3 Reasons the Money is Good in Nevada

With a shrinking economy, I went out looked for reasons why I made a good choice in where I live. I learned many things I never knew….

• Constitutional Ban against Income
• Ranked 49th for the lowest tax burden
• Ranked 7th for the highest income

You can read the entire post over at our blog about living Eco Friendly.

Read Full Post »

See My Nevada

[clearspring_widget title=”Animoto.com” wid=”46928cc51133af17″ pid=”4a0c5046b6305913″ width=”432″ height=”240″ domain=”widgets.clearspring.com”]

Read Full Post »

Interest Rates and Prices LOW!

Do you want a bargain in Northern Nevada? Time has finally arrived. Interest rates are lower than ever, and prices are lower than ever. You can now buy a house in Northern Nevada for $75,000 starting price. Call us right away to reserve the best deals available.

Read Full Post »

Northern Nevada Bargains

Do you want a bargain in the Northern Nevada area? Now is the time. TODAY we have 933 bank owned properties in Northern Nevada. You can now buy a condo in Reno for $29,000 starting price. Let’s face it, Is a super good time to buy. Call us right away to reserve the best deals available.

Read Full Post »

Geocache Out the Back Door

I was looking up geocache locations to see if more had been added to our mountain neighborhood. A couple of years ago, there weren’t many. Now? I’m thrilled I can walk out the back door and go searching! The closest to my house is only 3/4 mile away. Closer if I cut across the BLM land adjoining my back garden!

 

If you are not familiar, GeoCache is a network of hidden treasure that you find using clues and a GPS. You can get a free account at GeoCache and start searching your area. Then you return to the site and tell others about your hunt. This activity is enjoyed by people all over the world.

 

In my opinion, this is the ultimate combination of technology and nature. Our family goes geocaching when we go camping all the time. Most of the caches we find in the desert are in old ammo boxes and usually contain a camera, logbook and various types of treasure. Our kids love to fill out the logbook and trade out the ‘treasure’.

 

If you haven’t heard of GeoCaching, logon and see what you have around you. If you plan to travel, this is a great adventure to add to your trip!

 

Read Full Post »

Outdoor Rooms

 

Outdoor rooms are one of the best gifts one can give themselves. I enjoy sitting on my patio, with a nice little garden the only separation from the open valley behind my home. With Southern exposure, the chilly winter mornings are a great place to wakeup with a cup of coffee and listen to nature start it’s day.

A Start to Your Own Outdoor Room

 

I have an outdoor carpet with a couple of adirondack chairs and a small table to really expand the living space from the square footage of my home. Another end of the patio has our grill and a large butcher block table with bar stools. My patio is very long and narrow, so I’ve never been able to find an outdoor dining set that one could sit at comfortably. Instead, I focused on making smaller sitting areas that are actually great for entertaining. At the far end of my outdoor space, I found the perfect bistro table with barstools. This allows for micro areas for everyone to to have separate conversations, yet still be close enough to mingle. 

We built an arbor across the length of the house to provide more versatility. During the winter, it allows the sun to do its job, warming the house as well as melting snow on the concrete. In the summer we are able to drape it with fabric to provide shade as a relief from the sun in it’s higher zenith and cool the house as well. We do not have air conditioning and I find that I’ve never had the need for it. I enjoy the investment of the arbor more than the electric bill and noise of a condenser!

Everyone should have an outdoor room, no matter how big or small it is.

Read Full Post »

Mud NOT always a bad thing…

 

As a pet owner/keeper, mud during the winter and spring is pure misery. As a parent, it means my mop spends a lot of time on fire cleaning the muck in the house. But as a gardener, oh how my heart smiles!

Our wet clay is a sticky, staining nightmare. My solution? Remove as much carpet from the house as possible to make the cleanup easier. I hate to quit living, simply to keep a clean house. And I always remember that the mud is one of the most life giving gifts we are given in the high mountain desert.

 

One of the extra perks I found in the mud is propagating more plants for my garden. I prune back the willow shrubs and walk around my property shoving them as deep in the mud as I can. I usually have a couple make it through the summer as a new free shrub. I heard concerns that willows aren’t the most water conservative plants, but I’ve discovered differently. A deep soak occasionally and you can forget about them. They are obviously deciduous so they add fire safe, leafy appeal. I can’t say enough good about such an easy plant.

 

Of course, gardens need variety. I try, and kill, many different species every year. I never give up until I’ve killed a plant at least 3 times, just in case I chose the wrong site or had a poor plant. My standard is a plant should be tough enough to handle little water, cold nights and blazing direct sun. The varieties at the chain stores very seldom survive. I spend 90% of my money at the local nursery. Most employees have a wealth of knowledge to share about the plants they carry, recommendations for tough areas and hardier plants in stock.

 

When we have a dry spring, the clay leeches all the water away from plants so it takes more water to keep the garden from suffering. It’s not that I mind watering, I just hate using a drop more water than necessary. Mud means that I can water less and I feel better about having the beauty through the season. I hope the mud lasts until May. I’m sure the nursery’s do too!

Read Full Post »

Snowshoe the Back Country

 

Snowshoe From Home!

If you aren’t interested in skiing, snowshoeing is a wonderful way to get around. Especially the back country, where all is quiet and pristine. This is a relatively inexpensive sport but it is more physical than most people think.

 

When I take the kids sledding, near Mount Rose, my husband usually takes off shoeing. My husband is an extreme hiker. By that, I mean he goes places he shouldn’t and I can’t keep up! The last set of shoes I bought him for Christmas came with my version of a safety kit. That means I invested in GPS/walkie talkies so I can find him in an emergency.

 

Going off marked trails is dangerous. We hear news reports all winter about various situations that lead to SAR (Search And Rescue) operations. Even for experienced winter snow sport fanatics. That doesn’t worry him so I worry for both of us. I know he’s going to go, and I can’t stop him. But, if something happened, I have a way to find him.

 

He also goes off with a buddy who hikes mountains all over the world. They take off and come back with stories of the views and the animals they see and I realize there is an entire world here that most people never see. They never have to queue for a lift or worry about traffic on the slopes. It is probably one of the best kept secrets around. Not a lot of people, I know of, snow shoe and I’m not sure why. My husband went for the first time with a borrowed set of shoes from his buddy and I knew that he would enjoy this sport forever.

 

All a person needs to enjoy snowshoeing is access to go. Investing in the snowshoes wasn’t expensive. It can be, but I figured he could upgrade to something different or better when he knew what he wanted. The walkie talkies were a little bit more spendy, but not everyone has to go off the beaten path to have a good time!

Read Full Post »

Adventures in Skiing

 

Ski the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Living close to ski resorts gives outdoor lovers the advantage of year round activities. Mount Rose Ski Resort is only 30 minutes away. Everyone I know, that skis, has a season pass to go play all winter long. No suffering winter blues for them!

 

I take my kids to lessons or go with a group of friends to have a day of family sledding. Unfortunately, I have yet to learn to ski. I did go up the mountain with some girlfriends once. A few rudimentary lessons and they thought I was ready. Geez. I still look back on that day and wonder what I did to make them hate me so much! I didn’t mind the lifts, and getting on and off was easy. I have good balance so staying up wasn’t a problem either. The problem came in when I wasn’t afraid to go fast; mixed with the inability to stop!

 

You would think friends would make sure you had that little skill covered, right? Nope. Instead, We would try to go down a section of a slope and they would tell me where to stop. Nuh-huh. I would head in that direction but (pardon the pun) it was all down hill from there. I would try to stop, like I was shown on a less-steep hill. But, when I didn’t slow down immediately, I would get closer to the ground. Do you really want to know what happens when you crouch down on skis? You go FASTER! Luckily, I grew up riding motorcycles, so I would hit the ground like I was laying down a bike. Feet/skis first, release poles, hope for the best. At least there isn’t any gravel involved.

 

After finally repeating this process about 5 times, I made it down the hill. I have never been so ready for a drink. Do you really want to know what those Demon women did next? They convinced me to go up again. Don’t know why but I did. Only 2 falls that time. Then they convince me to go a THIRD time. I think my brain had been dislodged by this time, because I did it again. No falling. I was done. I let them go play while I eased my very achy body.

 

At the lodge, people would give me wide berth and eyeball me as they walked by. I wanted to say “Yes, I’m the fool that almost took you out on the mountain.” but I refrained. A few actually asked me how I learned to ski like that. I looked like a racer and I guess I faked it well enough to look like I knew what I was doing. Apparently they didn’t see my crash landings!

 

My goal this winter is to get proper lessons. I’m sure my chiropractor will be disappointed but the innocents on the mountain will appreciate it.

Living in View of Skiing!

Read Full Post »