I named the tree lady, Trying to get a spot in the Florida Keys, and house sale news

Although fern is a good name for a forest person,  it was not quite right for our moss head lady.  When I woke up yesterday, I knew her name. Her name is Treesha.  When Craig sees or hears some of the creative names the sports figures have, he often says: "Another example of a mother that could not spell when she filled out the birth certificate".

Tuesday was "dump the tanks" day again. We always breathe a sign of relief when we are back home safely.  This time, Craig almost forgot to unhook the electric cord.  Fortunately we caught the omission before pulling out. 

When I read about the bad weather in the East, I am so glad we are here in California.  I hope we won't regret leaving.  Naah! We will deal with the weather as we come to it.  

I have been trying to make reservations at Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida keys for over a month now.  Reservations are thru Reserve America, and can be made up to eleven months in advance.  They open the reservation window at 8:00 AM EST. every day, for eleven months in the future.  That is 5:00 AM here.  I have my clock set to go off at 4:55 AM.  I get up, go to the Reserve America site and select the appropriate information.  If you click on a reservation before 5:00 AM PST, it will tell you to come back at 8:00 am EST.   At 4:59 AM there will be several sites open.  I sit with my finger over the "book these dates" and hit it as the computer clock hits 5:00 AM.  All of the open sites disappear  and the message "inventory not available" comes up. 

We do have a reservation at Long Key State Park for November 29 - Dec 13, and at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park for Dec 14 - Dec 28, but I really want to get a few weeks at Bahia Honda.

Right now I'm not worried about where we will be between Dec. 28 and whenever we get into Bahia Honda.  I'll work that out!

Perhaps tomorrow morning at 4:55 AM I'll try calling.  Can't be any less successful than I have been so far!

I've been thinking about trying to get a reservation at the Everglades National Park, but their reservation window doesn't open until June.  I wonder if I will be any more successful trying to get a spot there!

The process of selling our house has taken an interesting turn. First off, the buyer's buyer has a signed offer from his back-up buyer for the commercial property at the other end of the chain.  This is good.  But it also means a big delay in the entire closing schedule since it is like starting all over.

It appears that the buyer's buyer's first buyer that pulled out of the deal paid a substantial penalty fee. 

We only her about this as "scuttlebutt" and not in any official format. We do know that our buyer's buyer paid our buyer and his soon-to-be ex-wife a penalty fee of $26,000.

Our buyer first offered to "release" $10,000 from his escrowed deposit to us if we extended his closing deadline to March 25. 

We read this as giving us our own money early, and the title company said it was not legal to do it that way because his deposit was tied to a damages clause and we would have to prove damages to get the money. Possibly in court.

I'm thinking he needs the $13,000 (his half) to cover his current mortgage  expenses, and an extension fee for the lock on his loan.

Craig and I decided we did not need access to the $10,000 at this point, but if we lost the closure of our property we would want to claim it, plus a bit more to cover putting the house back on the market. We might need to rent furniture to stage it!

Our realtor and our realtor's legal department came up with a very clever, legal solution. We extended the escrow, but if it does not close on or before March 25, our buyer has agreed to pay us $13,000 as RENT for the storage space in the garage and house. 
He cannot move in himself, this is just for his stuff.

This gives us a big leverage to encourage closure by that date, which is what we want more than the money. 

So either the deal on the house will be closed, or we will have $13,000. 

The ball is in his court now. Or possibly in his buyer's. But at least we are not stressing out about it. 

Another couple was here this afternoon looking at the outside of the house.  They had seen the sign.  

Spring is almost here and I'm sure if this all goes away, we will still be OK.