Sunday, January 8, 2012

2012 goals

Well, here we go. Better late than never, right?

1) At least one injury-free 50.

I'd prefer to do lots of 50s, but I won't feel really confident til we manage to pull off the first one, so that's what I'm planning on. Right now it looks like the LD 30 at Rides of March, so I can ride with Mel, then a 50 at the Derby at the end of March.

Nothing else looks exciting til May. Whiskeytown is a long way away and American River sounds hellish. I guess I'll do Washoe in May, but I'm obviously not too excited about it yet. I've never done it before - it's the ride I was on the way to in 2009 when Dixie freaked out and flipped in the old trailer. Last year it was only two weeks after High Desert so we skipped it. High Desert isn't calendared - I guess the RM's not doing it, which is a total shame.

2) Sell the house and move to California.

We've decided to go with the "sell the house" side of the Great Plan. A year ago when we started this crazy G-moves-to-CA thing, we worked out three plans: sell the house, rent the house, or G comes back here and works from home. It's better all around if he stays in person in SF, and I don't really want to rent the house. We can't rent it for enough profit to cover very many disasters, and it's hard enough being a local landlord. I love this house and I've had a lot of fun fixing it up, but oh well - we'll buy another one someday.

This is my goal, at least the selling part, because I have to do all the hard work. And by "hard work" I mean "keeping it all picked up and really clean." Ugh. That is so not my strong point, yall.

I'm painting the kitchen now. OMG it looks SO much better - I went with light tan for the walls and the same color family off-white for the cabinets. In February or March we'll think about replacing the crappy carpet in the kitchen/den, and in March I'll move all the random crap to the barn, clean real good, and list the house. Average days on market for the area last year was right around 5 months, so we'll see how it goes!

And that's really all I've got. It's all a big question mark after midsummer. I don't think "keep eating right" or "continue exercising" are very New Years Resolution-worthy. I'm thinking about doing mini book reviews of (some/most/all of) the books I read this year - I haven't decided to commit to that yet though.

17 comments:

  1. Ouch! Does "sell the house" = "board Dixie" or "sell Dixie" or buy/rent a place just out'a town and "keep Dixie"?

    Bill

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  2. Probably board her. Rent a house "halfway" between some place I'd like to board and his commute to work.

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  3. Oh man, sell Dixie is not on the table! No way no how!

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  4. The "big question mark" is more like - when will I get moved and settled? There's a lot of lovely rides in Northern CA that I can hit in the late summer/fall, and I want to come back to Reno for the Tahoe Rim Ride in August, but I'm not planning out my ride calendar til I know better where I'll be when.

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  5. I just converted 50miles into kilometers...Jeez. I really didn't realize it was that far. (Okay.. so my math needs work).
    I'm in awe that you can ride that far- and in even bigger awe that Dixie can pull it off.

    Good luck with the house!

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  6. Hey now you can market your house as a horse property for real, with all the work you've put into cleaning the yard up.

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  7. Yay! So glad to read that Dixie is going with you.

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  8. Big changes!

    Stay cool, and don't forget to have fun. We'll keep reminding you....(and when will you come visit me???)

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  9. I was pretty surprised when I saw #2, but I agree with that decision. I do despise selling a home though, it is a lot of work.

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  10. Sorry to scare yall - Dixie coming with me is such a no-brainer that I didn't even think to mention it!

    Aarene, I'll need the reminders to have fun!

    GD - yeah, the market here isn't all that great, but there also aren't very many horse-ready small acreages. I think it'll sell. It looks quite a bit nicer, it's huge and laid out really well, and it's ready for your small herd.

    Melissa - I am not looking forward to selling. The best part about our nomadic lifestyle has been half-ass cleaning the apartment, handing in the keys, and driving into the sunset. Sigh.

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  11. Funder--I hate selling houses--well, actually I have a hard time leaving any house I've been fond of, whether it was really mine or not. It is just a difficult process. But I hope you find a lovely new home--both for you and Dixie. Life on the California coast can be good--really. Do you have any idea which part of the Bay Area you'd like to live in?

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  12. Laura, he works in Potrero Hill so, reasonably, we need to live somewhere in the East Bay. There's a BART to PIttsburg and to Dublin, so probably one of those places. A long train commute is more feasible than a long drive - plus, we've only got the f-150 right now.

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  13. Good luck on both your big goals :)

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  14. Oooh! Jane from The Literary Horse (http://theliteraryhorse.wordpress.com/) has her colt at an awesome looking boarding facility outside SF. It would be an endurance rider's dream with all the hill work in the pastures already. Maybe that would work for you when you do move?

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  15. Good Luck with these goals!! Wishing you and Dixie all the best for 2012

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  16. *Whew*, so there's a good chance you will still be in reno during the convention in march? I was starting to get worried......

    BTW - planning on showing up on Thursday (day before the convention)so far (but nothing is for sure) to see the house and take a tour.....I really really really hope the weather isn't crappy and I can get over the pass.

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