My Place

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" background="043c8982esnpes.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="089b4760.jpg" border=0 width="180" height="118" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>La Caza Caca</B></div> <div> <B>A California Contemporary</B></div> <div> <B>Ugly House</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width="100%" BGCOLOR="#CCCC66" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003300" FACE="Arial" ><B>Timber Ridge</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#006633" FACE="Arial" > </FONT> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#003300" FACE="Arial" ><B> |    </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#006600" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Timber Ridge"><B>home</B></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="mardi_gras_parade.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mardi Gras Parade">Mardi Gras Parade</A>   |   <A HREF="bayou_christmas_parade.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bayou Christmas Parade">Bayou Christmas Parade</A>   |   <A HREF="homes_and_gardens.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Homes and Gardens">Homes and Gardens</A>   |   <A HREF="fall_picnic.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fall Picnic">Fall Picnic</A>   |   <B>My Place</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="044f0030.png" border=0 width="496" height="3" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> My Place</div> <div> <B>Timber Ridge —  My Place --- My Home</B></div> <div> <I><B>by Dan Ellis, author of coastal heritage books and chronicles</B></I></div> <div> <IMG SRC="087f8060.gif" border=0 width="504" height="6" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Much like the early colonial founders of this coastal area, everyone seems to have a story as to when and why they landed in Pass Christian.  Some may even wish they never heard of this glorious paradise.</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> * * *</B></div> <div> <B>     My story begins in 1974, when Leon, my sales associate, was visiting one of his friends in the Isles who maneuvered  him to the Jerry Kelly’s who live on the other side of the Bayou Boisdore.</B></div> <div> <B>     On the following Monday, Leon proclaimed that he had negotiated a good deal in the purchase of a house in Mississippi.  He explained that it only cost him a $10 down-payment and his signature on a 25-year mortgage for a “Demo” house.  He then stated that he couldn’t pay the monthly notes without a raise.  I told him, “No!,” --- but he talked me into paying down on his notes by offering me free use of the house.  </B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="09b968b0.jpg" border=0 width="150" height="139" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="4" VSPACE="4"><IMG SRC="09dc58b0.jpg" border=0 width="197" height="139" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="3" VSPACE="3">     <B>At that time, my idea of fun in Mississippi was a weekend at the </B><B>Sun and Sand</B><B> in Biloxi or at </B><B>Gulf Hills Dude Ranch</B><B> in Ocean Springs.  </B></div> <div> <B>     My first weekend started with a great disappointment. </B></div> <div> <B>     On approaching the wonderful</B><I><B> “Demo”</B></I><B> house, the gravel road access to it was quite pitted.  There were no trees – just a barren reddish-yellow clay terrain that wouldn’t even vegetate a decent weed.  Regardless, my wife and kids talked me into staying the weekend, since we had brought our Schwegmann bags full of groceries.  </B></div> <div> <B>     The bright side, however, was when Jerry Kelly bellowed out across the Bayou from us, “Drop by for drinks!”  A telephone had not yet been installed, so even though almost two blocks distant, Jerry’s form of communication worked – and was further improved when he put up a large outside bell.  This became his customary announcement to us, that </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#003300" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>Kelly’s Korner</B></I></FONT><B> was open to guests.</B></div> <div> <B>     On that first day, the Kelly kids took our kids out on their pier to catch fish, cast nets for shrimp, trap crabs --- and also took them out in the bayou sailing, boating, and swimming.  We were hooked.  </B></div> <div> <B>     The following week I bought a high-powered boat, 4 pairs of water skis, and 4 safety vests.  For a number of years to follow, our weekends were occupied with water skiing and participating at the PCI Golf clubhouse and the string of area Yacht clubs as dictated by the Kellys.  During those early days, the Golf Club’s </B><B>19</B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#003300" FACE="Arial" ><B>th</B></FONT><B> Hole</B><B> was a great social event.  There were more than a hundred local people who showed up on Friday nights as Lucien Piernas tended bar.  For several years, my wife and I set up a portable bar near the #10 tee to fortify the players who participated in the </B><B>Italian Open</B><B> – with Bloody Marys.</B></div> <div> <B>     After the first few years without trees or grass, I planted four pine trees that are today well over 60-feet-tall.  I had also called a man in DeLilse sending him a partial payment for grass and top soil.  As was my nature at that time, I completely forgot about him since we had stopped going to the Coast for the winter.  A few months had passed before I received a note from the man stating, </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#003300" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><I><B>“If you are not satisfied with your 4 loads of fill and 9 loads of top soil, or with the price, just let me know.  I will gladly move the sodding and scoop up my dirt and then replace the sodding at a home that will pay me!”</B></I></FONT></div> <div> <B>     Well, on that following weekend, we made a run to Schwegmann’s and a trip to the Coast.  We actually had grass growing – so I made the “horticulturist”  happy by paying him off.</B></div> <div> <B>     On the following Easter morning, we experienced our first bayou tidal swell.  Having no pier, I tied my boat securely to a stake in the ground.  Needless to say, the next morning I found my outboard motor and boat completely inundated.  The water had risen to the bottom step of the raised house.  It was then that I realized why the house was set up on pilings.</B></div> <div> <B>     As the kids got older, they were not as keen on making weekend trips, so I decided to put the house up for sale or rent.  It was rented a few times with the last time being a four-year period.  You’ve heard about “taking everything but the kitchen-sink.”  Well, not only both our kitchen-sinks, but all the doorknobs, and even our mail box had been taken by these supposedly wonderful tenants.</B></div> <div> <B>     A few years afterwards, I decided to repair the house in order to put it up for sale.  Not being able to find a local contractor, I decided to repair it myself on weekends calling on a handyman from New Orleans.  However, Jerry Kelly again came to my rescue by offering me his maintenance man to tend to the major work.</B></div> <div> <B>     It was 1990, and the neighboring trees had grown so tall that I no longer could see </B><B>Kelly’s Korner</B><B>, nor the Bay.  So, I had a small deck built at my third floor level, just so that I could once more view the Bay from over the tree tops.  Needless to say, today, I can no longer see the Bay from 30-feet up.</B></div> <div> <B>     As a result of making the inside of the house once more livable, I became enchanted with the area all over again.  The fact that I was now divorced, I decided to call the Timber Ridge Social Club.  The lady who responded gleefully exclaimed, “Wonderful!  What is your wife’s name?”  </B></div> <div> <B>     I replied, “I’m Single.”  The phone suddenly went dead.  I truly believe that this was the reason for the name change to Timber Ridge Women’s Club, from the former generic "Social Club."</B></div> <div> <B>     In the meantime, I had moved from New Orleans to make 225 my full time residence.  In 1976, when the house was first described to me, the exterior design was called a </B><B>California Contemporary</B><B>, which I interpreted to mean “awful.”  In fact, during the early years, I placed a sign on the front of the house, naming it </B><B>“La Caza Caca.”</B><B>  In church one day, a nearby resident introduced himself and warmly greeted me saying, “ Is that your home near the #10 ? ”  </B></div> <div> <B>     I replied, “ Yeah, I call it the Ugly House. ”  </B></div> <div> <B>     He flatly replied, “ We do, too ! ”  </B></div> <div> <B>     Needless to say, I never sought him out after that.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Upon watching all the recent expensive beautiful homes popping up throughout Timber Ridge – setting a trend that has induced a number of the older dwellers to refurbish their homes – I also got caught in the fray between progress or doing nothing.  </B></div> <div> <B>     One day, as I was watching Oprah on TV touting a Make-Over for a distinctively plain person who after a half hour was turned into a beautiful princess -- an idea hit me.   I  then realized that a simple refurbishment to 225 just wouldn’t do.  The house needed a major Make-Over.  So, in the year 2000, my Ugly Duckling evolved to what it is today – however, it became my bad luck for the County Tax Assessor to reappraise the metamorphosis.</B></div> <div> <B>     Regardless, the many compliments I receive makes up for the added costs --- further, since the drainage ditch between me and the golf course has been deepened and widened, I now find that I am actually on an Island.</B></div> <div> <B>     The progression of changes are shown below:</B></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="462" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 178 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="08adeac0.jpg" border=0 width="222" height="172" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="08bde920.jpg" border=0 width="222" height="146" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 161 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="08cde9b0.jpg" border=0 width="222" height="155" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="08dde980.jpg" border=0 width="222" height="152" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 162 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="08ede990.jpg" border=0 width="222" height="153" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="090e29c0.jpg" border=0 width="226" height="156" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>The 1976 photo below shows my many neighbors</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="09518700.jpg" border=0 width="536" height="368" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>The 2002 photo below shows receding floods from Hurricane Isidore.</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="099147d0.jpg" border=0 width="532" height="381" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B>My Back Yard has a New Playground !</B></I></div> <div> <IMG SRC="09f1a6b0.jpg" border=0 width="538" height="363" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>And, when it ever so lightly snowed on Christmas Day 2004 can be seen on the roof top.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="12c9a910.jpg" border=0 width="666" height="401" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>And then there was Katrina</B></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="17b06c40.jpg" border=0 width="262" height="196" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="17d08c50.jpg" border=0 width="264" height="197" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Lot for Sale</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="17f138e0.jpg" border=0 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