Neglected the journal again, sorry to say. But I have been busy...not with writing, just everyday stuff. Shopping. Housework. Biking. Cat care. I went out of town the other day too, which took most of the day; it was a trip I make about once every two months. Nice diversion, and a chance to drive the new car!

Summer is here, the heat/humidity is stifling outside! Today we've already had a couple small thundershowers, and I hear ominous thunder in the distance as I type this. I went on my bike ride early (before the storms), then tackled cleaning/rearranging the stray cat feeding area. Quite a job! I was sweaty and hot when I got through, but that is necessary in order to keep that area hygenic. Yesterday morning I cleaned my pet cats' porch, and that was a tough task too.

I weighed in at 89 lbs this morning, though a couple days ago I got up to 92. I nearly panicked! And cut back on calories for a day or so, which brought me back down to 89.

DH and I have also been looking at foreclosures; I've seen so many they are beginning to all run together in my memory. However, we've decided IF we find the "ideal" place, then we'll keep our house in town and have two places, hopefully one in the country. We can spend weekends there, and vacations, and any time we just want to get out of the city. I think that would work best for us, since I'm not sure I'd like living in the country fulltime. We want something affordable though, which we can pay cash for and not totally destroy all our savings. That makes the search more difficult, but it's kind of interesting to look at all of these properties; most are dreadfully neglected, and need work...which we hope to do ourselves in our spare time. Sort of an investment as well as an enjoyable place to stay occasionally.

Let's see...here's a short roundup of the properties we've seen lately.

--An older house and 16 acres. Beautiful pastureland, already fenced with a barn. The house needed some minor work, but was something we could have done. Finance company asked $84,500.00 and we bid $70,000.00 but they only came down to 82,500.00, and it was quite a distance from the city. Additionally, it was not far from where we lived when we first married, which I hated. So no, not a possibility.

--A modern house in disrepair, but large, with a swimming pool. The pool needed a new liner, but was otherwise usable. Five acres in an upscale suburb 8 miles from the city, in a rural setting. The view of mountains out the front windows was magnificent! It was priced at $65,000.00 and a real bargain. But that isn't enough land for DH's horses, so we didn't make an offer.

--An older house in rough shape, located on 20 acres at the dead-end of a road. Very private, and I loved that about it. However, it's all tangled up in legal problems, and not even on the market right now. It was at first, but when we began checking into it, the realtor realized there were problems with the deed (the prior owner had borrowed on the land and house separately!), so it's in legal limbo right now. Still a consideration, I suppose.

--A newer house with remodeled interior and 6 acres, price $64,500.00. It is only fifteen minutes from the city and a reasonable price/possibility. However, the house is not far off a very busy highway and the traffic noise is awful. Plus, 6 acres is probably not enough land for DH's horses. There is no barn, no fencing, lots of stuff we'd have to do. We didn't bid, and it's still available...but I don't think we'll try to negotiate on that one.

--A double-wide mobile home with 15 acres. We looked at this one last night, and I LOVED the privacy, it's on a secondary paved road, then at the very end of a dead-end graveled road. The whole 15 acres is in front of the mobile home, which gives it lots of seclusion and privacy. Woods all around the home, but open land for pasture toward the road. Apparently a felon lived there, and was arrested, lost the place; it's in the process of foreclosure. Lots of mess to clean up, since there's several old, burned-out trailers (used to be a trailer park there), old cars, an old truck trailer, etc. And the mobile home has been totally stripped inside, nothing but the walls and floor/ceiling/roof and structure left. Probably theft by those sneaking in there, since it's so isolated. And this is 15 miles out of the city...but, the good news is that it may be very affordable. We're waiting on the realtor to let us know what the finance company asks for a price. She thinks it will be mostly based on the land, since the mobile home is practically worthless. However, DH and I COULD make it livable enough for a secondary dwelling, and do most of the work ourselves. Definitely a possibility.

And there's been others too, but none so promising as these I have listed. This county has had LOTS of foreclosures in the recent months, and I'm on a mailing list that sends out announcements each time one is announced for bid/sale. Hence, our search continues.

Guess I'll call it quits here, since the storm is approaching and I may have to go offline. Last thought of the day:

""A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the
subject."