Mass Exodus Update: Remodeling Disaster…

You saw that headline and admit it, you thought well the toilet is screwed up or the wallpaper peeled or the trim paint looks terrible. No, none of these are true but there was a disaster of sorts this weekend that has set us back.

Our current project was painting the living room. The bathroom remodel is done except for a couple of minor things, so we moved on. The living room trim was done, warm cream color, and we went to the local hardware store for some paint. We chose a nice medium green color, very popular right now. If we were staying, we would have gone darker but we want to give prospective buyers the sense of the space and ability to see their things in the room so we went lighter to highlight the size of the room.

After removing the pictures and décor, there were some grime and cobwebs present so a bucket was prepared with cleaner and rags to wipe down the walls. Mrsfabp was on a sturdy stepstool, went to get down, missed a step and fell on her wing, ...errr... arm. It hurt, felt warm to the touch and the doctor at the ER confirmed our worst fears, broken arm. More specifically, it was a clean break mid forearm, consistent with putting your arm out to break a fall.

She spent the rest of the weekend resting, taking pain relievers (TGFV Thank God for Vicadin) and trying, not too successfully, to sleep. The orthopedist office says they can’t see her until April 6th. We have a great health care system don’t we? Luckily she was able to call a different orthopedist who will see her tomorrow. Of course, she has to go get her x-rays and bring them with her but at least she can get a cast and start the healing.

(not the mrsfabp broken wing, but an incredible simulation of what it will look like tomorrow...)

As for the house, we will scramble and figure things out. Miss Nicole has offered to come over next weekend and help with painting so we will get it and the foyer done we hope.

I just have one question for our New Mexico friends. Do they have step stools in Las Cruces? I hope not...

CoME: Episode 9 - Freecycle, Cheapcycle, Recycle

Are you familiar with the Yahoo group Cheapcycle. This has got to be the greatest discovery since sliced bread and E-Z-cheese in a can. Let me tell you about it.

This is a Yahoo group that espouses the philosophy that one man’s junk is another’s treasurers. You got an old lamp in your basement, needing to go to the dump? Well there is someone out there that wants a lamp, NEEDS a lamp and is willing to come to you and pick it up if it is free. Yes, curb side pick up service, for your stuff.

We have been using this “service” for a number of years and have gotten rid of many, many “treasures” including old bicycles, computers and parts, magazines, books, small furniture, big furniture, computer programs and the like. We have gotten needed items like computer parts, cooking items, a Nordic Track and other similar things.

One of the first things I did when we decided that LCNM might be the place for us, was to begin to follow their group. It is a very active community that makes tons of stuff available. I think it could be possible to furnish a house and outfit it with all the comforts of home just by watching the posts.

When you join you can opt to get individual posts as they are made or daily or weekly posts from the group moderators. We have found that the daily and weekly posts have the problem that items that are most desirable are gone by the time you see the listing. Items can go quickly so I opt for the individual emails and scan my Gmail account regularly for the treasures. Doing this in the recent past I have gotten a Laser printer and mp3 player. The early bird gets the worm.

One final note on this is the fact that you can post on the site looking for items. We did that looking for a small hard drive for a computer. Someone wrote they had one and we picked it up. Sometimes these requests go unfilled but most groups allow repeat posts on a biweekly basis so try and try again. Also some of the “cheapcycle” groups allow for you to charge a small price for items. This has been problematic as these group become sort of a flea market clearing house for items. What I have done in this circumstance is to simply block individuals who only sell items and this has eliminated the issue.

A practical example. Mrsfabp and CollegeBoy worked last week on clearing some of the junk from our basement/garage area. He gave me a list of potential items for freecycling. I put up 4 items on Saturday afternoon – a dorm size fridge that needed lots of cleaning, a dehumidifier, an electric chainsaw and an electric weed whacker. Within an hour, all 4 items were spoken for and across the evening I got 40 offers to take one or more of the items. Three are now gone and a fourth will be picked up by 3 pm today.

I love the convenience!

Here is a link to the main Cheapcycle site

CoME: Episode 7: Landmark Days

One of those things that people say to us when we reveal our plan to move to LCNM to retire is “Won’t you miss having four seasons?” And I guess the answer would be yes EXCEPT that LCNM does have four seasons. People hear desert and they think Death Valley, but high plains desert is very different. Las Cruces sits at an altitude of about 4000 feet. Think Denver, the “Mile High City.”

We visited LCNM in mid-February, the tail end of the winter. The temperature got to the mid to upper 50’s each day. A little ways further into the mountains, Ruidoso, at about 9000 feet, there was still snow around. In LCNM it got cool in the evenings at this time, lower 30’s and Ruidoso got to the lower 20’s each night. But the sun shine was bright each day and the temperature jumped 25 degrees in just a couple of hours. Our friend Clairz, wrote recently extolling the early spring weather, which has arrived now in LCNM.

So, LCNM gets winter, spring and summer, no problem. The issue, could be autumn, but I don’t think so. Fall is my favorite time of the year with the crisp cool air and warm days early in place of the summer heat. I think LCNM will fit that bill. I know people ask about the leaves changing colors and while I will admit that the number of trees may be less so than in a New England forest, there are still colors to be seen. Check out this Google image of some New Mexico color.


New England seasonal change is identified in my mind by “Landmark Days.” By this I mean there is a day in each season that heralds the next coming season. It is not the “date” that spring or autumn start, but rather an event day. Spring arrives here on the first evening in late March or early April when there is a warm, light rain and the “peepers” come out, the little frogs you hear all spring long. Sure, there can be snow after that first night but hearing the peepers means spring is here. Summer arrives on that day when it is warm, sunny and you smell cut grass for the first time usually in May. Winter is announced by the first light snow on a weekend day when you have something cooking in the oven with that wonderful smell. It could be bread or cookies or even a pot roast. You could substitute wood stove for cooking here. Burning wood too is an autumn smell. Autumn in New England comes gradually. You see some color showing up in mid August even if the weather is still hot and muggy. But it is the trip to the orchard with the warm cider and apple dumplings and fresh honey and that cool crisp New England air that seals the deal.

I’m sure that LCNM will have its “Landmark Seasonal Days.’ I look forward to figuring out each and every one of them.

CoME: Episode 6 Unintended Biblical Metaphors

When I named this blog series “Chronicles of the Mass Exodus” I was thinking of exodus as a leaving, not the biblical book. However, the realities of the last few weeks have hit home hard and have necessitated a change in thought, a reevaluation of the plan, a readjustment of the threshold, so to speak. The dream lives on, even stronger that before but we have had to rethink a few things.

Here is the rethinking part: we have had 2 different realtors into our home in the last week or so and the news is not good, not good at all. In the last 4 years our house value has dropped somewhere in the range of 35%. It is at the point that if we were to sell tomorrow, we could cover our current investment but have no funds to buy in LCNM. A sobering thought and I blame and hold GW Bush and his henchmen directly responsible for this financial debacle. Because of them and this, my ability to retire is compromised because of the payout of my retirement. With little available to put down on a home in a new place, it is more difficult to retire on what I will make if I retire now. So where do we go from here?

Well the dear wife, sensing my own disappointment in all this quickly gave me the old pep talk Saturday morning over coffee. She will not let that dream die. We will need to make changes, reevaluate what we want to do and how we will do it. It might take a bit longer than first hoped, but we will do it. We had a nice taste, a great taste of what our lives would be like in LCNM and we are going to do whatever is necessary, WHATEVER, in order to make it happen. Our new timetable may have to stretch until July, 2012 but that is only 27 months away. It can happen! It will happen!

Step one is one of our realtors looking into the possibility of splitting our land into two lots and selling one off in order to come up with a down payment. Step two is to look into a couple of leads regarding our house. Step three is to have another realtor in, her office does work in the area of special needs housing which we consider our home with handicap ramp and accessible shower and bathroom.
So like the biblical story, when Moses was presented with an obstacle, his approach was one of “can do” not “woe is me.” That will be our approach too.

More on this and the readjustment of the threshold in some later posts...