Locke Lee Manor

HAPPY NATIONAL DISC GOLF DAY!!! What is disc golf?  Click to go down the rabbit hole... Disc golf is one of Matt's largest passions. Matt will play in any weather, including rain and snow, and any terrain, from the desert to the forest. I have watched him grow the sport in so many ways including starting a weekly Wednesday disc golf outing at his office and creating Disc Buddy . He also got me out and playing which is where Black Ace Designs was born.  Our adventure to Illinois has been to build and grow OUR dreams. We have started working on the next piece of the Locke Lee Manor puzzle. Stay close to see what is coming....

It feels like this post should be called The Reckoning as that is what it has felt like clearing the yard over here at Locke Lee Manor. To be honest, if Matt's mom had not visited and shown me the way, we would not be as far as we are. I am not saying that I have done it all alone, as you will see, but I have definitely done my fair share of damage!  I also haven't documented as much because it gets so difficult to determine the before and after of an area when everything is a wall of green! But below is a before and after of our driveway. See that yellow wagon, it plays a part in the story a bit later. So the first hurdle is clearing. We are still working on it weekly and have built up a decent set of tools to get the job done - and we are used to the fact that we will be soaking wet the entire time - but now we have piles and piles of things to burn. Mind you, we are a couple of city kids who have never been told to burn yard waste. In fact, in Denver, it is highly frowned up...

Today will be a two part adventure. When I published the last post about the beginning of the carriage house I realized that I forgot to give credit to the teams that have helped us on this journey so far. And I will make sure to include them moving forward. But before we get to that... We moved to Southern Illinois knowing absolutely zero people. We get a couple of responses to that tidbit. 1. Why did you leave Colorado for Southern Illinois? 2. How did you move somewhere knowing no one? Both valid questions. To answer the second one - we believe in our vision, ourselves, and each other. Our philosophy is very simple. Be kind. Be honest. Act with integrity. Those values are solid and work anywhere, so why not try something scary?! So here we are. Strangers in a new town trying to navigate, integrate, and innovate. Hmm, that came out catchier than intended. And as humans do, we bring our own bias - some conscious, other subconscious. It has been enjoyable peeling back the layers of ass...

The carriage house was a major draw to this property, only second to the spider room. There was only one picture of the carriage house on the listing and it is tucked quietly on the back corner of the property. With the years of overgrowth and deterioration to the outside it is easy to overlook this gem.  View from main house before clearing View from main house after clearing As we toured the inside of this dilapidated and wet out-building, all I could see was the opportunity to bring this building back to life. We are excited that the previous owners left gifts throughout the years. A couple of the glaring issues with the state of the carriage house was the bowing wall and a leaky roof. The carriage house was surrounded by large trees and we didn't realize how much rain they diverted from the building until we had a bunch of them removed and it rained. We needed to get the building sealed quickly! We found out during the roofing quote that the original roof was slate and covered ...

March 2020 - Matt and I were sitting in the Denver International Airport, with my two best girlfriends, waiting to board a plane that was going to take us to a haunted plantation in Louisiana to celebrate my big 40. We ate in cautious silence in the terminal listening to the passengers that were getting off planes that had been diverted home from their vacations cut short. Between Matt reading us blurbs from Reddit and eavesdropping on confused travelers, we decided that it was not the right time to travel, grabbed our luggage, and drove back home.  Quickly following, the schools locked down and started 100% remote learning. We were some of the luckier ones who were able to easily shift into working from home during the 2020 pandemic, as we both worked in software, and Matt had the wherewithal to setup networks and monitor web traffic to curb the kiddos from watching YouTube all day. This new way of life was different, and the change was refreshing, even if the world was in a state...