villa. Previously you saw the acquired property in its beginning stages: weeds towering above my 5’9″ frame, and who knows what hidden beneath them. My pocketbook requires that my wife and I do the majority of the work rather than hiring it out. My schedule requires that only on some Friday afternoons, but mostly on Saturdays, the work be accomplished.
Our first task: take down the giants. The weed-whacking proved to be a multi-week project in scorching heat. Not only did we find a sprinkler system that mirrored a Southern California freeway (long and backed-up), we also discovered that Oscar, the boisterous and big German Shepherd next door goes absolutely crazy at the sound of a weed-eater. OOOOhhhhhweeee did we drive that 
dog nuts. Though the old mobile – no wait, this was a Trailer – did not possess a fireplace, once the weeds were wacked, we discovered piles and piles of firewood. It was all neatly stacked and packed with loads of black widows, ants, mystery spiders and pincher-bugs (that’s what Kelly calls them). Oh, the fun.
Once the weeds were down, it was a matter of clean-up. We have seven different fruit trees and a pointless (fruitless) mulberry – all of which were grossly overgrown and in need of whacking. Also, the previous owners were kind enough to leave for us the majority of the junk that had accumulated over the years. So, after another few weeks of work, we had piled it all at the front of the property, preparing to rent a large trash truck so we could begin discarding it.
Our worst problem at this point was that we needed to find someone who wanted the old Trailer. God, in His wonderful and gracious provision, provided a lovely couple who not only bought the Trailer for a good price, but also had a desire (I did not want to know why) to take most of the junk from the property. Thanks to my wife’s hard work (along with a friend from church) while I was away for a class, the remainder of the junk was piled into the rented trash truck and hauled away.
We were then able to do a little bit more planning on the new Villa to be housed on the freshly weeded paradise.
Next time: a preview of the new Villa.
