Birds and Homes

After a tiny bit of purposeful delay, I finished my one thousandth crane. I had been putting off folding the last one, until I was certain about my wish. As it turns out, I was certain all along. It took several months, and could have been done much sooner if I were more diligent. It wasn't about the timing.

Unfortunately, it is too gloomy and rainy here for me to get a decent picture of the vase and cranes. I'll save that for another time.

About nine years ago, my brother had a girlfriend (this was, of course, before he was married). She was very nice and I liked her a lot, except she had a rather cripling self-confidence problem. Not too long after they broke up, she married a nice guy who happened to be one of Turtle's friends. They moved into a modular home just near Cedarville State Forest, had a son (incidentally, they named him Andrew, which happens to be my brother's middle name), and in time moved to a better area for their family. I'm not sure how they're doing now, Turtle might know.

I had a couple occasions to visit her in her little home. I remember it was small, but a good size for them. While she said they liked it there, they were moving to a place with better schools. I'm not really sure what schools are near there anyway.

I've been keeping an eye on the community's website, new homes have not been posted to it for some time. During our Saturday outings, my mother and I would try to make time to drive down long Cedarville road to check it out; maybe something would be for sale by owner and therefore not listed on the site. It's been a month or so, actually, but we finally took the time to drive down there yesterday morning.

There's one main road and thirteen side streets to the left once you turn into the park. All houses are on the left, and the community office is on the right, with a couple swing sets and some picnic tables, a playing field and then trees. It looks like the main road is going to be extended at some point. We drove around, went down 13th street and came back up 12th; there were a handful of houses indicating for sale, three of them are double-wides. That means they're going to be bigger.

The sign in the office indicated it was open, but it didn't actually open until 0900. We saw a lady leave her house at the corner of 13th street, get in her car, and drive to the office. I would have walked there, but she was probably afraid of the snow we didn't get. Even though it was just before 0900, she let us in and answered our questions.

The ground rent is somewhere in the $400 range (I don't remember exactly), and two of the double-wides are new (they're asking for $110,000 for one and $96,000 for the other, the used one is looking at $84,000). Never will I find houses for anywhere near these prices unless they don't also come with the land, you see. The lady in the office was not the main sales person, but she had lived there for thirty-seven years, and could assure us that the area is very safe. In fact, her neighbors can be seen walking the streets until 2200 or 2300 at night. We took the sales person's card and I'm going to call her tomorrow. It's a little further away from work, but what's a few more miles.

A modular home like one of these is a compromise to me. I want to buy a house, which I can't even come close to affording in this area. I also want to stay in this area. I enjoy the weather (humidity and ice and all), I love the kayakable waters, and I can't imagine what I'd do without a nice Renaissance Festival nearby. It's also close to my parents, aunt and uncle, grandmother, Fox and Fae, Monty, and not too far from my brother and Turtle. And then there's that little thing about how much cheaper it will be to move a mere ten miles than any of my other possibilities. I can't rent a place here anyway, but I'm not fond of renting either. This is the best of both worlds.

In anticipation of tomorrow's phone call, and how much I desperately need to be out on my own, my dreams last night were filled with nothing but a house. And it was specifically one of those houses. It was taking pictures while we were viewing them, and how I would place my furniture and hang my pictures, and where I would store my kayak. Which closet would have my costumes, and the themes I would want for each room. I had guests over in my dream, and my cats were both tolerant of each other in their little house.

I can't say that it's time for me to be out of here, it's beyond time for that. And that goal seems to be closer than ever.