Durfe's Xanga

A year later

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:36:51 GMT

Ah yes, we chose the rent and loose option. No buyers, no new house, all the work of owning a house without the advantages. I don't think houses will sell well for another year. There are too many people who need so desperatly to sell that they will drop the price to any level to get out. If housing prices drop much more it may pay to double down on the bet that prices can't stay low forever.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:11:47 GMT

Life is like "Deal or No Deal". Here you see our comfortable, large, covered patio outside a house I could not afford if I were buying it today. It is 80 miles from the apartment we live in to be close to my work. Four years to planned retirement. Nobody currently looking at houses in that area. None in six weeks. None. The cost of selling, almost half a year's wages.

Choice 1: Continue as is, eating slowly into savings and living in tight quarters

Choice 2: Buy second small house near work and fix it up, putting off decision of where to retire.

Choice 3: Get out at any cost, hoping to buy a good place and save money

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:52:27 GMT

The garden year 3.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 23:52:22 GMT

My office, just a few hours before the room was empty. Chances are it won't get assembled again. Eight foot ceilings would give a person claustraphobia with only a foot and a half of clearance to sleep in. Maybe a sailor used to three decker hammocks. I may be dating myself. It took hours to dsimantle.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:44:05 GMT

Proof that St Helens is still there 40 miles over the horizon, and still spouting steam, building the dome inside the bowl. It was a rainy Winter in Washington (not DC)

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 23:54:32 GMT

Our street drains well but this Winter has had some gullywashers. I kind of like not having to sweep the gutter on the weekend. I wondered why the landscaper suggested three French Drains on the uphill side of the house.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:03:39 GMT

From the wreath in the front window

To the tree just behind it, this was a nice Christmas

Katje whispering to the Wise Men

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 14:30:39 GMT

Fall, the orange season. Reds of sumac and redbud. Yellows of maple and birch. But, blue sky still in the West. Not long though before we don't notice, because it is dark on the way to work, and dark on the way home. Heaters to reduce the chill and warm working hands. Work hard in the Winter to make time in Spring or Summer for a trip with friends. That's the plan.

Fall beauty

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 01:16:14 GMT

My favorite La Center volunteer. It appeared on it's own next to the rock .

Beautyberries in their glory. they are only a sixteenth of an inch in diameter, but hundreds on each branch make for great fall color.

Morning sun across the lake out the back of our apartment.

City of Bridges

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 19:24:31 GMT

This is downtown Portland, Oregon, as seen from the Marquam Bridge that Interstate 5 uses to cross the Willamette. The next bridge North, in the picture is the Hawthorne.

The Morrison Bridge is the next one North. I missed that one, but caught the Burnside Bridge open this day when I went by. Next comes the Steel Bridge with it's twin lift towers. Then, the Broadway Bridge in orange over the top of the Union Station's passenger walkways. Finally, the Fremont, I think it is called, takes traffic for the 405 across. There are the St. John's, the Sellwood, and the Ross Island. I need to take a day to get good pictures of all.