Hastings House (Possibly Being Worked On) - Thread

I couldn't tell on this one if it was or wasn't being worked on. In fact, I passed it at least twice a month for six months and was back and forth on if it was abandoned or not... finally deciding the car just peeking out the back was overflow from the religious compound (it's amazing what acts of denial I can make myself work through when I want, this house was indeed probably being worked on) next door, but the open windows in winter was probably a good sign nobody was giving a shit about the place.

So I parked once, found out my camera battery hadn't charged last time I put it in the charger after I found an entry point--doors covering up a window? Gotta try better than that--and left.

When I came back, there was evidence this was my second exploration of a place that was, well, active.

There was the car. That car wasn't there both times I stopped. But it almost always was. Then there was the fact that the doors had more stuff in front of it the second time than the first. Oh well, nobody there now, I was committed, I was going in. (I'm stupid.)

That green tape upstairs was on all of the upstairs windows. I've seen it before in another house that had a clear renovation attempt. (The Mendon house looked like someone had attempted to renovate and given up, maybe multiple times.) Anyone have any insight into this?

Immediately when I get in the door, a TV, a scale, and several doors piled up against one another. What was different from today's visit from another was that a new object, a scale, was piled up against the doors as well. (I had to move them to get in, so I noticed.)

On the table was some mail, but I couldn't tell how old it was without opening it. And seeing how I was at least moderately suspicious it was an active site, even if it was junk mail, I wasn't opening it.

I was definitely hearing an animal upstairs. It sounded awful. It was a screeching, slamming sound. But it didn't sound large, so I went up anyway.

A clearer, but not better (compositionally) photo shown to some birding friends identified the bird as a Starling. Apparently, they really do sound awful. Not just to me.

And I clearly identified this as: "I'm going back downstairs now."

So the case for working on was somewhat clear: activity seemed to have a decent case, there were tools everywhere, and I was fairly sure something in my entry point had moved since I had last been there (but this house is a fairly visible place; I wouldn't be the only person to go there.)

This was the case for totally abandoned (besides there being animals in there, but those birds were fast! I worked harder to catch my two photos of those than I did for my two photos of LIGHTNING!)

All of this stuff was just... it was discordant with the stage of how the rest of it was being worked on. No stairs to the upstairs, floor pieces missing, no carpeting or tiling, window panes missing... but junk everywhere. Clear the junk out first, yeah?

I mentioned in my last write-up I had a serious moral quandry with a recent exploration, specifically with the "take only pictures, leave only footsteps." It involved this toolchest. I stood in front of this toolchest for ten minutes. I looked in every drawer. I examined it closely. I looked it up and down. I picked up specific tools and wondered about them.

I wanted them. I had recently had my tool set stolen, and this baby would replace everything.

But I thought about it for awhile and realized it was like when I found a hundred dollar bill as a kid. My portable gaming system had been broken by my ex boyfriend and I had no way to replace it. I could use that money. But I would never forgive myself. Even if this looked like it was probably a victimless crime. (And in that case, it was too. I found it in the road.) So kid me took the hundred dollar bill to the nearest house to ask about it, (and got to keep it) and adult me walked away without tools, and has been re-making my set at garage sales.

And will probably get a new tool set for my birthday from my boss, if only so I'll stop complaining at work that the one I'm borrowing from him is so disorganized.