Well the lady from the office called with the soil sample results, left a message with my wife today. Very interesting. I took 3 natural unaltered samples from the area I'm developing for blueberries, as well as 2 more much farther down the slope with different trees and soil. The three were pH: 4.62; 4.58; 4.77. The other two are: 4.76; 4.88. That sounds pretty damned perfect. They said the E.C. (I assume this is Electical Continuity) was 0.01. This is a new concept for me. But she said it means the citrus we grow there will need fertilizer. How about the blueberries? I imagine I'll need to be careful with the ammonia sulfate as it will lower the pH, and I may be in the unusual position of the pH being too acidic for blueberries. What's good cheap fertilizer I can buy for this location for blueberries? As a side, I slipped in 3 more samples from different locations: The area most of my blueberry plants are being temporarily held right now (5.42) ; nice looking large vegetable garden plot I made (6.19 with EC of 0.42); and my backyard (7.24). So everything looks to be right on track. I thought my backyard was interesting, as this is an old suburban area and there's a lot of concrete and gravel around and it must've leached into the soil. That's my guess anyway.

We have spring water to our home. It runs underground from the spring house to a cistern and then a second cachement we put in. We have an electrically powered shallow well pump in the second cistern and I have a good old fashioned pitcher pump from the first. So I have water whether the electric is working or not. It's wonderfully pure water, and I've had it tested for agricultural use, and practically neutral and extraordinarily soft. One drop of detergent, and you have suds. The taste is the best I've ever drank. My greenhouses run off an irrigation well. It's very deep, and cost thousands to drill. I have seen ads in the paper for real estate and the realtors used the phrase free water for those properties. Hah! The spring is pretty darned close to free, but a well is anything but. You are, for all intents and purposes running a non-subsidised water plant. Everything from the initial cost to the maintenance, to the safety is your responsibility. The system also requires a pressure tank and you better be a mechanic, because in our area, nobody and I mean nobody in the plumbing business will work on them or install them. So, you learn to do it yourself. I see a niche somebody could get rich in. So, you pay for water dearly sooner or later. I also own property in town. The minimum water bill is about thirty dollars bi-monthly and that is just for being hooked up, whether you use it or not. It does include refuse pick-up, sewer fees. If you use the water, the cost goes up, of course. The breakdown shows the sewerage is at least twice the cost of the water. For a community with a fairly low population, and ample water, the rates are pretty stiff. I know a family member used to get sixty dollar bi-monthly bills and she watched her consumption closely. Our water conservation district is trying to get all property owners to have assessments for storm run-off, whether they're hooked to a system or have their own sewerage systems. So far, it hasn't happened, but I imagine it's coming down the road, and would appear on our property taxes.

Here is a heart rate chart similar to what they have at my local Curves: Target heart rate chart Age / Target Zone 50-75% (beats per minute) / Average Maximum Heart Rate (100%) 20 100-150 200 25 98-146 195 30 95-142 190 35 93-138 185 40 90-135 180 45 88-131 175 50 85-127 170 55 83-123 165 60 80-120 160 65 78-116 155 70 75-113 150

Same problem here, with selling my Mom's house. Garden District, 100 year old, prime corner location in a small town, and very well maintained. Our buyer has to wait for them to sell their home, but we're fine with that. They are getting a conventional loan, and the other buyer wanted a government loan. I was told that they will have to use an FHA/VA certified appraiser/inspector from some random list (no one associated with the loan can choose this person). It's likely we could get someone who does not know the neighborhood at all. If that's the case, since she's bordered a few streets over by properties that should not be used in a comp, we could get majorly screwed. The appraiser I spoke with yesterday told me that there are no good comps right now. He knows the area well, and said our area's real estate has NOT gone down in value. But, with an appraiser who doesn't know their stuff, it could be appraised much lower than it was appraised for last year (200K). One thing to watch for is he told me soon a lot of banks who received bail out money will be forced to use a random appraiser, not just govt loans.