The House Hunt

Before I tell you about the houses, I need to ask you all for a favor. I need all of you to keep your paws crossed we don't get a bunch of rain today. The clouds look mean and very full of rain, but the river in our town is so full from the snow melting on the mountains above us, that if we get much rain, there is going to be a mess all over town! The city is filling sand bags to put on manhole covers and they said the river is already 2 inches over flooding! The ground is dry here so we really need the rain, but we kind of need it next week, not this week. The flood warning should be over Saturday night so after Saturday it can rain a bunch. Luckily right now it rains a little and then stops and soaks into the ground and then rains a little and keeps repeating like that. We don't have to worry about any flooding at our house unless there's TONS of flooding, but Grandma lives next to one of the big ditches in town. Our town used to be a big producer of fruits in Colorado. There were orchards all over town. There are some parts of town that still have apple, peach and pear trees from the old orchards. The orchards used a ditch system to help water their trees so all over town there are ditches that come from the river and people still use them to water their yards and gardens. It's a big deal if you own ditch rights. Grandma's house is right next to one of the big ones. If you wanted to, you could go fishing in that one because there's fish in it from the river!! Luckily Grandma's house sets up off the ground pretty good so she'll be okay, but we have a bunch of stuff stored in her basement so if it floods, we might loose a bunch of stuff including a bunch of Mom's art pieces from college and some other important stuff. Mom and Dad have been really busy so they haven't been able to take stuff to the storage unit yet like they were planning. Hopefully after they finish having fun for their anniversary this weekend, they can get some moving done. The river is flowing so fast that Mom and Dad said I can't go play in it. I don't get to play in the river much because it's usually too cold or too fast. Mom has lived here for almost 15 years and she said it is flowing faster than she's ever seen it and she lived here when they had the big rain storms where it would rain 5 inches every day for 3 weeks!! There's also a lot of stuff in the river so you could end up getting hit with a big tree branch or even a telephone pole!!! It's crazy!!

Okay, now about the houses Mom and Dad looked at. The first one they went to, Mom said I would have really liked the yard because it was gigantic! There was lots and lots and lots of grass and a nice deck area for relaxing and a dishwasher for Mom and a garage for Dad. Mom said the rooms were too small though and it was a manufactured home which really didn't bother them, except there was wood paneling and that made it feel like a small trailer like in a mobile home park and it didn't help that there was a mobile home park across the street. Mom said she also didn't like that the house was put on the edge of the lot line so when she would let us out the back door to go potty, the neighbor's yard is right there and she could see a lot of barking happening there. It was just down the street from where Mom used to live with her family when she was in highschool and college and she liked the neighborhood, but the lady was very strict on her price, too so that one was a definite no. The next one is the one that if they had said yes to, I would run away. Here's a picture of it:

It's very cute and has a big dog run area that Mom said I would have liked and a HUGE back yard that they could fence in and a garden shed and a garage. The inside was cute, but the bedrooms were small and the kitchen was a little too small for Mom and her baking kicks. It only has 1 bathroom and Mom and Dad would really like 2. It also had a hot tub that Mom would really like to have, too. It's a cute house, but there's no way I would live there!!! Mom and Dad walked to the back of the lot and you'll never guess what was directly behind it! Step over the little drainage ditch and you're in the parking lot of MY V-E-T!!!!!!! Mom said that would be really convenient, but she's crazy so her opinion doesn't matter! Mom said it was really cute and if the bedrooms were bigger and the kitchen was better and there was another bathroom, it would be on their list. The location sucks and her first thing she doesn't like about it is the bedroom sizes. THE WOMAN IS NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next house Dad didn't like that the back door was just kind of there and didn't latch or lock plus there was a cat that scared Mom (it wouldn't stay with the house, but Mom was ready to go after the cat scared teh crap out of her). That's what she gets for thinking living near the vet is "convinient" (she says it's because Gunnar hates car rides and if he needs to go to the vet again, he wouldn't have to go in the car - WHATEVER!!!!). The next house they didn't go in because they didn't like the way to get to it because it was a flaglot (that means the driveway is located between 2 properties and you have to drive far back to your property, the lot kinf of looks like a flag when you draw it out) plus there was a large dog that was barking at them and Mom and Dad and even their agent said they didn't really need to go look at that one (Mom says that's why I go to Grandma's house for showings on our house). The next one Mom and Dad liked, but it needs a lot of work. Mom said they'd have to take a bunch of trees out of the back yard so we would have space to play. I guess the trees aren't in great shape anyway. The house has 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms and a HUGE kitchen and a GIANT master closet (those are Mom's words). There is a closed-in patio area to use as a mud room for letting us dogs in when the yard is muddy (the grass is dead so it's mostly dirt back there right now) and also for Dad to come in when he's been working on yucky stuff in the garage. Mom and Dad said there would be enough room for Grandma to live with us, too!!! THAT WOULD BE PAWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! Mom isn't so sure about it because of all the work that needs to be done on it. She agrees it would be a perfect setup for us, but she's still tired from all the work we did on this house. The last house they looked at was a HUGE lot but a house that would have to be torn down because it needed to much work (they didn't go in that one either because Mom is terrified of mice and she said her mouse radar was on overload at that place). So that's what's going on with our house hunt. It's okay for it to go slow right now because we have to sell ours first. So far the people that have looked at it, don't want to buy it. Gunnar gives us updates on what they say and so far they think it's cute, but they don't want to live across the street from the highschool and they also think it's too old. (DUH!! It has the age listed in the mls! That's an agent not doing her job!!)

Today is a nice cool, darker day which is perfect for napping so I'm going to go do that. Mom said to take a nap for her, but I'm not sure I can fit it in my already full napping schedule. I'll try though!