18 months to the day

You'd think it's a fairly simple process to buy a house, design a new house, tear down the house, and begin to build a new house. It is, really, if you allot 18 months and include the following people:

• a real estate agency 
• an architect
• a structural engineer
• a builder
• 25 neighbors
• the city zoning board
• a plumber
• a roofer
• an excavator
• a window contractor
• a framer
• a local loan officer
• an investment adviser
• an insurance agency
• a tree surgeon
• the postal service
• public utilities
• the electric company
• a young, able construction crew
• redemption distilleries

From here on out, you'll get a blow-by-blow account of the demolition and resurrection of the house.

Estimated time of completion: April 20, 2015.

Six more months, and counting down . . . .