The Shire goes Camping

We went camping this weekend on a friend's family lands up in the Sierra, along with many of the denizens of the Shire of Mountain's Gate. It was very mellowing and relaxing. We had planned on being up there on Friday afternoon, but Life has been intervening lately and I was unable to be home until 6pm or so, and we knew we wouldn't make it down the back roads until it was pretty dark and cold. So we went up Saturday mid-morning.
No fires were allowed, and that was a bummer. It was also the first weekend of deer-hunting season in El Dorado County, and there were a couple groups of hunters up with us further down the road. Normally, this would make me anxious. It wasn't bad at all, though.
According to our friend, the large buck that haunts the meadow where we camped did make an appearance in the wee hours, snorting and pawing and rubbing his antlers on trees. Later in the morning, he spoke to some hunters out on the road, and they had bagged a large buck that we believe is the one from the meadow.
As always, we brought way more stuff than we needed. We spent Saturday and what time we had on Sunday sitting around and just being with our friends. I spoke a bit more with the couple that are short-selling their house (which I have put an offer on), kind of hesitantly, because I offered much less than the asking price. They're a bit puzzled that their agent hasn't held any open houses or promoted the house much. I reassured them that I had offered what I was pre-approved for (with reasonable bargaining margin), and that my offer did not reflect what I felt the property was worth to them at all. My friends are puzzled that their agent hasn't been promoting the house, but I am not; it needs work, and her commission is likely to be minimal. Their are also too many houses on the market, several in the vicinity.
My offer remains the only offer.
I still fully expect the bank to reject it. But we are now more likely by far to consider a property up in the foothills, and I anticipate ending up there.
An interesting side note, and one that was also mentioned in this article which was brought to my attention by the Sacramento Land(ing) blog, is that we were told that horses and other livestock are being abandoned by people who are also abandoning their rural properties. This came up because I was again asking for advice about browsers (like goats) and asking about upkeep and feed costs. We were told that if we are able to buy a small acreage, we will have no trouble obtaining whatever livestock we might be interested in, free.
Abandoning ANY kind of animal is heinous and immoral, but HORSES???

The Waiting

As of today, and after an additional 2 addendums by the seller's agent (mostly to make sure I understood that the ultimate sale was not in the control of her client, but was at the whim of the holder of the mortgage) we have now entered the waiting period. The papers, I am told, are now at the lender which holds the mortgage. And the average before hearing anything back on them is between 45 and 60 days.
All of which is cool with us. We're not in a big hurry.
I have concerns about the general economy, and sometimes I wonder if the terms will be anything like what we all discussed in 60 days. This doesn't really worry me too much; if things are much worse and the fundamentals of the sale are becoming more flawed, I don't have to go through with it, of course.
This is not a house I'm in love with, but it is a house and property that I feel we could work with and be relatively happy with. There is plenty of actual room, and according to the friend that owned it (nominally) , it is permitted by the county zoning folks for an additional 1600 ft of housing. Which could be another small house, an addition, a mobile home, etc. As strange as it sounds, that makes me feel better, because I always harbor the low-level notion that my children and Sig's family will somehow all end up out here. That used to be far-fetched, but it's not anymore. They'd have to sleep in trailers, of course, and there would be lots of disharmony but at least they'd have a roof over their head and food to eat.
I do find myself thinking about how various activities will fit in to the potential house, and pondering scenarios. A couple weeks ago I bought a few dozen canning jars with the odd notion that I was going to either go up to Apple Hill and buy bushels of apples or down to the Sacramento Farmer's market and buy bushels of whatever they have that's seasonal and can-able. I suspect it was more a subconscious reaction to this possible purchase of a rural house with acreage more than any burning need in the here and now. The Sig just started a batch of Cabernet Sauvignon which is currently fermenting, crushed skins and pulp included, in a new/clean 20 gallon plastic garbage bin with fitted lid. I think he started wanting to make this wine after talking to some vintners from the area of the house we're trying to buy, at a party.
The whole fermenting blob should yield about 5 gallons of actual wine, according to the Folsom Brewmeister. The wine should age for at least a year. In another month or so, we have to press the wine out of the skins, and Sig knocks the skins/pulp back down under the juice every day with a canoe paddle that he disinfects. We also have some strawberrry mead that is far from done aging.
If we end up being approved for this deal, we are going to have to move 10 gallons of fermenting beverages (which do not like to be sloshed around while still fermenting) about 40 miles. That's probably enough creative food preservation product to worry about. I don't think I'm going to be doing any canning to add to the mix. I do think it's amusing how we're each reacting to ideas that I'm sure were put into our minds by the possibility of moving onto a rural acreage across the road from a vinyard.