When we go down to Puerto Rico for this trip, we would also like to get a few things lined up with a Puerto Rican mortgage company. We had looked into Pentagon Federal when we had the offer in on the place in Lares, but they charge even just to fill out the application. Are there any other mortgage companies you might recommend? From reading CA2PR’s blog, it sounds like Banco Popular is not very good to work with even though it is the largest bank on the island. How is Western Bank? Any other mortgage companies that you trust?
This is one thing that makes moving so far away so difficult. We have a lot of connections here including a few friends in the mortgage industry. Their banks are national, but for some reason they don’t extend to Puerto Rico -poo. Anything we should be aware of that is different in the mortgage process? I would like to get preapproved and lined up before we leave from the trip. Another thing to do!! So much to cram into one week! We must keep telling ourselves, this is a property trip, not a vacation, but somehow it’s not sinking in! 🙂
This picture was on the front page. Kitty and the Hens. 🙂
Britton and I have been thinking that life is like that Talking Heads song, Once in a Lifetime. “You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” Sometimes Britton and I just look at each other and smile knowing that life is but a dream. You never know how one moment will lead to another. Yesterday, for instance, our cat and chickens were on the front page of the news.
It is sad, really how the whole chicken debate turned out. Mostly for people who will continue to live here and try to make this city a better place. I have tried, and believe me, it can be done, but it is HARD work. It is underappreciated work.
But Britton and I are ready to move on both literally and figuratively. We booked our next trip to Puerto Rico in mid-March! We are going to find a house! We are super excited. I can’t wait for the next moment when I look up and ask myself, “how did I get here?”, and then I’ll remember; what a strange life it is going gently down this stream.
Well the city council has decided to put it back on the agenda for Feb 16 where they will hear public input and vote.
We are on a chicken rollercoaster.
We are getting very indifferent on the issue. Either situation isn’t completely desireable. The current code isn’t good but the proposed code is almost worse because of all the micromanagement and bureaucracy.
Reminds me of a saying. “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'”
After the chicken ordinance spectacle, Britton and I received an email from the city that said we could come into compliance within a “reasonable schedule of attrition” which we are taking to mean that we can keep them until they die. Which leaves us back where we have been for the last nearly 2 years…with our chickens. In a way we are relieved…the way that the code was going was turning into a bureaucratic nightmare with inspections, fees, permits and government nosey-ness into our business. So in a way, we have bittersweet feelings about how the whole thing turned out.
There are some people who worked on the process with us who really want to push to get this back on the city agenda and to appeal it. I…am just not really feeling it. I am tired of fighting for something that I think was going down the wrong route of micromanagement anyway. I am bitter in that I fully believe people should be able to raise their own food, pets and utilize their property in the way they so choose, but it is sweet that they allowed us to keep our chickens anyway AND we don’t have to get a permit to keep them!
One of my favorite songs and by a great Colorado band!
Bittersweet feelings goes further than just this chicken ordinance thing. We have bittersweet feelings toward Greeley in general. We feel sweetly about this being our hometown and appreciate everything that it has allowed us to do and the personal growth we’ve attained here, but bitter that it doesn’t seem to want to change with the times and feels like it is pushing us out. That is part of the reason we want to move and live in Puerto Rico…we have grown out of shell here and are looking to expand our horizons.
We went to the 2nd out of three bee classes yesterday and decided to wait until we are living in Puerto Rico to get our own colonies. We do want to go learn hands on with some beekeepers in the area however. We just figured that we should be clearing out things from our lives here rather than bringing more in that we will only have to get rid of before we leave anyway.
Yesterday was also Britton’s and my dad’s birthday so we went out to lunch after the bee class and discussed their lives on this earth. My dad is exactly double the age of Britton! Strange coincidences in life.
We are still not sure what our exact ETA in Puerto Rico will be but we are still thinking 2010 will be a year of many changes. A lot of it depends on my job, Britton’s ability to work remote or find another job and whether or not we want to start our own business or just live down there.
It is beginning to feel more and more real, this change that is coming over us. And while I am tremendously excited, it is still that ambivalence, that bittersweet feeling, that makes it all the harder. If it were all bad or all good, life would be so much simpler. But it’s the complexity that makes it interesting.
