Just had a unexpected guest in my house. Realize I'm not a tidy person and we seldom have strangers in our house.
Sitting here just finished lunch and door bell rings... Only one that rings the door bell here is occasional Jehovah.
Anyways I open the door there stands a lady. Said I lived here when I was a child do you care if I look around. After a little conversation I knew exactly who she was. We bought the house in 1988 to settle her father's estate.
It was kinda weird to let her snoop mostly because like said we are not neat freaks.
She told us how the furniture was arranged and she noticed couple of changes I made. Switch some doorways around. She was surprised and I think even a little pleased. To know I was using her fathers gun room and loading bench. She also said she didn't realize how small this house is. Apparently her current home is much larger.
So she took a trip down memory lane. I got little more local history. Hoping I made her day as she is back in the area after 20 some years because her sister is very sick.
So would you let a past resident take a walk threw of your home ?? Showing up unannounced??

Mac

It sounded mutually beneficial. In a situation like that nobody cares if it looks lived in except the folks living in it. How was she supposed to ask permission without showing up at your door? Hard to think she has your phone number after 35 years.

I think you did that lady a solid. I bet she thought the world of you and was probably very grateful.

Hats off to you for allowing her into your home.

My mom passed last year and we had celebration of her life in Ohio where I grew up. A nice lady who bought my childhood home came to the celebration and she invited us to come see the house. We did and it was cool to see the house after 35 years.

Mac . . . I did just that, awhile back at Swarthout Park on Brice Praire. Might've been a District 5 rondy, or a trapper ed class there . . any way, when things settled down I walked across the road to the house Fred Johnson built and we finished in 1966. The redwood house across from the point of the park. I was a sophomore in high school that year and we moved from a couple houses down from Blackdeer's to this one once we had it built. I was curious about what the inside looked like.

Knocked on the door, explained who I was and why I was there, and produced ID. I said upfront if they felt uncomfortable about it I'd understand. Actually they welcomed me in, they had a couple of questions.

There was this doorbell button in the kitchen that didn't make any sense to them. I said that's an easy one. Dad installed that and ran wire down to the far bedroom in the basement. He installed a buzzer in the ceiling so they wouldn't have to yell down the stairs to get us two boys up there when needed. We went downstairs but the previous owners had changed the ceiling and we couldn't access above the spot.

I explained how we hand dug the septic tank and drywell holes and laid piping out there with the old gauze and molten lead. Walked through the house and admired the changes. Shared stories of the neighbors we had. Walt and Ruth Hanson south of us, both in their 80s in 1966. They lived in that house when the dams were built and Walt made a map of the road that ran from there to French Island and could fish the ditches on either side of it once flooded. Was deeper there for the fish. Walt would also share stories of the POWs that were housed in the now Fish & Wildlife Center. Said those German boys would slip over the fence at night and date some of the local girls. Two he knew returned and married the gals after the war.

We walked down to the bank and I showed them where Mark and I shucked thousands of clams for bait on our trotlines. Said there's a pile of shells down there. The old oak tree was still there where we would nail northern pike heads with the jaws propped open. Wrens would make nests in 'em. Talked about the breakwater and how many cars would go through the ice where the currents met. Also talked of the islands that used to be straight out from Blackdeer's and how we would winter camp there. One time one of us brainiacs forgot the canopener and set the large can of beans on the fire. The trick was to watch the can and just as it started to bulge we should take it off the coals. We were too late and we had beans and shrapnel everywhere The islands are long gone, eroded away. The hike out to Red Oak Ridge in the dead of winter across the ice. Dad was scoutmaster of troop 21 at the time. His idea. Thought for sure we were going to freeze to death . . .

The neightbors to the north of us I shared and talked about their boats and who did what.

The 60s on Brice Prairie were magical times. Lake Onalaska was in its prime, the fishing was out of this world, and duck hunters for the most part were considerate of one another. Talked about Arnie Haugen and how he ran 400 hooks a day on 4 lines all out of this handbuilt rowboat. Loaded his catch in the old truck and drove to Epstein's fish market in LaCrosse, same place Mark and I sold our catch. Catfish 27 cents a pound on the hoof, buillheads 8 cents, carp 2 cents and buffalo a nickel.

Showed them where we had the family freezer and how Mom let me wrap muskrats up in newspaper before I learned how to skin and point them to the back wall stacked like cordwood. She said she never wanted to look them in the eye when using the freezer.

Talked of the hobos that would camp up by Lytle's and we knew when the gypsies were also camped 'cause all the toilet paper in the outhouses in the park would be gone. Talked of the '65 flood when we lived just upstream by Blackdeer's and the critters that came out of the bottoms that year.

Talked about Alton White who built Cozy Corner Cottages and what an inventor he was. Told 'em about his daughter I dated and how she lost her life in Africa while in the Peace Corps.

Spent an hour there easily. Was good for me to see and feel the old house I called home for just a short while in my life. A very magical time in my life.

I hope it was good for them also. It appeared to be so.

I wouldn't but I built our house and My wives great grand parents owned the farm. No seriously, I bought the neighboring farm and let two ladies that grew up there take a tour. I would like to tour my Grandparents old farm. Those that stop and ask are never the problem.

Casing the place out for a future hit.

I probably wouldn't have a problem letting a former owner take a look around if it seemed his/her intent was actually to satisfy genuine curiosity.

Years ago I was doing a whole-house remodel on a 150+ year-old farmhouse. A couple of old ladies showed up one day and said they had been born and raised in the house and would I mind letting them look around.

It wasn't my property. It was owned by a corporation that had forty-some other properties in the area that they rented. I knew I could probably get in trouble with them because they and their lawyers would see it as a liability issue.

I did it anyhow. The two old sisters were very pleased and shared some interesting history with me.

They also solved a mystery. We had been regrading the yard below a porch off the kitchen. We had found several old spoons, forks and butter knives buried under a few inches of dirt. Couldn't figure out why they were there.

The two sisters explained that as kids, one of their chores was washing dishes in a tub in the kitchen. When they were done they dumped the tub full of dirty dish water over the railing onto the yard below. Apparently, the occasional utensil went with it.

buddy your too Wisconsin nice.

quick pull your shirt off and answer the door with a blanket wrapped around your waste , ummm we were sort of in the middle of something can you come back another time

thankfully the people I bought my house from are all dead now from old age , but we had the lady whos parents house it was stop by with a pie about a month or two after we bought the place 19 years ago.
she had handled the estate and when knew who she was.

apparently I have this redneck paradise thing going now , the people who want to quote you windows didn't even visit me yesterday they walked by several times and talked to a few of my neighbors.
I have all original 1909 windows in the house yet so it wasn't like they thought they were knew , I must give off an uninviting vibe
I was even outside putting the wheels back on the truck up on blocks while they were walking around.

nope

No way.

I visited my childhood house..and stood in the exact spot on the sidewalk..that me and my friend had a picture taken of us in 1963. This is a couple states away...And haven't been there in 50 years.

We were driving by the old house on our way to a car show...so I showed my wife .

But...I did not feel the need to bother the family living in it.

So...NO ...to your question

Sounds like a good time to clean the place...You nevah know who's coming ovah.

When you mow the yard...do you find cars and old broken machinery..?

Just trying to get a picture in my head...lol

I ride by my childhood home about twice per year. Always thought about knocking on the door. The house was built about 1915 I think. I know they have done a lot of upgrades.

i would except the guy i bought this from was selling cause his mom died. it was her home and now he is dead. so anybody saying they grew up here except my kids would be lying

At least you weren’t skinning beaver on the dining room table.

About 20 years or so ago, I visited the house I grew up. I knocked on the door and told the lady living there who I was and that I grew up there. She invited me to come in and look around. We sat and talked about what I remembered about the place. She had a lot of questions about my family and the history of the house. I explained that the garage once had several minnow tanks in it, as my dad wholesaled minnows for quite some time. She wondered why there were floor drains in the garage. It was a real nice visit.

Nessie-

When were you at my place?

Moosetrot

Mac-

I think I would have done the same. One of these times I am back in my home town I might try to do the same. I will have to ask whoever owns it if they ever found a manifold for a '51 Ford flathead 8 under the front steps. Forgot it there when I left in 1971.

Moosetrot

No way.Get off my lawn.