Monday, December 03, 2007

Stinking Weather!

I do not mind bad weather, as long as the wind stays out of it. Then it affects my life and that disturbs me. So far the wind from the South has smoked out my house by blowing down my chimney and out of my wood stove insert. (This only happens with winds from the South. Why? Got me.) So Robin and I had to dowse the fire and open windows and de-smoke the house. Then one of the lines out back blew off the pole and is hanging by my gate that the wind blew open and messed up. Oh, and I have leaking windows when the wind and rain is harsh. And at work, well lets just say working outside in this is no fun. Bah Humbug. I hate winter!

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

When will you sand dwellers ever learn? Perhaps when bad weather hits you can seek refuge in the rusted out cars sitting in your front yard.

samoasoftball said...

Liar! They are in the back yard!

Anonymous said...

A young sand dweller once told me the reason none of these people have tires on their cars is they take them off to use in the wood stove. Supposedly when it smokes up the house all the children go right to sleep!

Anonymous said...

Let's not anger the sand people. Dumpy and dim witted they may be but they do control the counties largest supply of chips, sand and driftwood.

Tapperass said...

Nice fan club Richard. Did they come with the blog?

Some people like having the cars in both the front and back of the house.

Keep warm and Dry !

-boy

Anonymous said...

Hum Co Weather is one of the major reasons I left. Rainy and windy nights brought back bad memories.

Shane Brinton said...

Richard doesn't have much of a reason to work on the house. Dan Johnson is going to sell the houses to their occupants at some point, but until he does that, Richard might as well just let it fall apart so that the property value decreases. That way it will cost him less when Johnson sells.

Anonymous said...

That may be true Shane, but water can cause irreparable damage to the structure which may make repairs very expensive if and when Richard buys the house from Johnson. A little preventative maintenance can save a lot of money and headaches down the road.

samoasoftball said...

The house I live in was built in the 1800's and has many needs. (Was once a brothel for workers) I have done more preventive maintenance and unkeep than many of my neighbors. But Shane is right in his overall evaluation. I have lived on the Peninsula nearly 30 years. It is home. Still I hate the wind!

Joel Mielke said...

I love this weather, but there was a disturbing migration of shingles in the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

You are aware that when you pay rent you will never see that money again, right Richard? Lets just say that over the last 30 years you have been paying $300 per month in rent on average. That comes out to $108,000 in wages (Plus mortgage interest write-offs) that you will never see and all you have in return is such dilapidated structure to call home. Chances are you've paid much more than that. Just remember, every year you wait with the promise to possibly own your own shack you will lose money.

Anonymous said...

Check the front page of the Times-Standard, dude!

Anonymous said...

Shane and you are wrong Richard. If you don't put something into to it now, there will not be anything left to save. You willbe buying a lot with a tear down house.

Anonymous said...

3:47
How can a house have "irreparable damage" and be expensive to repair?

samoasoftball said...

10:02pm-My wife own the title of a house in Henderson Center. We rent it out.

Shane is correct in his premise concerning the house I rent in Samoa. If I build a garage out back, paint the house, put in new carpet etc. I am increasing the net value of the house. i.e. increasing the Market value. Now when I buy this home at fair market value, I will basically be penalizing myself.

Dan Johnson went public when they bought Samoa ($9 million is the rumored bid) in 2001, he said residents occupying their dwelling would have first right of buying their homes. There was talk of upgrades and plans for future new development. That has not happened so far.

For the last 6 years the town of Samoa has brought in rent from 80 houses at around $800 per rental ($64,000 a month) probably $1,000 per month from the cookhouse, the same from the post office and gym and other fees such as water to the school district, power and storage units. So the town of Samoa generate conservatively $70,000 a month. And there has been very little maintenance improvements in the town. One fire damaged house on Bayfront has been in the transition of being repaired maybe two years now?

Anyways, it is safe to say that the town of Samoa has had a positive return on investment for the owners, Samoa Group. I would guess the total market value of the property is well over 15 million. (80 homes at $150,000 per, $750,000 for the cookhouse, $750,000 for the Gym, $750,000 for the Samoa Block, $500,000 for the women's club, $100,000 for the storage sheds, $50,000 for the post office. Other fees to school district, museum.)

Anonymous said...

Fixing leaks to keep the structure from rotting is not the same as building a new garage, putting in new carpets, or a complete new paint job. So perhaps you and Shane are right, but I still think you are both missing the point. No matter, when the huge quake and subsequent tsunami hit, it will be a moot point. Hopefully, Shane will be on the beach when it comes.

Anonymous said...

Richard you need to go see an accountant. It cannot be sound financial management to rent from someone who doesn't care for the property at all. Even if DanCo sells you the property tomorrow you have been sitting in it for 30+ years! You've probably only realistically got 5-10 years left of high wage earning. The property by your own admission needs major investment. All I can say is, you better be getting one of the best deals in Humboldt County.

mresquan said...

Richard,just get yourself a permit and set up a grow scene in your house,then you can have an inside edge into securing some deals for Danco's new clinics going up in Arcata.

samoasoftball said...

2:40pm Good points. All of them.

Shane Brinton said...

You could just give up on Samoa and go live in your house in Eureka.

samoasoftball said...

Shane: Then Robin could not be Northern Humboldt School Board Member and I could not be on the Samoa Peninsula Fire District Board. I like the idea of seeing the bay and ocean out my front door. And I wouldn't have the pleasure of running against Bonnie Neely every 8 years or so and get my butt kicked. Kind of a tradition now.

Anonymous said...

Richard, we don't have winter here. Try living in North Dakota or Minnesota and then you will know what winter is like.

samoasoftball said...

9:02am-I was sent for an assignment a few years back to rally workers at Boise Cascade in Salt Lake City in December. It snowed and was cold. Not my cup of tea, but it was nice int the Spanish Fork area. I was doing a housecall and looked behind me while up on a snow covered hill at Utah Lake and the sight overwhelmed me with beauty. But I just loved working one winter in the inland valley where I had direct access to Palm Springs during the winter months.