montanapalooza 2002

“Bought my first house when I was 22. One of the reasons it took me so long to get my degree is I was working, and doing pretty well, so I sorta slacked off on the school thing until my job became dead-end and I realized I had to finish my degree if I wanted to move on. So then I buckled down. But I had already managed to be making enough to buy my own place.”

“Hey Briar Rabbit - that sounds pretty cool to me! But then I am a bit of an idealistic child of the 60's and don't really understand why that kind of thing never seems to work out.

Maybe we could be different......”

“briar!......i am with you all the way man...what vision! where do i sign up?
i kin cook and grow herbs and veggies~~~~~~~~~~
makin mental equivalents is a good thing~~~~~~~

geezr! check yer email .......sheesh....remember in the movie "moonstruck" when cher slapped nicholas cages face and said "snap out of it!"....i feel like you just smacked me....heh..........it didnt work.......i am still affected. the attachments on the email will clue you in on how long i have been out of touch with reality
yikes...

bought some land with hubby and built a log house in the mountains at age 23, sold it after 13 yrs and split up the profits during the big D, bought my second at age 38, just sold it and bought and fixin up the money pit with the profits. i could see sellin this and going in with briar in his scenario...LOL.... i am not all that much into ownership and possessions,(well, ok...except gear..heh) but buying and selling instead of renting has seen me thru the changing winds ........
Om igosh........niters....”

“If you have it bookmarked, open it, and click on refresh, and you should get the new version.
- Montanapalooza/Wind Rivers on left. Now you can get to it without going thru webshots
- hopefully Wind Rivers will be up sometime next week.
- added Webshots IV
- other changes to the format
- added some trip reports that were missing (will fix the links, some still aren't working)”

“I built my house (or actually the contractor guys did) when I was 26. Got an FHA loan which turned out to be cheaper than renting. (and the #&%!$boxes I rented, ugh!)I'm grateful that opportunity was there at the time, but the two acres I was allowed is slightly claustrophobic. Could be time to slap on the for sale sign!”

“Anyone else remember the Holy Modle Rounders song "Livin' Off The Land"? I searched for lyrics but couldn't find them. This is what I remember:

Hey bop-bop livin' off the land,
hey bop-bop livin' off the land,
hey bop-bop livin' off the land,
isn't nature grand!!!

We can have a pet raccoon,
maybe we'll have two,
if you ask me really nice
I'll let them sleep with you.”

“that's Holy Model Rounders”

“Isn't it Holy Modal Rounders?”

“my bad”

“EEK! Holy Modal Rounders!

I think Chief's friend Gordon, was one of them!”

“Sheesh. I logoff of TT one day, then come back the next and I've got Geezr squatting (not the gross meaning, I hope) in my backyard or tricking me an pDog into a timeshare where one or both of us "get" to use his house in Montana during the winter.

For some reason, I missed what part of CA you're from, pepperDog - I'm in the SF Bay Area (east bay).

Also, why would anyone think I should buy my wife before buying my house?”

“I said I'd bring my own tent, so what's the problem?”

“Well, OK. But the sprinklers go off at 9 and 2, so hope your seams are sealed (the tent's, too).”

“Chief, I'd recognize those "teets" anywhere! LOL!

You guys all pretty much did a great job getting into your first places. I guess I'm just nervous to even try and apply for a loan. Plus, I have plenty of stud. loans to worry about.

I love the idea Briar. Troy, MT would be ideal. We could run a hippie-backpacker hotel. I can cook too (like Om) and sew and I know how to skin and butcher wild game. Damn. This could be totally cool.”

“What's the STUD loan for?

Is that to pay for the STUD fee?”

“Okay, Chief, you got me back. It's a studENT loan for school. Remember on the other thread where I recommended not paying for your child's education and how it has been good for me. It has, in the sense that I am going into eternal debt. LOL!”

“yikes, that grodie rounder on the right has my hair.....!!
lol”

“ng, don't be nervous about applying for a loan, or at least talking to lenders about it. There are lots of banks, etc. that would love to loan someone money who they trust to pay them back. Heck, they loan money to folks all the time who will likely NOT pay them back!

IMO, there are two difficult things about buying your first house. One is assembling the down payment. We went for a minimal down payment loan, 10% I think. There are always various programs around for first-time buyers that are sometimes as low as 0% down. Talk to a lender to find out how much you will need - it may surprise you (in a good way or a bad way). The other difficult thing is that they like to make you sweat. Despite our perfect credit and good income, the lender called us at the last minute and told us "I don't think we can do the loan." I ended up shouting at them about how stupid they were not to loan us the money. We got the loan. (Someone had told us that there would be several times throughout the process that we would think it wasn't going to work, but that it would - they were right.)

My wife and I also had lots of student loans - I think I paid over $100 a month for 10 years!

Finally, hopefully you butcher the game first, then skin it. Or, maybe they do things differently in MT?”

“Now that I think about it, I guess butchering is cutting the meat up into steaks or whatever. I was thinking "butchering" was "killing." Never mind. We get our meat in the store in CA.”

“Guess I shoulda known that, since my great-grandfather ran a butcher shop in Billings....”

“martyb - Hiya neighbor!!! I live in Davis, about 80 miles north east of you.”

“LOL! Martyb you totally cracked me up. Yes, I meant cutting it up into steaks, roasts, choosing what you use for jerky and what you will grind up for burger, etc. I'm telling ya' Marty, I came straight out the backwooods! You want to go target practicing?”

“4 bedroom, 3 bath home on corner lot in Billings, Mt. Beutifully landscaped with apple and mountain ash trees. Central air and sprinkler system. Contact Geezr

I'm goin' to live with Martyb in Sunny California!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Newgirl, I didn't know Jordon even had trees let alone backwoods.”

“Yikes! Target practicing? We're always a little nervous about anything to do with shooting down here in the big city, since it rarely involves hunting for food, if you know what I mean! Next time I harvest some game, I'll let you know!!

pDog - Davis, I know it well. My brother got his degree there. Must be nice being so close to the Sierras. I usually avoid the I-80 corridor - on Sundays, I refer to westbound 80 as "The Highway of Idiots," with all of the weekend warriors returning home. Scary.”

“Geezr, there used to be trees there, but newgirl shot 'em all down!!!!!!!!!!”

“...and there used to be animals, too, but she skinned 'em, butchered 'em, and shot 'em, in that order!”

“Gun toten tree killer is she?”

“Audio Book

I hear this was the most requested book in the library when she was done skinnin' butcherin' and shootin'.”

“I dunno, Geezr. All I know is that there aren't many trees in Jordan, and newgirl keeps mentioning "target practice."”

“Newgirl, I bet your student loans aren't as much as the girl I work with. She went back for an MBA and I think she racked up about $75,000 worth of stud. loans.”

“You are a sick man, Geezr. Very sick.”

“Geezer - don't get all excited - remember he lives in the Bay Area---
"the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" - Mark Twain

Martyb-I don't know how much closer I am time wise. I have to deal with plenty of the "Highway of Idiots" myself coming out of the mountains! But come to think of it, it does get a whole lot worse around Vacaville.

Geezer - I notice that you aren't asking to camp in my backyard. Perhaps you remember that I have 3 dogs (and the accompaning waste).

Noogie - you can be our the hotel mountain woman guide and lead people on wilderness experiences chopping up dead animals.”

“Good points, pD, although in the east bay, we're usually about 20 degrees warmer than at the coast.

Oops, Geezr's probably listening.

THAT'S RIGHT, IT GETS REALLY COLD HERE IN THE BAY AREA, UH-HUH. MAYBE, UH, FURNACE CREEEK WOULD BE ABOUT RIGHT FOR YOU - CHECK IT OUT, DUDE....

Oh no, now I have this vision in my head of newgirl marching through the forest with a shotgun under one arm and a machete in the other hand with some kind of crazed look in her eye.... Yikes.”

“One other thing about my backyard, Geezr: Check out this thread.”

“I think she needs to ask for a longer stick. Where is stikmon when you need him?”

“Hello? I don't live in Jordan, I just had a slight association w/ it (Grandfathers is one of the Freeman, but not one of them that holed up in Jordan). I do, however, live in a remote, hillbilly town.

Chief, damn, that is a huge amount in student loans. I pray it will not come to that for me.

Pepper, that is a totally good idea. It can actually be quite cleansing to the soul. Om can lead them in getting one w/ the universe and I can lead them in getting one w/ a good Elk steak. LOL! (Please note that I'm not advocating going around shooting everything from your pickup and yelling, "Hey, ya'll watch this!" and then leaving a dead animal to rot. Hunting can be done w/ a certain amount of spirituality and respect. Just my disclaimer.)

Now, target shootin', there's your license to go wild. LOL!”

“Ooo, that's right ng. I'm the one with relatives from (near) Jordan. Maybe we're the ones responsible for the treeless landscape. Sorry everyone.”

“noogie - I like the om/newgirl one/two punch!! Kinda yin and yang.”

“LOL! Good one Pepper! That cracks me up!”

“Martyb, interesting and humorous thread.

Years ago, while still living in Michigan, I was getting into the car on my way to work when I heard a commotion coming from the south side of the garage. Rounding the corner I saw the lid was off one of the galvanized trash containers and the neighbor's feline was hanging over the edge going thru the refuse. I snuck up behind it, gave it a kick in the A$$, knocking it into the can and then through the lid on before it had a chance to escape. I then placed a brick on the lid and headed to work. The plan was to call Malinda and have her release the cat once I arrived at work. However, I got busy and forgot about it until the moment I pulled into the driveway, approximately 12 hours later. The entire time that cat had been basting in the summer sun, on the south side of the garage, in a galvanized trash can. When I popped the lid it bolted from the can covered in potato peels, spaghetti and sweat never to be seen again . . . at least not in my trash cans.

I felt bad for what I'd done, but not that bad. To this day Malinda hits me whenever I bring up the episode. Her one fault is that she likes cats. ;-)”

“My sister would probably love you for that one Geezr. She hates cats.”

“Heh heh. Well, I like cats, too. Except for the kind that PEE ON MY BACKPACKING TENT!! Or the ones that POOP IN MY BACK YARD!!!! Or the ones that FIGHT OUTSIDE MY BEDROOM WINDOW AT 3AM LIKE THEY DID THIS MORNING!!!!!!

Where's newgirl when you need her....”

“Forgot to mention - got one of those suckers with the garden hose this morning.”

“I heard chocolate and Tylenol will take care of problem cats.”

“Yeah, I don't really shoot cats. They aren't good eatin'!”

“Stop all this cat bashing!!! It is giving me the creeps.”

“Martyb, so how tight can you get a garden hose around the neck of a cat?”