The end of an era

In 2001, Ed and I purchased our first home together. Ed quickly went about making some important improvements. First, he wired the entire house for sound, so that he could pipe his beloved Grateful Dead in both bathroom, basement, living room, kitchen, outdoor deck, and office - pretty much anywhere he might find himself. Then he added some nifty glass racks to the existing bar to hang our wine and beer glasses. Then an acquaintance of his game him a carbon dioxide tank which encouraged him to take his beer brewing to the next level and install taps and keg his beer rather than bottling it. As it turns out, the tank was probably stolen from a restaurant and Ed could not get it refilled. We returned it to the restaurant we thought it came from, and Ed purchased his own tank. At some point, we had a house naming party, and from then on, the basement was known as "Grateful Ed's". That basement bar was host to many a good time and most notably, it was where both of my children were born. (OK - for every customer of Grateful Ed's who had no idea where the kids were actually born, I will give you a moment to shiver and shake the image that is in your head.)

Alas, our house (and Grateful Ed's) is under contract and will have the home inspector coming through on Friday. In preparation, Ed has taken down the taps which will not be conveying with the property, and filled in the holes he drilled into the refrigerator for beer lines. We're not quite sure where the new "Grateful Ed's" will be, but as our friends pointed out, it's more than a location.

Come January, we'll be trading our current crap shack in for this older home a few miles away. It's got the charm that our current house lacks, better layout, and the most incredible hang out space. Oh - and a kitchen that has an oven larger than an EasyBake oven, unlike our current kitchen which is host to the "Caloric Ultramatic" oven. This move is saving us from a renovation that we had planned, and were ready to go through with until Ed and I became overwhelmed with the thought of living in a house under construction. We're looking forward to the next several years.


Elaine