Shhh…. I have a secret

“When it rains, it pours”

Well, duh. Living in Western Oregon has some distinct advantages.

1. We are close to the coast—actually, just an hour away. However, entering the highway from our town is uber dangerous. There are three main ways to get on Highway 22, two of which see more accidents than any road should. The third is a little out of the way, but I think it’s worth it. Yep. I am becoming more risk-averse in my old age.
2. It is a beautiful area. However, a large portion of our lawn has moss instead of grass. The stuff they sell that is supposed to get rid of moss and grow green grass doesn’t work. On that same note, nothing I have found will kill holly starts unless I want to go scorched earth.
3. We live in what is technically a ‘bedroom community’. Far enough away from the big city to feel safe(ish) in town. Close enough that we have all the shopping opportunities that most small towns do not. However, we are getting an increasing amount of homeless in our town. Rumor is that they are being bused in so that the county will be forced to implement a plan (proposed by a for-profit) to house and serve them. I don’t have a problem with this, except that they are looking at not screening for drugs, weapons, or other issues, such as sexual predators, before allowing entrance. All sights that have been proposed are within 100 yards of a school.
4. We love our 120-year-old house. However, it has been built on over the years to the point where there are (very) few right angles and some seriously odd decisions made regarding its placement. We attempted to add on an ADU while rebuilding our carport (that leaked like a sieve) our plans were given the ok, we passed three inspections, including the electrical, and then failed and were slapped with a cease and desist. Why? The city couldn’t find the permit they had approved. Typical small-town bureaucracy. We had to hire an architect and an engineer to draw new plans (codes changed after the previous permit was approved) at a cost of an additional $8000. And it just goes down hill from there. I know, hard to believe it got worse.

5. We bought at a good time. In fact, we signed our paperwork on the 29th of December and started moving in on the 30th. We could not get out of our apartment fast enough! We lived in an apartment with 1100 sq feet versus the 2600 sq feet house we live in now, with a puppy-approved yard.

6. The current market value of our house has almost doubled. The problem is that the market has made it impossible for ‘regular’ people to buy a house now or, frankly, rent. The apartment that we lived in was $1100 a month when we moved in. It was at $1600 a month when we moved out. From what I understand now, that was not a legal increase in rent in a matter of 5 years. I think it is 3-5% allowed a year. Either way, it is over $1100 to rent a studio apartment now. My kids cannot afford to move out. (I am actually ok with this).

7. We are surrounded by farms selling fresh produce from late spring through early fall. No real downside here except after eating fresh it is hard to eat store-bought produce the rest of the year.

8. Being a relatively small community, there is very little for the kids to do(by kids, I mean teenagers) that isn’t expensive. We do have an indoor pool with waterslides, but it costs about $5 a session, and season tickets are between $150 and $400. So, kids being bored kids, they cause mischief. Yeah, now I feel old.

9. On the other hand, we have a nice but relatively cheap theater that shows first-run movies. This includes a close-caption night for those of us who are hard of hearing. Which is funny. As a kid, I hated subtitled movies, but now, they are a must. Subtitles, close-caption. Poh-ta-toe, poh-tau-to. or something like that.