Amidst all the house stuff I've been dealing with lately, I had a board of directors (BOD) meeting last weekend. The last one I went to, which was at the end of February, was in Palm Springs, and I never actually got to see Palm Springs. We have a new CEO and we spent two 9-hour days in a hotel basement conference room doing strategic planning. We worked HARD. They did feed us well and we had receptions the three evenings, but we never saw the sun or Palm Springs. So I wasn't that excited about going to Lake Tahoe for this BOD meeting because I figured I'd miss seeing Tahoe too. But this first picture is the view out my hotel window. The place is simply unbelievably beautiful.
On top of that, luckily we managed to finish mid-afternoon on Saturday and all took a sailboat cruise on Lake Tahoe. This little picture is the back end of the boat. The cruise was awesome. Beyond doubt, Lake Tahoe is some of the most beautiful country in the world. As pretty as my pictures are, the reality is much more amazing. And the water is so clear. They say they measure it, and you can see a white dinner plate that's 70 feet deep in the water. Really, I am not equal to the task of describing the place.
It was funny too. I didn't take any warm clothes with me. According to my agenda and schedule, I should have been outside exactly 5 minutes, walking across the street to the restaurant. Who needs warm clothes for that? But if the daily high temperature is 65, and you're going sailing out on a BIG lake with a pretty good wind - well let's just say, I knew it would be too cold for this Texas girl. Luckily for us, the hotel gift shop was having an end-of-season sale on their hooded sweatshirts - two for $40.00. So about 2/3rds of the BOD went in pairs and bought sweatshirts. We were all so cute in our Lake Tahoe sweatshirts, but they were warm and make a nice souvenir of the trip.
The boat we were on was a catamaran. We weren't the only people on it because the thing was big enough to easily hold 50 people, but we made up the majority of the people on board. The crew served us wine or beer or non-alcoholic drinks if you were so inclined. And they served fruit and cheese and crackers. And the sun was brilliant, the sky was clear blue, the lake was deeper blue, and the pines were a deep green. Really just so lovely it almost makes your heart hurt to see it.
We looked at the houses along the shore when we were close enough to see them. The local people say that a high end house at Lake Tahoe runs between $10 million and $100 million! I cannot even imagine. Below $1 million is considered low end. It's pretty likely that I will not ever be owning a house there. On the other hand 45 minutes away in Reno, the housing market has crashed about the worst of anywhere in the country. A shuttle driver told me his friend bought a house there for about $800,000 at the height of the market and sold it after the crash for $350,000. I can't imagine having to sell my house for less than half of what I paid for it.
Anyway it was a fun trip, and it was nice to get away from my own housing stuff, if only for a few days.
Actually, I suppose I'm past the 'hunting' stage now - I hope. After looking at houses since the first weekend in March, I have a contract on a house. I'm currently going through all the inspection, appraisal, survey, etc, etc, processes involved in buying a house so of course nothing is final until all the paperwork is signed at closing. Still, I'm somewhat hopeful that things will work out.
So what's it like? Cool. It's bigger than my current house and sits at a great location. It's 10 miles closer to work than I am now and less than 5 miles from a light rail station. It's 1 story, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, with lots of nice features. Floors are wood with carpet in the bedrooms and in one of the living areas. The outside is nicely landscaped, so we'll have to see how well I do at keeping that up. The lot is smaller than my current one, but not a lot smaller.
I'm seriously excited about it, but then I look around me and the thought of packing and moving all my stuff is kind of depressing. Poor cat kids are going to be seriously traumatized. My old lady kids don't like changes in their lives. And I have a list longer than my arm of new furniture I want to get. Of course, I don't want to take some of my cat-clawed, late-graduate-student furniture to a new house. I need at least one new sofa set (2 living areas), at least one more recliner, a new bed, a new computer desk and chair, new bookshelves, an flat screen HD TV, a small dining table and chairs - to name some of the things I want. It's a good thing I worked my credit card balances down so low to qualify for good financing. Shopping!! Just the thought lifts my spirits.
So I'm good as long as I pretend I don't have to pack this place up. I haven't decided what to do with this place actually. I don't know whether to sell it or rent it out. If I rent it out I'll hire a management company to do that. Either way I need to have some work done on the place once it's empty. Painting at the very least. And the shrubbery in front is badly overgrown, thanks to recent rain.
I also have somehow accumulated plants that will need to be moved. 5 pots of aloe vera, 5 pots of small cacti and 7 pots of peach seedlings. That's actually kind of amazing for someone who doesn't grow things, as a rule. I did lose one of the little cacti I transplanted, but one out of 13 isn't too bad. The others seem to be doing well so far.
Now you know what I'll be doing with any and all my free time between now and closing in mid-June. Packing! I have plenty of lead time to pack, although I'll be out of town next Thursday through Sunday for a meeting. I should probably not procrastinate too long on it, though. It will be better to do it over time than rush it at the last minute.
So I'll let you know how things go. That's all for today.
I just had to share this. I've been outside this afternoon, mowing the lawn and watering stuff and trimming a few things. And of course, when I'm outside the cat-kids are outside. That black tom cat has been back around so they don't stay out there much when I'm not outside, but they've been out this afternoon.
Anyway, I came inside to clean up and glanced outside and started laughing at what I saw. A couple of years ago when my peach tree was full and overgrown, Zoe used to LOVE to lay out under the dragging branches and pretend to stalk birds. She was actually pretty visible, being mostly white, even when "hidden" in the thick branches, but she so thought she was a mighty huntress. One of the regrets I had about that tree dying was she really had no place to hide and play outside any more. Today when I looked out I saw this scene and had to take a picture of it.
Yes, Zoe was "hiding" among the mini-peach trees in the growing mini-peach orchard! There were three doves in the yard under the bird feeder (picture down below), and she was absolutely fixated on them, while "hiding" among the peach trees. I just had to laugh.
Those doves absolutely dis poor Zoe. She's so fat and slow, she can be laying on the edge of the porch, three feet from them, and they'll be foraging seeds there on the ground, completely unconcerned about her presence. They don't even leave if she gets up and starts stalking them. If she gets much inside the three foot range they'll fly away, but they certainly don't care if she's out laying on the patio. Still, she keeps trying to stalk them. And now apparently she has a new hiding place to stalk them from.
I really like my lawn when it's newly mowed. I wish the front yard was as thick and healthy as the back. My poor front yard is mostly weeds. Really the yard doesn't stand a chance despite TruGreen's best efforts. The neighbors on both sides make no attempt to grow grass, just let the weeds grow as they will, so everything blows into my yard. The back yard is behind a privacy fence, so it's a little easier to control.
Anyway, that's all today. Just had to share the pics of Zoe hunting.
Amidst all the house stuff I've been dealing with lately, I had a board of directors (BOD) meeting last weekend. The last one I went to, which was at the end of February, was in Palm Springs, and I never actually got to see Palm Springs. We have a new CEO and we spent two 9-hour days in a hotel basement conference room doing strategic planning. We worked HARD. They did feed us well and we had receptions the three evenings, but we never saw the sun or Palm Springs. So I wasn't that excited about going to Lake Tahoe for this BOD meeting because I figured I'd miss seeing Tahoe too. But this first picture is the view out my hotel window. The place is simply unbelievably beautiful.
On top of that, luckily we managed to finish mid-afternoon on Saturday and all took a sailboat cruise on Lake Tahoe. This little picture is the back end of the boat. The cruise was awesome. Beyond doubt, Lake Tahoe is some of the most beautiful country in the world. As pretty as my pictures are, the reality is much more amazing. And the water is so clear. They say they measure it, and you can see a white dinner plate that's 70 feet deep in the water. Really, I am not equal to the task of describing the place.
It was funny too. I didn't take any warm clothes with me. According to my agenda and schedule, I should have been outside exactly 5 minutes, walking across the street to the restaurant. Who needs warm clothes for that? But if the daily high temperature is 65, and you're going sailing out on a BIG lake with a pretty good wind - well let's just say, I knew it would be too cold for this Texas girl. Luckily for us, the hotel gift shop was having an end-of-season sale on their hooded sweatshirts - two for $40.00. So about 2/3rds of the BOD went in pairs and bought sweatshirts. We were all so cute in our Lake Tahoe sweatshirts, but they were warm and make a nice souvenir of the trip. 
The boat we were on was a catamaran. We weren't the only people on it because the thing was big enough to easily hold 50 people, but we made up the majority of the people on board. The crew served us wine or beer or non-alcoholic drinks if you were so inclined. And they served fruit and cheese and crackers. And the sun was brilliant, the sky was clear blue, the lake was deeper blue, and the pines were a deep green. Really just so lovely it almost makes your heart hurt to see it.
