Month: March 2012

Spring Kittens and General News

March 25, 2012 / admin / 3 Comments

Precious and her kittens

Our current foster cat, Precious, had a litter of 6 kittens this past Thursday, March 22nd. The 6 consist of 3 males and 3 females. Although not named yet, Pam is considering using names from the old TV series “Gilligan’s Island: ” Thurston Howell III, Minnow, Gilligan, Ginger, Lovey, and Mary Ann. This is the 20th litter Pam has hosted.

Could this be Ginger?

Kittens can’t see or hear for about the first 10 days after birth. All the kittens appear to be very healthy and active. Precious, a young cat, seems to have all the right maternal instincts and is taking good care of her offspring.

Litter #20. Mother: Precious

In Land Hunt news, I received a call back from a gentleman I had spoken to regarding the sale of his 3 acre lot. If you remember, I was walking a For-Sale lot and happened to speak to the guy who owned the adjoining lot. He and his family were up for a day visit. It turns out he may want to sell that lot, and he called to say he was having a real estate company look at it to determine a fair price. If it’s reasonable, this parcel may be a very real possibility. We hope to get over and take a closer look at it in the next few days.

Another project is underway — installing some privacy fence. This would make our back yard more private. Our hope is the dogs would be able to stay outside when we went to work and they would bark less. (Less to see, less to bark at.) This will be a multi-weekend project, as it includes setting posts in cement, building 2 gates, and sealing the wood with a clear sealer to help keep the “new wood” look.

Bringing home privacy fence supplies

This is what it looks like after day 1 of the project:

Privacy fence install, day 1

Completing the project will take more time, as the back fence requires more posts to be put in before the fence goes up. Its a major project!

One note concerning photos: I am trying out a new format called The Photo Wall. Please take a look and tell me what you think! Get to The Photo Wall from our AppleAttic home page, or click here. Hint: Look for the double-headed arrow in the lower right part of the screen. Clicking on this arrow will display photos in full-screen mode. Clicking again, or hitting the Esc key, will return the display back to the original page size. Have fun!

As usual, clicking on any of the photos is this post will open a larger version of that photo.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Land Hunts 15, 16, and 17

March 18, 2012 / admin / 1 Comment

(Click on photos to open larger versions.)

Boy.

We never thought it would take this long to find a piece of property. Since my last post on this subject Pam and I made 2 trips together, and I made one solo trip to check out properties.

I’m going to take these in chronological order, hitting the high points of each trip. Listing all the properties we visited would simply take too long!

Since we had expanded our search to include small houses, our trip on February 11 took us to this property on Houma:

House at 19 Houma Way

This place is off-grid (solar with a generator backup) and was a just-in-the-neighborhood kind of stop, as the description was not that great. We found the place attractive, and with a view of Indian Mountain, satisfied most of our basic requirements. Alas, it sold within a week of our viewing, so we never had a chance to look inside!

Moving ahead to March 10, we found a couple of different properties, including this cabin on Bear Lane:

Cabin on Bear Lane

Digging deeper, we found this place had no running water, no electricity in the house, and had never received a “Certificate of Occupancy.” This last is needed to get insurance coverage. So, while there were some good views from the back of the lot, we had to pass on this one.

We also looked at some lots, including this one on Osprey Road:

View from Osprey Road lot

This lot is one of the “pleasant” lots; some level land, some views, some trees. It may be a possibility if a more dramatic lot can’t be found.

The find of the day was a For Sale By Owner lot, 381 Antler Ridge. Terrific views, good access, and a well and septic in place. (Also a small garage that should be demolished due to water damage and deterioration, which would leave a usable cement pad.)

View from 381 Antler Ridge

This photo looks great blown up full-size! At the top of the lot is an old foundation, well, electrical service, and views:

381 Antler Ridge foundation

The lady who owns this lot called me back, and her pricing for the lot (2.74 acres) is way out of line, even considering the well and septic. We feel, based on looking at many other lots in the area, this property is worth somewhere in the $60k range. The owner is asking $100k, so it is not likely we can come to an agreement. Too bad, as this is a great lot and we could be very happy with it.

Which brings us to my solo trip on March 17, when I went over on my motorcycle. While I looked at 7 lots and revisited Antler Ridge, this trip didn’t turn up much. I did look at a property on Murphy Road — house and a shed plus 45 acres of land. Listed as a forclosure, there was not a tree or shrub in sight.

631 Murphy

I checked out 2 side-by-side For Sale lots on Sanderling, but both are very steep. Good views from the top, though.

Sanderling lot

While I was getting ready to walk this lot, I spoke to a guy on the neighboring lot. He said he would sell me his acres, as he had to take care of his aging parents and needed the money. I told him I was interested and gave him my business card. We will see if anything comes of it.

For now we have come to a stopping point. We have looked at and walked dozens of lots in the area we like the best, and will have to wait for more properties to come up for sale. We have contacted a realtor in the area to give us a hand, and he supplied us with several maps that show all the plots, lot numbers, and information we would need to do more research. That’s a help.

We had thought we would have a place to go to this summer when we started this process. If all we wanted was a piece of land, there are several that would suffice. Problem is we want it all — views, space (without having to look into or over a neighbor’s house), decent price. The search will continue, but probably not with the same frequency of trips as in the past. Having found the subdivision and the view, it’s a waiting game!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Spring?

March 8, 2012 / admin / 1 Comment

I was out last Sunday on my snowmobile. It was a glorious day. Lots of people out snowmobiling, skiing, and snowboarding. However, temps were getting into the 40’s even at that elevation, 10,000+ feet.

Our bulbs are starting to grow. Walking around the yard we see our Iris, Tulips, and Daffodil bulbs starting to sprout their green shoots. Some of the trees look like their buds are filling out. According to our calendar, this is happening about a week earlier than last year. Like many places we had a mild winter, which may explain the earlier than normal start to the growing season.

It is still below freezing at night, so I have not started riding my motorcycle to work, but the daytime temperatures of mid to upper 50’s sure feels good. Pam has been out raking the yard, which is bare of snow, just to get outdoors. The dogs have been rolling in the dry grass and bringing it in with them, so the more we can get picked up the cleaner the house will stay.

I was watching 2 female Robins this morning as they were picking at the yard looking for food. At night, after we get home, I have been cleaning the windshield of bugs. (That part of spring I could do without.) Still, all are indicators that spring will soon be fully here.

We have some around the house projects planned, including putting up some taller privacy fence. The dogs bark at everything that moves past the house, so the theory is that if they can see less, they will bark less. We are waiting for the ground to fully thaw so we can begin putting in the posts.

I had completed a project to add more lights to the garage. The twin light fixtures at the rear of the garage had not been sufficient, so I added another pair to the front, just at the point where the garage door ends in its open position. What a difference that has made! Much easier to feed the cats, back the cars in and out, and generally just get around. Understand the garage houses 2 cars, 2 motorcycles, 2 garden tractors, my ATV, and a bunch of other “stuff.” It was not always easy to navigate in poor light!

We plan another Land Hunt trip this weekend, mostly to get out of the house as the weather is going to be great. I have been remiss in reporting on our last trip, so will combine notes on the two trips in my next post.

Last time I mentioned we had to do taxes…and have done so. What a bite. Due to a couple factors we ended up owing both the Fed and state extra money. That means there will be less to go into the housing fund. No matter what we do it seems we always own the Fed something at tax time, but we generally break even or get a small refund from the state. Not this year!

Thanks to family and friends who responded to the news of Pam’s father passing away on February 17. Your support was appreciated!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in.

Month: March 2012

Spring Kittens and General News

Land Hunts 15, 16, and 17

Spring?

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