A few stories that have piqued my attention – walkable communities’ vacancy rates, bounce back homebuyers, UVA sports, a look at the President’s speech this week, a call to shut down the TSA (also known as “common sense”) and a nifty biking versus driving calculator
Browsing Category Thoughts, etc.
Friday: What I’m Reading.
Coming on Monday – a comprehensive look at the first months’ real estate sales in the Charlottesville MSA, (following up on this weeks’ first look at the real estate market data) including median prices for attached and detached homes, Year over Year and 2011 versus 2000 transactional data. In short, even more Charlottesville real estate that you won’t find anywhere else.**
I’m trying to read more books.
I just finished The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History,Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better
Some linkage for you:
Which is a Worse Ponzi Scheme, Groupon or The US Government?
Not about real estate, please feel free to ignore …
Both may be ponzi schemes, but which one affects us more?
Exploding Water Heater Demontrated – Thanks to Mythbusters
One of the most common items that is found on a home inspection is a missing/broken/leaking TPR* valve – a Temperature Pressure Relief valve . Basically, (someone who knows more than I, please correct me) if the water heater gets overloaded the TPR valve is where the water will go. … One of the home inspectors I used to use would say that a hot water heater, given the right circumstances, would explode with the force of a stick of dynamite. I was thinking about this today in a home inspection, and said that someone ought to suggest this to the Mythbusters.
An afternoon in Western Albemarle – Strawberries, Eggs and Beer
It’s easy to forget about or take for granted some of the simple and simply awesome things that are available in the Charlottesville area. This is about three hours on Sunday, 8 May: Picking strawberries at Chiles Orchard in Crozet : 
Driving to Blue Mountain Brewery to fill up a growler with Rockfish Wheat : 
Picking up some local, farm fresh eggs at AM Fog : 
* Pictures taken with my Droid Pro, and weren’t edited or altered at all. It’s just that pretty here. 🙂
Blue Mountain Brewery is Growing
Blue Mountain Barrel House and Organic Brewery is a 10,000 square foot production-only facility for the 10 lines of Blue Mountain beer that will be kegged or bottled in 750ml corked bottles and undergo 100% natural refermentation. … The advantages of the Colleen Business Park, water quality, as well as the opportunity to expand in the same locality are the reasons that Blue Mountain chose Nelson County for the site of its production facilities. … Although the two breweries will be production-oriented and not include a restaurant area such as the Blue Mountain Brewery pub in Afton, there will be a tasting area at both facilities, as well as a beer garden patio shared by both breweries for public tours and tastings. … “The CVEC Board of Directors was enthusiastic in authorizing the sale of land to Blue Mountain Brewery because these two production and bottling operations fulfill the purpose of developing the Colleen Business Park in partnership with Nelson County and the Service Authority.” Â
Backyard Garden, Year Two
Year One was a reasonable success , in that: – We fed ourselves a little bit, – We learned that gardening is a lot of work that requires constant vigilance – from weeds, deer and other critters – The family gardened together – I’d like to think I’m helping my little corner of the world by growing local, eating a bit local, and hopefully setting an example for others. – Spacing of plants matters. … In fact, they’ll likely die. – Order and planning seem to be reasonable foundations for success in gardening; I’ll let you know if that proves to be true. – I want a bigger garden. … More of my buyer clients have gardened, and many more want to have gardens; “I’d like some space for a garden” is one of the more common questions/criteria I am hearing, and I don’t think this is a self-selection whereby I am attracting like-minded buyer clients. I think more people want to garden. 
If you’re like me and are getting started in gardening and haven’t had time to plant, may I suggest a visit to the Virginia Cooperative Extension’s website ?