(no subject)

[which_chick]

I had a good day with Taku today -- she really did a great job for me on several fronts. I set up a walkover obstacle (four 4x4 boards set up for her to walk over) and she did a damn fine job of that. I was impressed with her approach and handling of the obstacle. She was sensible and made a good effort and she's apparently got a good handle on the go forward cue. I wasn't expecting that so early on, but it is nice to have. We'll be trying harder obstacles (black plastic, sheets of tin, wading pool with water in it, etc.) here in a bit, so a solid go forward will be needed at that time. She also leapt on the trailer all by herself with very minimal askings, which impressed the hell out of me. She progressed nicely on the picking up of feet, so that now the feet come off the ground and sort of hang there, in the air, for a bit. This is nice. She's not yet to letting me move the feet around a la farrier activity, but this is a start. Rome was not built in a day. She tolerated the boy bouncing on the trampoline and didn't let it interrupt her grass time. She also let me touch her all over with a good-sized rubber ball in my hand. That's the stuff we did today.

Damn, this is a smart horse. She's freaking brilliant. Have I mentioned that I love the way she moves? Because I do. She's definitely all that and a bag of chips on knowing where her feet are.

I expect that none of this sounds very impressive to the non-horse crowd, but given the absolute minimum of handling that this horse has had in her life, she's taking to life-with-humans better than a duck to water. She's pretty willing to look for answers and she's so fucking smart... if she gets the right answer, we're good. That's that. The only thing I have to do is set up the situation and give her a minute to look at it, maybe a hint or two on what I expect of her, and she goes and does it. It's not like she gives me little sissy tries, either. She gives me great big huge tries.

It's also a very rewarding setup for me because she generalizes pretty impressively. Today, the thing with the ball. Nobody had ever tried to palm a rubber ball (3/4 size of a basketball) and rub her body with it before. That's the kind of dorky thing only I would do. She's not real used to being touched, so I figured she could use some practice with being touched by stupid objects. It is not possible to overexpose a horse to stupid non-painful things that humans might like her to tolerate. We'd exhausted the possiblities of the feed sack yesterday and so I needed something else. I picked the ball. She buggered out of her skin for maybe ten circuits in each direction and then she was like... Oh, right. This is like the sack thing. Gotcha. I'm supposed to stand still while you make with the ball and then you'll pet me and tell me I'm a good horse and we'll be done. I can do this. and that was the end of that. I'll have to find something else for tomorrow, as the ball has lost its charm.

I also did an extensive amount of reading about the real estate bubble we may or may not be having. I keep looking at real estate books for these parts and it looks to me like the prices are set by people smoking crack. Fucking median household income in this county is $32,731 (1999, source: http://www.capweb.net/politics/USA/PA/Bedford ) which means that probably median-ish people around here should not be spending more than 10910.33 per year on housing. Housing should not cost more than a third of your gross income. It shouldn't. I'm just saying. So, divvy that up by twelve (for monthly mortgage payment) and we get 909.19 for the monthly payment. Shoving this into our what's missing calculator, we can see that a median home for someone who lives around here should run... $163363. Er. Okay, maybe they're not smoking that damn much crack, but fuck. That's a lot of money for a house. (Mentally, I think houses should cost between 50 and 100K. I have no idea where I got this idea.) Let's look at it if the interest rates were something more sane, like 8.5%... that gives $118243. Still not all that lovely, but better.

Also, if there is anyone looking to move to Everett and restore a huge-ass victorian with gorgeous 12' ceilings and hardwood floors and interesting porches, that person should plan to attend the sheriff sale next week. There's one going on the block -- it needs some work (including new electrical service, roof, conversion back from illegal apartments, and so forth) but it's not going to go for much. A year ago or so it sold for 50K. Probably you can get it for that or maybe slightly less if you're lucky. You'll need to put that much or more back into it to have it liveable but it'll be stunning when you get done. It's got a nice yard and a two-car garage, too. In town, so it's got city water and sewer. Any independantly wealthy home restorers out there? This Old House, are you listening?

I do not have any interest in buying this house, even though I feel sorry for it. I do not.

Not. Just who are we trying to convince, here?

I can't make money on it as an apartment building and I can't make money redoing it for sale because houses in Everett just aren't worth that much. I also do not want to spend all my free time for the next ten years restoring a huge-ass victorian house as an expensive hobby. I already have an expensive hobby. I have a pony (in addition to the one pony actually I own, I have access to many other ponies, a veritable herd of them, in a variety of colors, sizes, and personalities) to occupy my free time. Ponies are CHEAPER than buying and restoring a huge-ass victorian house, even given the expected lifespan of a pony. I do not have to pay taxes on the pony, make sure that it meets local building codes, or get permits if I decide to make improvements on the pony. If I ever decide to sell the pony, I'm practically expected to lie about the pony and/or disguise any defects the pony may have. Fabricating, prevaricating, and obfuscating about the pony for sale is de rigeur for pony selling, it is.

Also, I do not have the money to buy and restore a huge-ass victorian without mortgaging my (currently paid-off) house. Not going there, I don't think. Not.

But still. Huge-ass victorian going on the block, for cheap. Had I but world enough and time...

Comments

[cassandramorgan.livejournal.com]

Townhouses in this area go for at least $160k. And we're talking 2 bedroom, 2 bath usually. Kinda annoying for those of us that don't make enough money to make that kind of monthly payment >_

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Ha.

Ha.

Ha.

Boston (http://boston.craigslist.org/rfs/). $400,000 gets you (not much of a) house. $300,000 gets you a nice 2BR condo in a bad neighborhood. $80,000 gets you a trailer 60 miles away.

I make more than most, but so long as I live here, I will never have a home I can make changes to.