Monday, October 10, 2022

I prefer to remember the place before it was trashed..but its for sale so.....heres the story on it...the first pics are how we left it when we went on a trip to visit family in California ..3 months prior we had agreed to a temporary joint tenancy for a few months with a family who came from Colorado in the spring who wanted to buy it for 125,000.00 but would not have the funds until their mothers home closed, they contacted us saying they had the opportunity at a new job  starting here in September and would need to move in quickly.. We were stupid and trusted them - wanted to help them out actually.. totally unaware that scammers actually try to steal houses... we let them move in. The morning after we returned  (feb 4th) we we found the 1st floor (basement) flooded, they left a toilet in the back room flowing for awhile, indicated by an over 800.00 water bill. Most of our belongings, furniture, kitchen  items..etc missing from the 1st and 2nd floors, and the 3rd floor where their bedrooms, our laundry room, 3rd fl kitchen and auditorium were locked off to us as well as the 1st fl gym chained and locked, along with a barking dog (we had agreed on no dogs). They refused to leave and said we would have to evict them. We filed to have them evicted on 2/7/2018. it was a long process because the scammers claimed that they owned our home and had a contract - that turned out to be a document they typed up titled 'verbal agreement' (that we never agreed to or saw until the court made them produce it). During the 4 years these people bought a dilapidated empty house down the street from ours (think it was 3k,) where they spent hours on facebook and other social media sites making daily live videos claiming we killed their dogs, harassed them, their children, poisoned people, pets, slandered us in the local churches, stalked us.. anything and everything they could to gain empathy and have people send them money plus promote violence against us, they used our building address for fundraising saying they were opening a foster home for kids and needed beds on 2 occasions that we are aware of..their friend ( just out on bail for pulling a knife on police) letting out the air in our tires in the court parking lot - while we were in court (caught on the courts security cameras) other friends of theirs falsely claiming they were process servers with court orders from the Colorado court they also tried to scam…for 5 years this stuff went on.  

Through friends, we have 100's of hours of their facebook videos and copies of chats they posted in groups. In May 2021 we had had enough and moved, the court made its decision in our favor a month later in April of 2021 but the scammers, as they publicly stated in their videos they wanted us financially ruined by bogging down the down the courts, so appealed to the supreme court. That court made the final decision to uphold the original courts decision on  3/4/2022.

The place has been cleaned and is empty now. But we are physically and financially unable to restore the damage they did which was (half painted walls, floors, scratches to the finishes, drapery etc..) and have dropped the price accordingly by 35,000.00 which was the courts property damage/repair ruling (we have not received any of the courts rulings/awards to date as they fled the state after the final ruling). 


This was the third floor before being trashed. It had 3 large bedrooms, a center hall eat-in-kitchen, huge bathroom with laundry room. Has been emptied and cleaned, all the drapery is gone, most of the rooms on this floor need repainting now, walls and floors as it was left several different color blocks ..red, blues..and the finishes have been scratched. The fridge was removed as well as the kitchen sink/under cabinet and replaced with an unfitted one that leaks, some of the cabinets removed. There are 11 ceiling fans, 3 gas fireplaces, an electric instant hot water unit, 3 older window a/c units that work on this floor





These are the current pictures, 3rd floor,  taken while it was being cleaned after it was trashed, Ive not been back since to take more..will try to...


Will try to get 2nd and 1st floors here...tomorrow



Thursday, June 14, 2018

Next up...

..just a sketch so far..but hey - its June, and I'm still drawing!  I want paints....

Disclaimer: This is a horse, it is not taken from, or meant to depict anyone or any horse in  the town of Burbank.

Monday, May 28, 2018

the end of may...

 had to do an iris
onions..beautifully odd plants
old one...think I started it 1..2 years ago?..anyway..done with it now.
Not sure about light or dark backgrounds..fun playing with it tho


Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Spray day...

 Still lots of glare that I'm not crazy about, will do a second spray later..but first 2 in my long threatened series of florals finished !

These are in graphite on 19x 24 bristol
not sure where I'm going with this one yet...

Monday, May 21, 2018

Next...

Glare ..haha..guess I have to dig up my matte spray soon..just interesting for me to see unfinished pics here. Guess I'll post the finished ones later.  Below is named 'Twins' not sure what this is called yet...

Thursday, May 17, 2018

In progress....

ya..awful glare..but what I've been working on..maybe I'll do a series...would ask for thoughts, but I turned comments off the blog cuz of our stalker/ex-tenants really childish crude sexual comments..such a waste of energy and time.  Can email me tho...
And btw - our house is still very much for sale...just not in a rush about it anymore..and because of that, price went up. Its still one fantastic building for the right person.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Information about our home for sale

Some FAQ regarding our home for sale.
The building is..simply great, I just can't say any more then that.. its ..fantastic, living here is.. wonderful. 

That said..here's some info a few folks have asked for. 

Utilities: 

City water, sewer, gas and trash bill which averages 100.00 monthly - we went with a small dumpster which is 32.00 per month vs the regular trash cart at 12.00
Our electric bill averages about 60. per month
Our highest heating bill (gas) was 350.00 when we had all 3 floors going, we 'live' on the 3rd floor now, so only heat that.

Heating: Gas fireplaces, Elec heaters. 1st floor is half below ground so temps have never fallen below 40 (without heat) in coldest winters
2 on demand gas hot water systems
Air: Some window units..about 30 ceiling fans and 11ft ceilings - we hardly use air.
All walls interior and exterior are 18 inches thick, brick and concrete.
All floors are concrete with steel trusses
All water lines above the 1st floor and to the street are new.
All new gas lines. All done to code.
About 80% new elec. 
Main roof is tar and ballast on top of foam - we do maintenance about every 2 years on the flat area of roof, re-applying a fibreted roof sealer.. cost averages 200.00 
Roof maintaince was just completed this past week. May 2017.

The building was built while they blasting dynamite about a 1/2 away at a rock quarry. Its solid and amazingly quiet for such a large building - no creaks !
Window glass is 1/4 + thick, broken panes we replace with equal thickness of plexiglass.
No lead paint
Asbestos report showed none except some floor tiling that was broken and need to be sealed or removed which was done.
Volunteer fire department.
The are no zoning restrictions, local codes or inspectors so we go went by state code.

Town ordnance on pets/livestock/poultry: Dogs leashed or penned ( like everywhere...theres a few who pay no attention to this), no pigs allowed within town limits ( except as pets) 7 horses per acre... kinda very laid back - basically just be responsible and considerate to your animals, neighbors and pets.

There is a Post office, City Hall and church in town.
Mail is delivered to home mailboxes or P.O boxes

Closest hospital, grocery store, hair, etc is in Fairfax, about a 18 minute drive
Ponca City has the Walmart, shopping centers, - about 20 miles west
Pioneer Woman Mercantile/Restaurant in Pawhusha is about 20 miles east - world known and pretty packed all the time.
Area is well known for it fishing Kaw Lake, hunting seasons and history.

Mostly very friendly people in town and surrounding areas that would help neighbors out without a second thought.
We have hosted several parties here,  had a small town bar/cafe,  guests, and halloween events.

Ok..about the building - we will disclose everything.  It has had its problems - when we bought it from the city they did not disclose that the basement flooded - every spring - for as long as anyone around who went to school here could remember. 
We had just finished that floor  - 4 days before we were to have our first guests, walked downstairs into 3 inches of water - over the freshly done shiny new floor ! 
It took us years to find and fix the multiple causes, unsealed cistern pipes in back of the building,  bad roof drainage and the biggie...which took another few years to stop because the city refused to believe it was caused by a broken water line running in front of the building that led to the Alumni building. Three years ago that line was finally shut down and blocked off and for the first time in 8 years we had NO water come in. 
Not a drop. 
We monitored and waited 3 more years to make sure , finally kiltzed and re-painted the walls last summer. We have not had any water in the building since that line was closed off. ..this will be the 4th summer now.
The cafeteria and gym floor do need replacement due to the past water damage, the foundation is a cement floor. We had planned on removing the old tile and refinishing/staining then sealing.
May 2017 Update on water : We had LOTS of rain - the ground was saturated and we did get some water in the basement hall this last rain we found that when we had the location of the dumpster out back moved recently, the rain pipe diverting roof water away from the building in that area had been displaced and broken,  we diverted it back and had no issues during the last of the heavy rain days.

We have done no work in the auditorium which had roof leaks ( we repaired ) Due to the roof leaks previous years the ceiling needs replacement tiles and lots of the plaster on the bricks is falling off, we are slowly removing it to leave and seal the exposed brick.

Most of the electric on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors has been replaced or has the new electric lines in place to fish and replace.

As of this writing there is only one room left on the 2nd floor which has not been re-plastered, painted .. we have taken down most of the dropped ceiling and old insulation.

There were several leaks coming from missing mortar on the north side of the building that was repointed last year. Ceiling below that area in the back entrance hall needs to be repaired now.

We have used no pesticides or chemicals on the property, so for anyone interested in organic growing its all clean.

I really can't think of anything else.  Most of the work thats left is pretty easy if you are a do it yourself person.

It would make a great home or B&B with organic gardens.. hunting/fishing lodge..winery... the possibilities are endless in that direction.
As a home..unbelievable room for all the relatives !!!

So..if your interested contact Carol Insley or Craig Thomassen on FB, or send an email - insley.art@gmail.com or call Craig at 580-716-2883

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Playing

Ok..so I haven't repainted the 3rd floor bathroom floor yet..or plastered up the 2nd floor ceiling..or even worked in the last room left there or done anything in the wildly overgrown weedy yard.....but - I did master lemon marmalade....


and jalapeno/necterine jam
and some healthy fruit and nut bars...


Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Jam time

Our neighbors had an over-ripe crate of nectarines..so ...quick easy raw jam. Fun to make..freezes up to a year..

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Almost...

Only the floor to do now..thinking of a silver glaze on it..not sure.. maybe some trim around the tub surround too..little stuff.
Moving onto the second floor starting tomorrow..so will decide later - but...just about finished.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Eggrolls, fried rice and (non-soy) soy sauce

 
 yes..I remember.. in New Orleans..product manager at Arc..was in the restaurant area watching the news as it happened. unreal.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Pictures, rambles and feathered pigs

Seems like Fall came early this year. Cool morning breezes and long golden afternoon sunsets. 

always seems so magical

and perfect for the fairy circle on the front lawn
 This is King Arthur
and Guinevere. They are the rare Bielefelder chickens from Germany. He's about 15 lbs now,  9 months old now and she is the sweetest bird. They make the perfect couple, he holds food while calling her and she takes it from his beak..gotta get a picture of that
These's guys are the rock stars, Hermie, Wolf , Feather and Sparrow..Favorelles from France..showy birds. They are about 6 months now and starting to get along in the the big girls pen. 


Not sure how but we are up to 11 chickens,  (lovingly refereed to as feathered pigs).



ok..back to the garden..