The House on McCall Road

In late 1977, I had moved into a really unique house. It was a 200 year old Dutch barn that had been completely renovated. The downstairs consisted of a new kitchen, dining room and master bedroom..and the "loft" was the main living area of the house, and a seperate section of the loft, adjacent to the living room had a second bedroom facing the back yard of the property...with sliding glass doors leading to a deck overlooking a brook. The loft also had a bathroom, and a large living room with huge picture windows in front, overlooking two acres of landscaped property with fieldstone walks, stone walls, fruit trees, a woodshed, and an old garage with a laundry in it. The house was set back about 250 ft. from the street, on a sharp corner, so people driving by had to watch the road, and could often "miss" the property. It was very private. The loft walls were curved, like an upside down boat hull, and inside, the loft walls had been finished in new hardwood oak flooring from floor to ceiling, and the entire loft was carpeted, with a fireplace set on a brick base. I bought new furniture for the upstairs, and an antique dining room set for the downstairs. It was a very cool place and I loved it. I was only paying $350.00 per month rent for it. Originally I shared it with a friend of mine, who also owned the bar I had met Patti in...but he was having personal problems with alcohol and cocaine, and a divorce he was going through. In less than six months, he was losing his bar due to his inability to pay bills, including the one he owed me, and so he moved out. After he had left, I asked Bruce, to move in. I had always preferred the second floor bedroom, off the loft area, and so when the Master bedroom became available...it went to Bruce. He was the perfect choice for a housemate...we were business partners...he worked in the band...he valued privacy as much as I did...and he never broke my rules. Money wasn't an issue for him, and another plus was...we partied the same way...hard. For all the Avalanche years, we lived there, and it was a great time. We became very close during that time, and the bond we developed survived many difficult years, and remains very strong, even today. At that time, I also got a puppy who was a Collie-Shepherd like Kilo had been, and because he had to black circles around his eyes...I named him Kayo...and the name stuck, even though the circles faded away by the time he was six months old. Unfortunately he wandered into an adjoining property, and was shot by the farmer who lived there. About four months after that happened, I replaced Kayo with another puppy, this one a pure white Samoyed Huskie and White German Shepherd cross. His name was Snooper, and I was really glad to have another very exceptional dog in my house and in my life. He too, was an amazing animal...incredibly beautiful, very smart, and very loyal...and he helped fill the hole in my heart that had been left when Kilo died. But I was destined to lose him a few years later, too...and although dogs brought great joy into my life...losing them also brought great pain and sadness, too. I'll talk more about that later. After three years of living on this beautiful estate, the landlords offered to sell me the entire property for $60,000.00...a steal...but I was unable to react to the offer, because the band was tying up my cash, not to mention the money I was spending on my escalating drug use. To this day, I regret not buying that property. It was just one of the many sacrifices I made for Avalanche, and to my addiction.