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Scenes from January
By Doug | February 2, 2009
The first month of 2009 has come and gone so quickly! Major events in the Garland family included the start of school, Joyce’s birthday, our first snow, work on the lot, preparing the garden, and a visit by Andrew and Melanie.
Joyce received a very good report from her doctor this month and continues to do well. We thank and praise God for His goodness to us!
You may need to look very carefully to see the snow in the pictures! None accumulated, but it was nice to see. The weatherman is predicting a possibility of snow this week….
I planted snow peas in the garden and various bulbs in the flower beds yesterday. We are looking at seed catalogs as we plan future plantings which should start in about one month.
We had several good work sessions on the lot in January. The goal is to create an area for fruit trees by the end of February. Both peach and apple trees require 3-4 years of growth before producing a good crop. The trees can be growing as we plan and build the house. Our method involved clearing out brush and small trees, cutting down larger trees, and then cleaning up the aftermath. We shoud be ready to plant the trees after one or two more sessions. Peter and Noel Typak helped with the tree cutting and cleaning up. Noel is a student of mine. His family is in the late planning stage for building a new home. I have enjoyed helping them through the process. The economic melt down birthed some new restrictions and rules for obtaining construction financing. Both the Garlands and the Typaks are trying to navigate through the process. Most private investors in the mortgage market have gone elsewhere after losing lots of money. Banks now depend more heavily on federally backed mortgage programs. I think I am beginning to understand the federal rules and will continue the quest over the next few weeks. One way or the other, it appears that the loans backed by the federal government drive people out of the market and add some cost to the price of a new house. I thought the feds were trying to stimulate the economy…
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