Saturday, May 30, 2009

May Blog


Our new toys: Yamaha 125 and Honda 150 dirt bikes



Jason trying out the hill



Andrei visiting Lava Lands with us
We also went in Lava River Cave



Brenda's Banana Birthday Pie


Curtis' class fieldtrip to the Youth Camp
(built on old Rashneeshe site)


Curtis rock climbing at field trip


We hosted a Preparedness Fair for two wards with 10 booths
I served food storage samples:beans=yum!!!


Jonathan showing his penny stove

Monday, May 18, 2009

New Property









Here are some pictures of us and the 12 acres we will buy by the first week of June. It is 35 miles from our house. It is fenced with barb-less wire and the no trespass signs are already posted. We cannot build on it except of a small storage shed. This keeps speculating developers out so it will stay private, and it keeps the price of the land down. There is one neighbor next to it. They have a camp trailer and shed, but you can barely see them from the gate of our property through all the juniper trees.

We are buying this by borrowing from Jonathan's 401k account, which we will pay back with interest. No taxes, no penalties. It's a good deal!

There is no water on it or electricity, but we can bring in a cistern (big storage tank) and have water delivered for cheap. Or we can drill a well, which we would like to do eventually. We can also install a septic system. For electricity we will eventually use solar panels (of course).

We will buy a used camp trailer from a member of our ward. He we tow it to the property and help set it up. He is also including a portable generator in the deal. Yeah!

We wanted to buy a piece of land for a few reasons:
1. A hideaway place that we can own outright.
2. Recreation. It will be our own private campground.
3. Something tangible rather than an evaporating 401k account.

We won't retire there. We will mostly just use it for fun. Speaking of fun, we decided to get a couple dirt bikes to ride while we're out there. The property is surrounded by public off-road trails for dirt bikes and ATVs. We bought a 2006 Yamaha TTR-125L. It fits Trevor perfectly but we can all ride it just fine. Here is a picture of Sheryl riding it in the back yard. We also plan to buy a Honda CFR-150F. We found one but are just waiting for the money from the 401k loan before we buy it. So we will be able to go riding together, two at a time anyway.

Love,
Jonathan & Sheryl