saturday morning

i don't know that anything is more lovely than a warm, sunshiney saturday that begins with waking up slowly, brewing coffee and enjoying it with yesterday's rhubarb walnut muffins and the company of a playful pup and a boy cat with an attitude. i think the girl cat's still in bed.

i don't know if you remember the yellow house that i went to look at last spring. well, i went to see it again yesterday after going to talk to the realtor again. i really can't believe it's still on the market. it's pretty much an ideal place for me, with a good kitchen, wonderful hardwood floors upstairs and a perfect living area/bedroom/full bath setup in the basement, which i could lease out. it's even already got a brick pad and stovepipe put in for a wood stove in the living room. as the him points out, in a small living area like that, it wouldn't take much to heat it with the stove. friend g put one in his place about a year and a half ago, and it really is effective. the house also has a lot of good windows, and is lit nicely with natural light. upon taking another look at the yard, the weird deck thing on one side of the house could be taken out, and actually provide a sizeable piece of yard, already fenced with a tall solid wood fence, for lucy. it doesn't need a lot of work, but there are a lot of projects i could take on that i'd feel comfortable handling.

i also went to see a really great old house with an amazing front porch, architectural details and original hardwood floors and trim inside. it has a lot of potential, and someone could make a lot of money on it if they wanted to take the time to undergo some substantial renovation. the kitchen's about 10 square feet and no counter space, but could be easily expanded, and the basement ceiling is only six feet and is pretty much a dungeon. and even less yard than the yellow house. but, someone should do something with it, because the houses around it also have a lot of character and are really nice. i, with no carpentry experience, am not that someone.

so i have an appointment to meet with a highly recommended banker on monday afternoon. my lack of sizable downpayment will be the challenge, but i'm hoping if i work with a local bank i have a better chance at working something out. if only i hadn't had to buy a new truck last winter..... but i wouldn't ever give it up. :-)

otherwise, me and my animals don't have much of a plan for the weekend. it's still too muddy to clean the horse pens. the him is staying out at the ranch to hopefully put a steel bumper on his new truck....

me: oh you're going to put it on? i thought you lost it.
the him: well, me and bobby think it's somewhere behind the shop in that snowdrift.

so we'll see if he comes back to town with a different bumper...

they're also going to build some branding irons today, including my C } ! that's exciting. once my horses shed out a little more we'll brand them, and it'll be official.

last night we went to a movie with the mutton marshall and his wife d. it was a nice, relaxing evening. i had thought about going over to the beacon afterward, but was too tired and came back to the apt and went to bed.