Browse Category: New Jersey

Bought a House

New House
Home Sweet Home

We bought a new house!

What should I tell you about it? Should I give you the plain story about how we went about buying a house? Or should I get philosophical about how I once owned a home many years ago and thought I’d never own one again due to multiple adversarial life circumstances? Let me tell you a little about both.

Setting the Financial Stage

First, let me set the financial stage. Four years ago, my wife and I decided to get out of debt. We followed Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps after hearing him on the radio and taking his Financial Peace University course. We paid off a significant amount of debt over 19 months. It was an amazing feeling to make the last payment and be debt free! No more car payments. No more student loan payments. No more credit card payments. We were (and still are) debt free! Over the following two years, we saved up a three-month emergency fund and enough money for a down payment on a house.

Looking

Our next step was to look for a house. Since we were very fond of Dave Ramsey and his instruction, we found Gordon Crawford through Ramsey’s Endorsed Local Providers. Gordon was wonderful! He took his time in showing us houses and pointing out important features and flaws in homes which we would not have thought to look for. Gordon was so good natured. He will be remembered in our home as the guy who first introduced our toddler to Fruit by the Foot.

Fruit by the Foot
Fruit by the Foot – Pure Amazement to a Toddler

We began looking for a home in July. We quickly realized there was steep demand for homes due to people flocking out of New York City into the suburbs. Here’s an example from a New York Times article dated August 30, 2020:

Over three days in late July, a three-bedroom house in East Orange, N.J., was listed for sale for $285,000, had 97 showings, received 24 offers and went under contract for 21 percent over that price.

Trust me, East Orange is not a town in New Jersey where people would normally rush to spend $285,000 on a house. But it’s an indication of the level of demand for houses at the same time we began our search.

We found a house we really liked on a Friday evening of torrential downpour when there was some miscommunication between the listing agent and the seller, who had no idea potential buyers would be washing up on his porch. He was kind enough to let us see part of the house. We had to wait a few days for the open house to come back and see the rest. That was a sunny day and we liked all that we saw. We made an offer quickly to get ahead of the New Yorkers.

Oh, the Drama!

Despite that sunny day, there ended up being quite a bit of drama in order to get to closing. I don’t feel like writing about the gory details. It went on for three months. At one point we walked away from the deal. Even after the deal was re-initiated, we found ourselves wishing we stayed out because of further drama. But ultimately we closed and the house was ours.

Now let me get to the philosophical part.

I owned a home at one other time long ago. I once wrote about that home. As I said there, that time of my life “feels like a tale from someone else’s life, or a portion of an old book that I vaguely remember.” That was 25 years ago. That’s almost half my life ago. Think of how much a guy experiences in half his life, all the downpours, all the waves that wash over him, and the many currents that carry him through depths and breadths in life’s ocean, until he reaches the balmy shores of his new home.

BOOYAH!

Well, isn’t that some sappy philosophical flotsam and jetsam that just washed up into your browser! The truth of the matter is that I’m now a guy that has a mortgage payment who has to fix anything that breaks around here because I ain’t got no landlord to do it for me. But the shiny side of that coin is, in addition to being free from debt, I am free from the obligation of paying another man’s mortgage to live in a house he owns while I have no real equity to my name. BOOYAH!

I Forced Myself to Go for a Run Today and This Was My Reward

A Close Encounter of the Pileated Kind

I forced myself to get out for a run today. This was my reward! I can’t believe how close he let me get. I may have gotten closer if I didn’t slip at the end of the video.

A Few Pileated Woodpecker Facts

  • They are not migratory.
  • Pairs stay together all year.
  • They are territorial. (Hear territorial drumming in video below.)
  • Their territorial drumming consists of burst of 11 to 30 taps in less than one second.
  • They make rectangular holes and nest in them.
  • They do not reuse nesting holes from year to year, but other animals use the woodpecker’s abandoned holes.

Pileated Woodpecker’s Territorial Drumming

George Washington Bridge Challenge 10K

Unicorns are REAL! They talked to us and told us many wondrous things that I’m not allowed to reveal.

My wife and I ran the George Washington Bridge Challenge 10K today. How often does anyone get the chance to run on one of the busiest bridges in the country? (One time per year, as far as I know.) That’s what made this race so appealing.

The race started in Fort Lee on the New Jersey side of the Hudson. We took a ramp up onto the bridge. Then we ran out and back over the bridge twice. Coming off the bridge we ran along Main Street in Fort Lee and then down Henry Hudson Drive to the Ross Dock Picnic Area to finish. The majority of the race was on the flat bridge and then downhill after that, hardly any uphill. A nice run!

Considering I had only run twice in the past two months, including this race, I was pleased with how my running felt and the fact that I finished in 1 hour, 7 minutes. I struggled now and then, walked when I felt like it. I went into the race with the idea of simply running according to how I felt and not worrying about my time or pace. I didn’t worry about comparing myself to anyone else. I just chugged along and enjoyed the scenery and the satisfying feeling of moving my feet. I was actually surprised that my time was as good as it turned out!

Here are some photos:

Getting started
Entering the lower level of the GWB
Looking toward Manhattan
Overlooking Palisades Park in New Jersey. If you look real close you can see the yellow arch at the finish line.
On the GWB
Under the GWB
Finishing up
Many thanks to our friend, Zach, for the cool signs and for tending to our child!

The Place is Lousy with Beavers

Two beaver lodges (foreground and background)

While hiking at Mahlon Dickerson Reservation today, I spotted two beaver lodges that I hadn’t noticed before. They are in a location that I always pass when hiking or running here. I just never noticed them before. I think I noticed them this time because the vegetation is getting much greener. I stepped off the trail closer to the water to get a better look. This watery area was more extensive than I realized. When I’m running these trails I guess I’m focused on the ground so I don’t trip on a rock or a root and bust my skull. I need to stop and smell the beaver lodges more often.

I’m not sure if these lodges are still inhabited. I didn’t see any signs of recent beaver activity along the banks of the water. The usual signs include small trees gnawed off and bark chewed off of larger trees. All I noticed was a large tree that had been chewed sometime in the past, as you can see below. Maybe the beavers abandoned this one lodge and set up house in the more remote lodge away from all the tourists.

Where have all the beavers gone?

Beavers are amazing creatures. Lots of creatures gather and transport various materials to build nests and dens. But beavers take it to another level. They are quite industrious indeed. That’s a lot of work to cut down trees and haul them through the water. “Busy as a beaver” sure is an apt phrase. I’d love to spend a day hiding in beaver territory observing them going about their business.

For more on beavers in this area, see my video: “Beavers at Saffin Pond.”

Skin in the Game

Being in the Woods = Happiness (at least at the beginning of this run)

My last run introduced a new challenge to the mix of getting ready for the Hyner race: BLISTERS. With three weeks to go until the race, the blister problem has become a Gordian Knot situation that needs to be solved ASAP.

When I first got these Saucony Perigrine shoes a few months ago I worried the heels might prove to be a problem. But I ran in them a handful of times on rail trails and then on trails at Mahlon Dickerson Reservation. Their heels weren’t as snug as I’d like but they didn’t seem to be a problem. I ran at the Delaware Water Gap a few times with snow on the trails, my distance averaging 6 miles. It wasn’t until the trails were clear and I was able to go farther that I encountered the problem of blisters on my heels.

I did a little research and decided to do a test run near home today. I slapped on multiple Band-Aids and wore two pairs of wool socks. I went over to the Dickerson Mine Preserve (not the same place as the Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, but named after the same guy).

My plan was do run 5 miles. By mile 2 my heels were on fire again. The double socks didn’t help. I ground out 3 more miles, running more than walking because I just couldn’t wait to be done. Plus, I was in a hurry to get back to the drawing board to find a different solution to this problem.

And one other thing. It snowed again today. Aren’t we like 2 weeks into Spring? What the heck?

Here are a few photos from the Preserve:

One of several easy trails here
Power lines coming through
Same lines, different part of the trail
You know you’re on a New Jersey trail when there are empties left by a tree.