davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2024

[Alliecat]

Seems like that's the first photo in ages that has shown any sign of "civilization" (?) nearby. But it's not real close, and wow, what a view.
I'm guessing this isn't the best season for outdoor staining!

[davidd]

Seems like that's the first photo in ages that has shown any sign of "civilization" (?) nearby.  But it's not real close, and wow, what a view.
I'm guessing this isn't the best season for outdoor staining!  

I try to frame most of my photos to make the area look more "pristine" than it is. A major highway (U.S. Highway 89, the "National Parks Highway") is on front (east) property line, so "quiet" it is not. A river parallels the highway, but it is all on private property as well as being on the opposite side of the highway, so it is not accessible. The valley is gradually being built up. There's a gated community (not really visible in the pic) in the hills where the highway disappears in the photo, where houses are now priced above a million bucks, usually $1.2-million to $1.4-million. When I moved here those houses were selling for around $400k, so the "asking price" has gone up by a cool million in eight or nine years. The same cannot be said for my house, because my house is not even a "real house" according to revised county codes.

I think staining season is winding down. There's rain in the forecast for Thursday, with the "s word" being a possibility (how often do you see a weather forecast that says "100% chance?) for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

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16 October - A Doll A Day 2024:

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I hope Janie is just browsing.

[Alliecat]

Well, either the crew broke something, or they think they deserve a new toy tool

Ah, that's too bad about the highway, and I know you've mentioned development before. The photos sure do make it look like a nice remote location. Just how the realtors do it -- framed so you don't see the neighbour's house too close.
Prices everywhere seem to have gone insane. I hear a lot about unaffordability in Canada too, and how so many people will just never be able to afford a house. Then I look at the BC real estate group with all the ridiculously priced property and there seem to be quite a few interested parties asking for more information. Are they just all mortgaging to the hilt or are they rolling in money? It's extremely frustrating to not be able to find something at a decent price.

[davidd]

Well, either the crew broke something, or they think they deserve a new toy tool 

The photos sure do make it look like a nice remote location.  Just how the realtors do it -- framed so you don't see the neighbour's house too close.

Prices everywhere seem to have gone insane.  I hear a lot about unaffordability in Canada too, and how so many people will just never be able to afford a house.  Then I look at the BC real estate group with all the ridiculously priced property and there seem to be quite a few interested parties asking for more information.  Are they just all mortgaging to the hilt or are they rolling in money?

Or Janie has an even bigger than usual project in mind for which the current tool arsenal is inadequate.

At least there are no immediately adjacent neighbors, other than the relative who purchased the adjoining lot and who started constructing the large yurt-like building with a metal roof that is now, of course, visible from here. Annoying thing is, he decided to abandon the project, so now there's a half-finished building that I can see, and the property is now for sale. The real estate listing waxes poetic about all the opportunity to build! Build! Build!

I really wanna go burn the thing down.

There seem to be a few people with so much money they can't even spend it all, and then there are the rest of us. Of the houses I can see across the river, most of them showed no signs of life this past summer... which is fine by me. They are mostly part-time residents, and when they are using the houses they have all kinds of bright outdoor lights lit up. Because, y'know, hey, let's move to one of the last "dark sky" areas of the country and LIGHT IT THE EFF UP! Honest to gosh, I wanna buy a long-range rifle and shoot their lights out! This season I didn't have to fret about it, as there were probably only a dozen nights over the course of the summer where there were any signs of life or light.

Anyway, apparently a lot of people are able to buy second or third or more houses as investments or just as "something to do with all that money." And there are enough of those people that they can drive up the prices of anything interesting or decent.

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17 October - A Doll A Day 2024:

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"Wait a minnit! The weather was sunny and seventy degrees* yesterday!"

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* 70˚ F = 21˚ C