Whew! We had one tenant move out today, we did the walk-through with him and had the new tenants show up approximately 20 minutes after he left to sign the new lease! It has been quite the whirlwind. We are pretty happy with the new tenants and hopefully everything goes well with them. We were able to get almost $100 more per month and we have some better terms in the lease that we’ve learned over time as landlords to add.
Saw this as we were driving around Greeley -winner, winner (chicken dinner?) indeed!
So…we’ve managed to stop feeding the alligator, add some much needed cash to help us when we close in PR in three weeks, and killed a huge zombie that was lunging at us. We still have a few bugs to work out (a few minor repairs/cleaning that needs to be done). But overall, we are tremendously relieved. The timing of this has been so strange and so perfect.
Hooray for the weird, little-known under-workings of the universe!
Well we’ve been busy lately killing all kinds of bugs and zombies. Once you’re done killing one, another takes its place.
– Zombies are sometimes harder to kill and can be reoccurring. – Bugs aren’t serious but can be annoying and they grow in numbers.
Cassie and I use ‘bugs’ and ‘zombies’ as metaphors for errands or things that pop up from time to time that need attention. Like for instance my car needs work, and we are trying to find a renter. We also have minor things that get pushed to the background when we focus on these other things. Like in the zombie movies, there are usually a few that need tending too first -the ones about to bite you and eat your brains- and there are all the others that you can see in the distance lurching at you. Yes, and if you let them get to you, you will become one!
I was thinking about it and to me it seems that we seek these things out. My brain(s!) at least tends to find things that need fixing. The problem with this is that something ALWAYS needs to be fixed. I complain about it, but I constantly search these things out and would be bored if I didn’t have them. Kind of a catch 22. In fact that’s all I do at work everyday, kill bugs! (system/application admistration..computer bugs)
There is a Pearl Jam video at the bottom of the post. I remember it from when I was growing up. The lyrics are pretty spot on:
I got bugs
I got bugs in my room
Bugs in my bed
Bugs in my ears
Their eggs in my head
Bugs in my pockets
Bugs in my shoes
Bugs in the way I feel about you
It’s funny but I distinctly remember identifying with this song when I was 18 years old. So this whole ‘bugs’ thing isn’t new to my world. I just have more of them and have become better at killing them so the ones I complain about tend to be bigger.
Bugs on my window
Trying to get in
They don’t go nowhere
Waiting, waiting…
Bugs on my ceiling
Crowded the floor
Standing, sitting, kneeling…
A few block the door
No matter what, you can’t get away from them. They are literally everywhere! The paint isn’t right, the wood needs sanded, the hedge needs trimmed, the car needs vacuumed, the pets need fed and on and on and on.
And now the questions:
Do I kill them?
Become their friend?
Do I eat them?
Raw or well done?
Do I trick them?
I don’t think they’re that dumb
Do I join them?
Looks like that’s the one
I kill quite a few of them but there are some you just have to be at peace with. Things you can’t really do anything about. The funny part of this video is that he totally screws it up at the start. Bugs….
I had to do some work out in Northeastern Colorado. So after I got done with my work, Britton and I were able to hang out in the Sterling, CO area. Sterling is about 100 miles away from Greeley. It is such a strange place. Going there was almost like traveling in a time machine. Everything seemed outdated and like we were revisiting the 80’s. From the music on the radios to the furnishings and style of the hotel, everything around you made you think you’d stepped back in time.
Northeastern Colorado is more like Kansas and Nebraska than what most people would first think of when they think Colorado. For people who are unfamiliar with Colorado, the first thing they think of is skiing and the mountains, which is half our state. The other half is prairie lands. For hundreds of miles it is nothing but sage brush and tumbleweeds. If you drive from Nebraska into Colorado, you wouldn’t even see the mountains in the distance until you hit Greeley -and some of them are 14,000 feet high!
So going out there was quite the experience. Driving is a breeze, if anything it can be too monotonous and boring as there are few cars and few turns. Here are a few pictures (click to enlarge) of our mini-adventure to Sterling and into Northeastern Colorado to give you a feel for the area:
Lots of Windmills -many were functional to water cattle
A long neglected weathered old barn on the other side of the railroad tracks
The biggest variation in topography were a few softly rolling hills
Huge Grain Silos show what most people do out there
All the chemical fertilizers used in the (conventional) farming have caused some unwanted consequences, such as nitrates in the water. This can cause major health problems, especially for what they call “blue babies”.
A huge feedlot outside of Greeley near Kersey
Raising cattle and bison makes a lot of sense out on this dryland prairie because they will eat the dry grasses that nothing else can. However this easy solution -grazing animals on acres of grassland- is turned into a problem when condensed into feedlot operations where all the waste is concentrated. In the olden days, cowboys were used to round up the cattle on these grasslands. Now they have shifted into this feedlot system instead. This requires extensive feed inputs in the form mainly of (subsidized) corn. Corn, unlike this prairie grassland, is highly water intensive. The close proximity of the animals and the fact that they are standing in their waste also causes them to get sick more often. So, they are given prophylactic antibiotics in their feed, which in turn the general public soon eats.
With all the open space out here in Northeastern Colorado and little rainfall, using this water-intensive and condensed system seems completely counter-intuitive. This un-natural, and ultimately unhealthy system only runs on food (corn) subsidies and (cheap) petroleum. If you ask where all the real cowboys have gone, here’s your answer.
Long ribbons of empty road unfold in front of you
Grain prices -wheat, corn, millet
This bumper sticker is reflective of the thoughts on beef in this region: Eat Beef: The West wasn’t won on salad.
A visual reminder that all of this is currently possible only because of fossil fuels. It will be interesting to see how agricultural areas like Northeastern Colorado adapt -or possibly revert back to the tried and true ways- when fuel prices rise
We went out to eat at a place in Sterling called TJ Bummers. They had lots of old antiques including this old tractor out front. It reminded us of the way it must have been out here in the wild west days.
Overall, it was a nice trip. Going to Northeastern Colorado is not generally thought of as a destination in Colorado, but it is a reminder of what a large part of Colorado is all about. Agriculture is a vital part of our Colorado economy and if you ever want to see that up close and personal, this is the area you should visit.
We are about to start the countdown to Puerto Rico, La Isla del Encanto (Isle of Enchantment). In approximately one month, on May 21 we will be on our way. We are planning on being down there for 2 weeks and we hope to close that Monday or Tuesday. We have lined up an air mattress (thanks Rosa and Summer and Stefan for this!) and will be staying our first few nights with the Kruses.
We’ve also called to cancel the other deal. We wish that it hadn’t worked out like that. The place in Isabela was an excellent deal with nice land and house, and we had every intention of buying it. On the other hand, if we hadn’t signed the contract for that place, we wouldn’t have been so bold with our negotiating to get the deal in Rincon talked down by $170,000 from what it was listed, and $270,000 discount from its original price! So it seems that everything has happened for a reason- it’s just sometimes you can’t tell it when it’s happening real time.
Our place will be sort of near the border of barrios Puntas and Rio Grande
Our lawyer David, a friend of the Kruses, is also willing to close in Rincon and has asked us to remind him to pull the title work the week before we close to make sure no last minute liens are placed.
We have our plane tickets to Aguadilla. We still need to secure the car rental and find out what the situation is with the water/electricity. I would like to talk with the current owners of the house and let them know they can leave the hammocks, books, etc. We would love to have them. I’d also like to find out the history of the place. When it was first developed, who the builder was of the wood house and the cement studio cabana, etc. Some of that we might find out from the title search.
In any case, there’s a lot to be excited about! We are scared and happy all at the same time. This is a culmination of a lot of hard work and focus. Britton always says, “Step one: buy a place in Puerto Rico”. Boy there sure have been a lot of steps to get to Step One!
So stay tuned! In about a month there will be some major activity…
