The Pam and Jerry Fields' Blog Page

Category: Land (Page 5 of 5)

We look for our “dream lot”.

Interlude

Well, the rallies are behind me, and I’ve recovered from the stomach flu. Time to catch up on things and take stock of what we have planned for the rest of the year.

The Colorado Dream land hunt continues. Last Saturday we looked at some properties in an area we had not visited before. This area is south of Lake George, Colorado. Lots are smaller, mostly in the 1.25 to 2.5 acre size, but the prices are more reasonable per acre as a result. There are some nice views from some of the lots. Pike’s Peak is to the east, and South Park and the Collegiate Range is to the west. We were very taken with the area, and plan a return visit in a week or two to look at more properties.

We are looking for a  lot that is relatively flat and has a mix of pine and aspen trees on it. A mountain view would be a real plus. We saw some lots,  not for sale, that meet all these criteria. We think that if we keep a close eye on the listings something will come up that we could get serious about.

We’ve kind of given up the idea of using the land in a dual-purpose mode, for both full-time living and commuting to work. The closer in places are just more than our budget can handle. So, the land we choose will be pretty much recreational use only, not full-time living unless we win the lottery.

We would, most likely, put a small garage with an apartment built-in on the lot. Pam insists on running water and a bathroom, I don’t know why. 🙂  So, the lot would have some developement (well and septic) and we would run off a portable generator for a while. Doing some research, we can expect to pay about $10k each for a well and septic system.  We would need to fence part of the lot, at least, so the dogs could run a bit.  The search for our dream land continues.

The rest of the summer looks to be a little less hectic than it has been since May. A trip back to Wisconsin will be in the works for early fall, as I still need to get Dad’s tractor home, and there will be a memorial service for Pam’s Aunt Angela in Merril, Wisconsin, in the early fall that Pam would like to attend. With Pam’s permission I recently bought a used snowmobile which sucked some money out of our savings. That will curtail some of our travel plans for the year. We had discussed a trip to Prince Edward Island (North-east of Maine) but that will probably not happen this fall.

In other news, our son Toby is now employed full-time instead of working temp jobs, and that is good news. He  is even getting some overtime, so he can pay off  of his credit card debt and put some money aside. Felicity is interviewing for a 2nd part-time job this comming week, and if she gets it, the income between the two will cover her living expenses while the jobs she picks up re-doing web pages and writing newsletters provides some discretionary income. We hope she gets the job.

My thanks to Tabitha, Larry, Becky, and a few others who  take the time to read these posts and respond. I do appreciate it!

Thats it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Stuff

This is a bit of a catch-all post, covering a few different topics. First, I should mention that Mr. Biggs (a very mellow puppy) is doing well with Patti. It looks like they will be a good match.

Second, regarding the photo of our groceries, yes, that green round thing in the middle is a watermelon.

Finally, I’ve made a few changes to some of the web pages. The Home page, Cats page, and Jerry’s Toys page now sport a slide show. Move your cursor over the image to show the control buttons, or click on the photo to bring up a larger image. Hint: On the larger images, there is a “Next” button at about the 1:00 o’clock position, and a “Prev” button at about the 11:00 o’clock spot. These buttons are hidden until you get your cursor close to them. First photo in the series has no “Prev” button;  last photo has no “Next” button. Captions show up better in the large format. I’ll be adding and changing these photos from time to time. Each page has a different set of photos; I hope you enjoy looking at them.

The Land Search has expanded a bit; we are now open to looking at parcels that have small cabins on them. A couple have come up that are still within our price range, and have a few improvements, such as a shed, well, or a driveway on them. We hope to get a list of properties together and drive over and take a look at some of these spots.

I have a trip upcoming, back to Wisconsin. My father died December 27th of last year, and was cremated. (He was 90 years old.) My mother has arranged for his ashes to be interred on May 28, and I want to be there for the ceremony. Along with my sisters and brother, we will be going through Dad’s storage shed on the 29th and try to sort out what is going to be kept, what to distribute to family members, and what to donate to charity or just part with.

Dad, who lived through the depression, was something of a pack rat, and rarely threw anything away. I know there is a 5-gallon bucket of old nails in the shed, for example, that may end up in the recycle bin. You just never know when you may want to straighten out an old nail for some purpose. 🙂

It is with mixed emotions that I contemplate this trip. I always enjoy seeing my siblings and mother, but there is no doubt a dark cloud will be present as well. There are a lot of memories tied up in some of this stuff, and it will not be an easy visit.

On a lighter side, my oldest sister will be coming out to Colorado for a visit. She says she can put up with the cats and dogs for a while. I’ve arranged for a few days off and hope to show her some of the local scenery as well as catch up with her on other news and stories. That should be quite nice!

Thanks for the comments and feedback. Let me know what you think of the slide shows.

Jerry

Colorado dream…continued

Pam and I took another trip to the area west of Colorado Springs where we are looking for our “dream” land. Having a cabin in the woods in Colorado has long been a dream of ours, and we are finally starting to pursue it.

We had one lot in particular to look at, and a few others in the same general area that may prove to be of interest. This trip  would also give us the opportunity to drive through more of  our target area.

Basically, we are looking for a lot that is big enough to separate us from neighbors, has a view, preferably of mountains, but valleys and trees would be OK as a second choice. Lot needs to have some trees on it, and it would be nice to have some open meadow area. A flat spot to build is on the list of plusses, and access to a local community for groceries and gas would be great. Pam says she wants it to be within 30 minutes of a hospital as we are not as young as we used to be. No off the side of a side road, although we started by  looking at some lots that were pretty remote. All this on a budget…it won’t be easy to find!

We left Friday afternoon and drove to a suburb of Denver and had dinner with our son Toby. We talked for a couple hours, then headed to our hotel room. Early Saturday we got started on our land visit.

Normally temperatures are in the upper 60’s this time of year. We had 28 degrees and snow. The low cloud cover made it impossible to determine what views each lot had. Still, we headed off to our first address.

We were pleasantly welcomed by a Mountain Bluebird, and a couple rabbits took off as the dogs approached. Chittering sounds in a large Ponderosa pine were tracked to an Aberts tuft-eared squirrel.

We saw Mountain Bluebirds in the trees. (U.S. Forest Service photo.)

Tuft-eared squirrel

Aberts Squirrel (U.S. Forest Service photo.)

Only real drawback is that the lot is steeper than we would like.

Pam thinks: "Driveway here?"

Pam and Bru walk the lot. Blondie, our other dog, was near Jerry.

The Aspen trees are not yet leafed out, but this allowed us to see some of the lot’s other features, like the rock outcroppings.

Lot has some rock outcroppings among the Aspen.

The realtor took this “view” photo on a better day from the top of the lot

View from the top of the lot.

Elevation is, we think, is in the upper 8,000 foot range.

Jerry near stream at property edge.

As a plus, there is a small (!) all-season stream at the front of the lot. It feeds a few small ponds in the area.

While we were driving around we saw other wildlife, including a fox with pointed ears and a beautiful tail, many deer, and ducks swimming on some of the ponds.

Many deer in the area!

The property is about 10 miles from the nearest town so meets another of our “wish list” criteria. However, it is pretty steep, and getting a driveway to the building site at the top of the lot would be, well, interesting! As for now, the search continues, but this lot is a contender.

Looking for Land

For some time, Pam and I have been toying with the idea of trying to find some “recreational” land to be used for weekend get-aways. Lately we have begun looking at listings and visiting parcels that may be of interest.

Some of these listings are “creative writing” at its best. “Lakes” are small ponds, “sloping” meens steep, and “View” happens only if you are looking up at the stars. None the less, there have been a couple spots that may be candidates.

You learn to look at the details. One lot had a discrepancy in the driveway easement; the easement ended about 30 feet short of the propterty line! Oh well. It was a nice lot, too.

We are looking in the area west of Colorado Springs, on the theory that there would be enough services available so that one day we might actually retire to that area. We are avoiding gated communities and lots of less than an acre or so…Pam does not want neighbors close by. Jerry wants enough room to put up a pole shed to house his “toys” and other gear, so 2+ acres is one of the basic requirements.

The dogs enjoy these trips, as it is about the only time they have been able to get into the woods and smell deer and other wild animals. They don’t know what to make of most of it, but they have fun walking the parcels with us.

The search continues. More on this project as we progress.

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