Loveless Lake: A love story?

Why on earth would a level-headed raised-in-the-South woman, with no mortgage and no debt, buy a long-abandoned lakefront property in Wisconsin smack dab into the worst housing market in modern America?

Can't really say. Other than one person's recession is another's opportunity.

Somehow, I just sense an opportunity. An affordable "get-away"? An investment that feels more tangible (and immediately rewarding) than my 401(k)? A healthy distraction from life's more mundane chores? The satisfaction of restoring an eyesore into a lovely piece of land -- without dumping into the landfill?


Ah hell, who knows.


So here I am, with my able partner-in-restoration, Chris, venturing into the great unknown.

I closed on the property Oct. 18, 2010. The purchase agreement was accepted in late August, but a number of hurdles needed to be cleared-- four years of unpaid taxes, an ex-girlfriend still listed on the title, a lien of nearly $6,000 on the property from an old lawsuit.


Whether by poetry, fate or just good literary luck, the property sits on, yes, Loveless Lake.

Chris notes, it's the UPPER West Side.


It has been a great adventure already. But while I'm lovin' every second of our mission -- to bring the love back to Loveless -- there's something deeply sad about walking into a life abandoned.


This was once a place of promise and freedom for the guy I bought it from. Where was the tipping point? When did life get so complicated, the debt so suffocating, that it was easier to walk away?

I'm going to use this blog to "process" (as Chris would say) the range of emotions I have about this place we simply call, "Loveless," and our work restoring it.


Thus, I join the legions of Americans in the look-at-me, social-media generation, and aim to document the biggest project (other than raising Labs and surviving Minnesota winters) I've ever undertaken.