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!