Nice photos! We've been cold and have had lots of snow/sleet events here, but never more than about 2"(5cm) in any one event and even though it's been so cold most of the snow/sleet manages to melt off just before the next round hits, so no big build up. The ground is currently like the tundra, with a thin mushy mess of mud and water on top of frozen ground and no acorns germinating outside. treeguy123, that's a good idea. I've kind of done that for some time, but I always end up getting too busy with other things that my list only gets about 1/2 to 2/3 done. Interesting to see henbit is in full bloom, but here henbit will bloom virtually any time during the winter we have a stretch of sunny days warmer than the mid to upper 20's with peak bloom happening in early March. Although this year, I won't be surprised if it's not until May sometime! Another brutal 20°F(11.1°C) below normal day today, but some possible signs of having some normal temperatures in the coming week(temps in the 50'sF(10-15C)) or even warmer! It's just not right when we were colder than the freakin North slope of Alaska 2 days last week! I mean come on! That's 2500 miles(4023km) North of here and 4125 miles(6639km) away in the Arctic Circle! If I went that far South of here, I'd by in the middle of the Amazon, why don't we get Amazonian weather blowing up here in February? LOL

Thanks for all your thoughts! However, I've been researching and talking to a real estate agent, and I found out I was WRONG -- DEAD WRONG -- on something massive: When I went out and looked, I was looking at the wrong lot! Yes, I was being completely and totally STUPID. I have two college degrees, and I was shut down, befuddled, and confused by street signs and a map. My husband also has two college degrees, and ... well, in our defense, none of the lots have "for sale" signs. No, that's not enough: We have no defense. We're only part-time idiots, I promise. So ... the correct information: The above-shown map is correct, but the roads look totally different in person. The lot is actually located on a cul-de-sac; yeah, I know, it doesn't look like a cul-de-sac on the map. Only two lots are placed on the cul-de-sac, and the house that's already built doesn't face the cul-de-sac. The thing is, the cul-de-sac isn't going to STAY a cul-de-sac. The road is going to be extended out towards the aforementioned Town Center (right now it's connected to the neighborhood with a trail, but it'll be a real, driveable road eventually). They're planning more houses between the neighborhood and the Town Center, which I knew; I just didn't know that road would be extended in that spot. That's why the rectangle looks odd: Eventually this rectangle will face the road straight-on. So the lot has plenty of road frontage, but that road frontage is going to change at some point in the future. So ... I don't think I'm interested in buying a lot with a road that will DEFINITELY be changing significantly. I think it's too much risk. And it seems pretty certain that at some point I'd have to do some re-work on the driveway /mailbox. However, there's another lot for sale by owner -- why don't people put up signs? -- slightly larger at 1.5 acres, 30K more money, and backwards (meaning that the back of the house would face North). BUT it has really nice hardwood trees, and it's on the road leading towards the will-be-altered-cul-de-sac. In response to your above comments: - The city owns the triangle in front of the lot -- knowing that this will eventually be a road, it makes sense. This may be why a lovely cul-de-sac lot is available ... but, then, a couple other very nice lots are owned but not built upon yet. - No, having seen the lot personally, that's one of several piles of wood in the corner of the map. Not another house. I had to study it carefully and think back to what I saw to figure it out! - Now that I am looking at the right lot, only one house is next to this empty lot, and it's a comfortable distance away. The other side is empty for now ... but eventually when the road opens up, other houses will be built on the other side. How close? Can't say. Again, this is awfully uncertain. - Yes, we're retiring in about five years, and we're building this house with the intention of living in it the rest of our lives. I do not welcome the idea of building, and -- at some undetermined point in the future -- having to re-do a bunch of stuff. Sounds expensive and problematic. And if the road doesn't follow the anticipated path, which could easily happen, they could end up taking a portion of my lot against my will. I don't think that's likely, but it is possible. - No, no rush exists at all. I'm not hurrying into anything, and I will definitely talk to zoning people -- if I decide to pursue this lot. I'm well aware that the real estate agent has "an agenda", and it isn't to make me happy long-term, so I'm not taking everything he says as gospel truth. - This is a really great neighborhood, but it's not the only game in town. If I heard that someone else bought it (and the other lot I just found out about) this afternoon, I would not be upset -- I'd just figure God didn't want me to have it. I will not be the person who buys an unbuildable lot. - No, I don't really have big concerns about my 45 acres of farmland being near the school. I agree that it means extra traffic, but really only twice a day. And it's not like I'm right next to the school -- they're set back over perhaps 30 acres plus a two-lane road. That's one reason I suspect that IF my husband's fears ever come true and the school annexes someone's farm, it'll be one of those other two, which are closer /more convenient to the school. I'm near but not right on top of the school. Incidentally, the exisiting school is a middle school, so no teenaged drivers; however, our fear is that they might build a SECOND school adjacent, and an elementary school would mean more pick-up parents, and a high school would mean teen-aged drivers -- that's what I really don't want. If my husband suddenly said, "I give up the idea of a city lot, let's stick to the farm", I would be happy. Some things about a city lot are appealing (good places to walk being one of them), but so are some things about the farm (like more privacy). - As for living in the country, I'm well aquainted with it! I grew up in the country -- real country, on a farm. And for the first decade of our marriage, we lived in the country. We really only came to "the city" for the schools we wanted our kids to attend. We want to go back.

re: cow names - I was a city kid moved to dairy country. Learned all those terms, but the hardest to remember/figure out was Polled Herford vs heifer. And with horses, the difference between a colt and a foal, colt being kind of the generic term many use incorrectly for a foal. That definitely wasn't the limit to my ignorance about country living, that's for sure, but the folks there were equally ignorant about some of the things those of us raised in the city were more familiar with. Usually it has nothing to do with brain power, just exposure. One of my favorite stories about common sense is a cousin who married young, with no domestic skills at all (her mother did everything for her). I was visiting and her husband went to the kitchen to get us some refreshments. He call out, "Susie, why did you put the ice cube trays in the freezer without filling them with water?" She replied, "But we didn't NEED ice cubes." She's not lived that one down.

Tina Marie - no, I'm a Canadian living in Australia. Mostly, I couldn't care less about the Royals and their activities. I'm hopeful that both my countries will become republics in my lifetime. Although there's a fair bit of coverage of the family here in Oz, I only got interested in the subject when it appeared my Canadian taxes (which I still pay) might be diverted to pay for Harry's security in BC while he sat on a multi-million dollar inheritance. That didn't sit at all well with me, or with most Canadians, and probably colored my views. Part of my skepticism though, has nothing to do with Harry and Meghan specifically, but with charities in general. You look at the books for a lot of them, and in some cases surprisingly little of the money raised or donated goes to actual causes; the rest is absorbed by "administration" - advertising, salaries, overhead, etc. I'm very selective about who and what I donate to these days.