There are sustained windspeeds of 42mph with gusts up to 64mph recorded at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) this morning up here on Table Mesa. It made our morning walk a bit dramatic, what with all the leaf-chasing and trying to stay upright. We've been told that the wind howls off the mountains onto the mesa and although we've had some gusty nights, nothing like this until today. I put the NCAR icon on my desktop so I can check back frequently. NCAR is very close to us, about 10 minutes away by car. The building was designed by IM Pei; it sits on top of a smaller plateau nestled up against the Flatirons. Very cool nearby resource.
So now we're back, laundry in, tonight's chicken is brining, giblets on the fire for gravy stock and dog treats. I'll do the noon yoga class then meet our realtor and Mark at another house right over the border in Longmont, also north of the reservoir. Last night we had a lightbulb moment in which we realized that we might have been treading in places (price ranges) that were not ok for us. I think we got caught up in the Boulder real estate prices and our bottom line kept creeping up and up until we were looking at houses in the $800,000's. It's hard to even think that with a straight face. We had been looking at this amazing small farm property with a renovated house owned by an artist who did it over with super high-quality materials and an exceptional eye for design and detail. Almost 3 acres of flat land, an adorable summer cottage, etc etc. But it was causing us to become stressed about how we could swing this mortgage while we still own the condo, etc. It was like our sensibilities were temporarily recalibrated to think that getting an $800,000 mortgage was reasonable. So I think that last night we came down from that ledge and are thinking more clearly now.
Our latest plan is to rent the condo for a year (our back-east realtor says he's got a nice German couple who love the place and want to rent it unfurnished) and look for a house that we can afford while still owning the condo. This means, in all likelihood, that we'll give some serious consideration to living outside of Boulder proper. And that might be ok. I think that Mark and I have both been feeling that we came here to live in Boulder, not a suburb of Boulder. But the reality is, we came here for his job, which is in Boulder right now but which will probably be relocating to one of those suburbs within a couple years. A Boulder address is cool, and people recognize the coolness of the town when you tell them you live in Boulder. But what difference would it really make in our lives if we lived 10 minutes outside the town, or 5 or 20 minutes outside of Boulder? We were never going to live within walking distance to Pearl Street, and we really don't even want that. We can easily drive to Pearl Street and all it's funkiness and shops and restaurants from any of the places around Boulder.
So I think that tomorrow I'll take a trip to Louisville (pronounced Louis-ville, not like the one in Kentucky) to see what a small outlying town is like. We heard some guys in a bar last Sunday (the Hungry Toad, a gritty little irish pub where we felt quite at home with our shepherd's pie and local brews) about the robust music and culture scene in Louisville. So it's worth checking out.
I'm reading One Man's Meat, a series of essays by one of my favorite authors, E.B. White. What a luxury, to have time to read during daylight hours.
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