Monthly Archives: May 2012

We Sold a House!

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Today was our closing on one of our rentals. It was definitely a bittersweet feeling. We have come a long way since we first bought the house with the rainbow cabinets, pink rooms, carpeted bathroom and out of date style. (If you missed it, you really should check out what it looked like before…and after we were through with it.)  Overall, we have had 95%+ occupancy rate with it, and we always said that we would live in the bungalow ourselves. We’ve made good income on it, and our purpose of it was for income when we are living in Puerto Rico.

However, last summer, we also had tenants from hell who only stayed there for about 5 days, but really traumatized us. We just couldn’t ever satisfy them and I think especially Britton tied that feeling probably unfairly  to the house. So when we talked with our real estate agent and she told us we could easily get $30,000 more than we paid for it a couple of years ago, we thought it was a no-brainer to take it.

We figure that this lump sum sale will help us in Puerto Rico just as much if not more than the smalll monthly rent checks could. We can transfer the funds from this property into improvements in Rincon like fixing up the concrete cabana, the wooden house AND build another cabana or pool. With those improvements we should easily make more monthly income there than we would here from the rental house.


One last moment with our first-ever sold house

Still, I was of two minds about it. Britton was ready to let go of the burden. He said he already feels lighter, like letting go of baggage. I am excited about the prospects for Puerto Rico, but still hadn’t quite let go of the house. Today, though, we visited the house one last time and thanked it for all the lessons it had taught us, and all the people it had housed. We blessed it for the next people to live there, and released it. It felt really good.

At the closing today, we met the young couple who bought it. They are super-excited to live there. It is their first home and their energy was contagious. I had a strange feeling of birth and death and rebirth. For us, our chapter of life with that house is closing -dying- but for them it is just beginning! And from that energy transfer, the loss of this property to us will bring forth a new life -our new life in Puerto Rico. Pretty cool.

Anyhow, we decided we should commemorate this day with something that is a reflection of it. We bought a piece of authentic pottery/art. To us, it represents something from Greeley that brings something tropical. And it is usable as well! We loved the colors and glazing technique the artist used.


Our pottery fish platter


Close-up Details

After the closing we also celebrated by going to our favorite restaurant: Bisetti’s in Fort Collins.


Outside Bisetti’s in Fort Collins

After dinner we walked around downtown Fort Collins, went and played at an old school arcade called Pinball Jones, found an outdoor community piano (!?) and had a great time. Things are really coming together for us and it makes us super stoked for the next chapter that is to come.


Man, I’ve forgotten most of my piano lessons!

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Hiking Devil’s Backbone

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This weekend we had most of our chores all done. We did all we can to the rental that will be vacated at the end of the month (until they move out of course), the small house on 13th Street is scheduled to close this Friday, and our house has been cleaned. So, we got to do a few “fun” things. We went clothes shopping and picked up a few garments. We played in the yard and garden. We took a couple of walks.

Then I thought, let’s go hiking. We need to prepare for our 8 hour hike up a 14er, so we thought we’d get a little practice in by hiking Devil’s Backbone in Loveland (about 20 miles from Greeley). Britton was game, so we headed out. Devil’s Backbone trail is open to horseback riders, hikers, and mountain bikers. It was busy but not too crowded.


Us with Devil’s Backbone in the background

We do a lot of walking around Greeley, but Greeley is really flat, so we were huffing and puffing a little bit as we ascended. After about an hour of hiking, though, our bodies started to cooperate with us and it was really enjoyable and were able to walk for another hour and a half. Here are a few pics from the hike:


Yucca is the main plant you see out there


Beautiful mountain views


There was a part in the “backbone” called the “Keyhole”


Some pretty (and hardy!) wildflowers in the rocks


Some of the trail

We had a great time and got in some much-needed practice. I think we’ll need to do some more incline-hiking and for a longer time before we’re ready to tackle the 14er. Should get us in good shape that’s for sure!

Then after we hiked, we drove back to Greeley where we watched the full solar eclipse! It was spectacular. Where we were sitting, a girl had brought eclipse viewing glasses, so we got to see, and photograph it!


Eclipse through special glasses (click it to enlarge)


This is the same moment with our eyes (when you closed them, you could see the burned image of the eclipse in your eyes though!!) It was pretty eerie to see everything get a little darker when it would have otherwise been super bright out.

Overall, we had a great Sunday and weekend.

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And Fixing Houses and Saving Money

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There seems to be a theme lately. Things break and sometimes we fix them and sometimes we have someone else fix it. I suppose that I like to pick my battles.

We were over at one of the rentals and the current tenants are moving out at the end of the month. The management company we hired suggested that the yard be cleaned up a bit. Mulch, weed removal and turning on the sprinklers. All pretty basic stuff. When we were working over there, we noticed that they had the AC on (compressor outside was running). It wasn’t a very hot day, and we wouldn’t have had our AC on, but we just kept about our yard work and didn’t think much about it.   Cassie was a weed pulling, rose and tree triming machine!

One thing about Colorado is we have tenacious weeds.  They grow even when it’s hot and there is no water.  As a result anytime we put down rocks or mulch the standard operating procedure is to put down some kind of weed barrier.  The landscaping stores sell a fabric that is supposed to keep the weeds down.  And it does…For a while.  Then the fabric starts to break down, or the weeds just start growing in the fabric.  I’ve come to find that it’s worthless as a weed deterrent.


Plastic was used along the fence, landscape fabric on the left

Instead what I have found works really well is the thickest plastic you can find.  It seems to last years and NO weeds come up thru it.   I removed a bunch of rocks, removed the remaining fabric and put down the plastic weed barrier then put the rocks back.  It’s quite a bit of work, but it should be good to go for a number of years now.


After all the rock was moved back in place with plastic instead of the fabric

After we put the mulch down in other areas of the yard,  the fertilizer and replaced the fabric with plastic we noticed that the A/C compressor was still running!  I figured this indicated a problem so we took a closer look.  There was ice forming on the coolant line!  I have no idea how long it had been running for, but it needed closer inspection.


Ice Growing on the Compressor Line!

I found that the blower motor on the furnace wasn’t running!  This caused air to not move across the AC coil which meant that it just iced up both outside and inside! Who know how long that AC had been running and not shutting off! Good thing we just happened to be working at the property. The tenants were clueless!

I looked up some info on the internet and from previous experience I figured it was the run capacitor.   They are prone to failure, but also are the cheapest/easiest part to replace.  I pulled the capacitor and got a replacement at a local store here in Greeley.  Rick’s Appliance.  The guy who works there/owns it, Rick, is super honest and every time I’ve gone in the store he has been very helpful.  So for $6 I got a new capacitor.


Run Capacitor for the Blower Motor

I got to the house the next day and the ice had melted off the AC parts and I threw in the new capacitor.  Turned the furnace on and….fan still wouldn’t kick on.  The blower motor fan just buzzed.  I did get it to start by pushing it by hand once but it never worked on its own.  I figured the next part to replace was the motor.

Finding HVAC parts is I think, intentionally hard to do online.  It’s as if they have their own club and if you’re not in it, you aren’t going to find what you need online.   They want you to pay someone to fix your stuff. I found a motor at a place near work.  It cost $80 and is a universal Mars motor.  I was a bit skeptical about using an aftermarket part; I almost always want to get a direct original equipment manufacturer (OEM) replacement.  This causes less hassle with things that don’t fit correct or that might have small differences.  In this case however it was nearly impossible and would have cost ~$400.


Blower Motor in the Furnace

I put the motor in, wired it up and turned it on.  Worked like a charm!  It did take my time and $86 total (plus tax) but I learned a lot in the process and I had time to do it.  There was no great rush or pressure since the weather here is between seasons and we don’t need AC or Heat. Estimated cost to hire an HVAC person to do what I did: $500!

And it was quite apparent what had caused the motor to burn out: the furnace filter hadn’t been changed in a year! The filter was all bent and sucked inward. Remember to change your filters often, monthly even, if you use your furnace year-round.


Yep, back in the garage on the floor with my blue shirt on..lol

All in all it was a productive few days.  We saved a lot of money by doing things ourselves and we had the time to do it.  I think I want to turn the old motor from the furnace into an electric wind generator.  We’ll see.  As is I am learning all about furnaces and that’s something I won’t need in Rincon…but it never hurts to learn.

The Honda Civic is small but can hold quite a bit! (removing debris from the yard)

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Best Plants to Have with Chickens

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Having chickens in your backyard is not exactly the easiest way to have a beautiful backyard. They love to scratch and peck, make dust bathing areas, and poop on the back porch. They also love to eat new seedlings and anything that has been freshly planted is prime for scratching (and, often, destroying) in the search for some good worms and bugs.

But with a little work, you can still have a nice area to hang out with your roaming little pocket raptors. Just spray the poop with a hose (no need to pick it up as it is free fertilizer), and encourage an area that you wouldn’t mind being a dust bath. There are also a few strong plants that can survive the onslaught of super hot fertilizer (chicken poop), and lots of disruptions. In fact, I would say if these plants can survive with chickens around, they are probably some of the most hardy plants around. And they are pretty too!


Chickens in the iris bed

Irises

Irises are very hardy plants and they look really pretty even when they are not in bloom. The spikes create a sort of tropical background. Then when the flowers bloom, it’s even more beautiful. Because they grow in clumps, it is difficult for the chickens to get in there and destroy them. When they spread and get too overgrown, you can separate the root rhizomes and plant them in new areas. I recommend planting them pretty close together to create the chicken deterrent effect.


The chickens and Schnoodle near the irises

Roses

Roses are both gorgeously fragrant and chicken-hardy. Because of their thorns, they are not messed with by the chickens.We have about 8 rose bushes in the backyard!


Rose bush and chickens

Others

Spreading plants like mint and daisies also do pretty well around chickens. Our comfrey plants are virtually unkillable, so if you like comfrey for its composting benefits and bumblebees, that’s another great choice. Raspberries, strawberries and other spreading plants that provide food also work, but you have to keep the chickens from eating the fruit! And surprisingly enough, regular old grass does remarkably well with chickens as long as you keep the number of chickens to a manageable number.


Daisies are great because they spread so eagerly

So what shouldn’t you plant around chickens? Well, pretty much any tender, sensitive or rare plant that you would hate to see stepped on, pecked at or scratched up. For example, our annuals like petunias and marigolds stay on our front porch in containers. Others that haven’t done too well around the chickens have been tulips, daffodils, mums and salvias. Some plants you can cultivate with the chickens in mind. For example, hostas are a little sensitive, but can be planted next to a house wall or corner where the chickens don’t have quite the access to scratching them. Or if you really want a sensitive-type plant, you can put chicken wire near it when it is young or first transplanted and then remove it once they grow full-size. As long as it’s not tasty to the chickens, they will leave most full size plants and trees alone.


Sensitive plants are kept separate from the chickens (in the front)


We keep the salvia (with bee) out front, but a full-grown plant might be ok

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