Text 3861, 107 rader
Skriven 2006-07-26 17:52:02 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
   Kommentar till text 3825 av Carol Shenkenberger (6:757/1)
Ärende: From NYT Magazine 81
============================
Hi Carol,


 CS> It's easier for me.  I have a home, rented out.  I dont want to sell

RH> We never had our own place after Steve went into the Army, renting on
RH> the economy or using military housing.  We've always been leery of
RH> trying to sell a place on short notice, figuring (wrongly) we'd only b
RH> there for 3 years.  Some tours have been longer than that, some shorte

 CS> So were we, but finally the bug bit when we were in Norfolk and the
 CS> housing market and prices were decent enough to make a go of it.  I

We never had the right combination of money and affordable housing at
the same time.  If the van hadn't decided it wanted to stay in Hawaii,
it might have been different this time.


 CS> was terrified when I got orders to Japan (when we bought, they were
 CS> promising homesteading at last with no more than 3 tours out of your
 CS> area and since we'd never been one place or even *coast* more than 6
 CS> years at a run in either of our careers, we were considered
 CS> 'unmovable'.  obviously that changed....)

Yes, we've never had that option.  Probably the closest has been here
but we will leave at about 3 weeks short of 5 1/2 years, same battalion
but 4 of the 5 companies.


 CS> We didnt want to sell so found an agent and had good luck.  Same
 CS> tenant all this time.  Housing rental market is now close to 1,200$

Did good there.  We rented off post for a bit over a year at Fort Hood;
the landlord's wife got orders for Germany in that time so he turned it
over to an agency so he could go with her.  Less than ideal but we had
no major problems, thankfully.

 CS> for a place like ours in that area and we are charging 850$ so they

 CS> Dont get me wrong, we've had bills too that we just had to 'eat' like
 CS> roof work and things like that.  All appliances were left with the
 CS> tenants but we said if they die (other than hot water heater and the
 CS> central air/heat) we wouldnt replace hence we did *not* add those in
 CS> as a factor of the rent.  That made them and us happy.  We've had to
 CS> have several central air/heat jobs done and the hot water heater
 CS> replaced.  The fridge, stove, and our big chest freezer are still
 CS> going strong as well as the dishwasher and while the washing machine
 CS> and dryer may not be 'perfect' we gather both still work.  The
 CS> lawnmower I gather died but they had free use of one as long as it
 CS> lasted (went out about a year ago?).  The roto-tiller I am not sure
 CS> about but the weed whacker is still working.  We also left curtins or
 CS> blinds on every window though they were not fancy, asking only if they
 CS> replaced the curtins, to tuck the old ones in the attic for us so we'd
 CS> have something temporary when we got back.  Left some oddiments of
 CS> furniture with complete agreement that if it wasnt there when we got
 CS> back, 'no huhu'.  Left lots of little oddiments like windex bottles
 CS> and mops and such.

That's good.  We bought a double wide (put down payment and took over
loan) in NC when we wanted to move after Deborah was born.  People we
bought it from built a new house about 30 miles away; to save money
there, they took all curtain rods, toilet paper holders and suchlike.
I could see them taking the curtain rods but the paper holders was just
plain cheap!  We had to buy new on less income than they had!  When we
sold it a few years later (when Steve went active), we left a dryer,
fridge and wood stove plus the curtain rods and TP holders.


RH> lamb shanks done in osso bucco style; I had jaegerschnitzel.  All meal
RH> come with soup of the day, salad and mixed vegetables.  Our meats also
RH> had spaezele, on a very big (about 11" diameter) plate.  Probably a go

 CS> Oh sounds like fun but what is jaegerschnitzel?  A sausage thing?

Pork cutlet usualy served with a brown mushroom gravy.  This had the
mushrooms, and more.


 CS> Spaezele I seem to recall is a type of pasta?

Kinda/sorta, yes.  Basically the same as an egg noodle but all
crinkly/crushed to be about an inch long and a tad chewy.  A good sauce
soaker upper. (G)

 CS> Me, I'm hoping we get to OZ again before I leave.  I'd like to have
 CS> lamb again. When I left the states, a little trickle of it was
 CS> starting to arrive in affordable prices and i gather that got better
 CS> but I've been in japan all that time and lamb just doesnt suit the
 CS> people here so almost impossible to find. I think I've seen it just
 CS> once at the commisary for example but wasnt at a time when I could get

We've seen it here (at the commissary) off & on over here.  Probably
never would have bought it if a friend who happened to be in the store
at the same time suggested the chops, grilled. He was right; they are
good that way and other cuts are finding their way into our cart from
time to time.


---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchafflyNOSPAM(at)NOSPAMearthlink(dot)net  FIDO 1:396/45.28

... I hit my CTRL key, but I'm STILL not in control

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