#677 Crane Creek to Ozarks Bungalow

We became the fifth owners of our 101-year-old Ozarks Bungalow when we purchased it in 2009 from the fourth owner - local celebrity Wayne Holmes.

"Wayne was salty, opinionated, rough-edged, and devoted to the things he held dear, which included his countryside, his stories, his family, Shakespeare, and good writing." - Steve Wiegenstein

Wayne also held dear the Ozarks Bungalow. In a captivating tale, he told us how he had always loved the house and one day, he just walked up to the front door and rang the door bell.  When the third owners answered, he offered to buy it on the spot and named his price.

Previously on this blog, we've told the story of how we came to own the Ozarks Bungalow: finding a For Sale sign in the yard via Google Street View from 1,000 miles away.  During the purchase process, we had the opportunity to meet Wayne and his lovely wife Mary Lou and hear first-hand their story of how they came to own it. Wayne was the consummate storyteller and we have a copy of his memoir Rocky Comfort to prove it. He passed away in September 2014 but not before he had the chance to live in his dream house and leave his mark upon it.

Wayne and Mary Lou had a country home along Crane Creek.  From there, they transplanted a variety of trees around the yard of the Ozarks Bungalow and installed a bent Osage Orange fence post at just the right angle to be used as a hand rail for the deck.

Wayne saved the green roof tiles from a building being demolished on his home campus of Drury University and reused them as a slate floor in the sun porch.  He added a pellet stove and created another living space to be used year round.  (This sun porch is perfect for our interim living room during our renovation.)

Wayne transported tons of rocks from Crane Creek in order to build a long (100 feet) rock wall along the west edge of the property.   

Wayne and Mary Lou placed a canning bucket along the rock wall to give us a lovely view from the kitchen window.

They also installed a canning bucket for a mailbox at their Crane Creek home.  I love that connection between the two properties.

Yours in appreciation of the great care taken of the Ozarks Bungalow through the years,
Mary