Thursday, December 16, 2021

Sprawl


A recent exchange of comments with Every Blade of Grass involved the spread of ticky- tacky houses in the farm fields North of Denver. I’m now being sent to developments like this 40-60 miles East of Denver.

Observations.

 Thornton, a suburb North of Denver, started buying water rights from farmers to the North of Thornton in the 1980’s. They allowed the farms to go fallow. Around 2000 speculators started buying the farm land. The various small towns started annexing large swaths without the means to provide services. Came winter, Weld County stopped plowing snow and not maintaining the roads year around that were in the newly incorporated towns. The car dealership I worked out of was in one of these towns. Luckily, we were on an I-25 frontage road; state maintained. My twenty two mile commute was often a challenge.

In recent years houses are being built on this land in the $250,000 to $800,000 range on small lots jammed together. A large part of that cost is utility hookup fees. People commute to metro Denver and the Peoples Republic of Boulder for jobs. There is little in the isolated patches of housing developments to make a community. Little to nothing is there to engage kids except for some “parks” with child safe equipment. Is it any surprise their electronic devices are their focus?

The roads in the area, if paved, are narrow two lane farm roads with no shoulders intersecting with two lane arterials. During peak travel times, traffic is a nightmare. In the winter, far worse traffic jams.

Schools, grocery stores, medical clinics and other infrastructure are catching up today. Mid 2000’s, residents had to drive for miles to the towns in the area that were, themselves, not big enough for the demands.

The local energy monopoly, Xcel is hell bent on “renewable” energy. Want to bet those “woke” elites at the top of the Xcel ladder are depending on renewable for their personal dwellings and vacation homes?

Part of the blight is the political affiliation of these new residents. When the shit hits the fan, they will be voting for whoever promises to save them. They will turn a blind eye to the reality their plight was caused by those same promise makers.

When Xiden and fellow thieves collapse the economy and we are in a major depression, those people are screwed. $1,000+++ a month mortgage payments and driving leased cars will leave them with no housing and no transportation. Their two family incomes will become no family income.

As we emerge from our COVID snooze, the mortgage payment forbearance chickens are coming home to roost. My part time job delivering dun notices and refinance offers is picking up. Many of the “customers” to whom I deliver documents are $26,000 to $50,000 in arrears.

Rabble Rousing.

This excerpt from RedState.Com was part of an opinion piece about school board and municipal elections around the country.

This is what happens when the right stops playing failure theater and starts fighting fire with fire. We can win these battles if we are willing to fight them, and there’s a direct correlation between these newfound victories and many in the GOP ditching the old-guard consultant class who would rather lose in style.

“Lose in style”

Colorado’s 3rd District Congresswoman is good at stirring the pot.


Trust Fund Snots

Trust fund snots are among the first to shout, “Not in my backyard”.

The CORE act would make most of Federal land “wilderness” starting at the city limits of Vail and Aspen.

https://coloradopeakpolitics.com/2021/12/10/media-goes-mum-after-colorado-dems-suffer-humiliating-defeat-on-core-act/

Back in the day.

I’ve blogged in the past about buying mid 80’s diesel import pickups and cars, storing them in my backyard, and selling them to a Siberian (don’t call me a Russian!!!) who brought his 500’ fish processing vessel into Seattle a few times a year. He would load them on his deck and take them home to Vladivostok. This picture captures what my neighbors saw.

I’m still driving a 1985 Mitsubishi Mighty Max, my third Mitsu pickup. While not my daily driver, with a small shot of starting fluid, it will start at any temperature. I need to make it more rodent resistant by mixing some peppermint into rubbing alcohol and spraying the cabin and all the wiring under the hood. Given the worsening state of the world, a simple EMP protection kit might be worthwhile.

Flat tire.

The local tire stores fix flats for free. My daily driver had a slow leak. The nearest shop pulled it off and informed me a nail had penetrated the sidewall, the tire couldn’t be fixed, and I needed a new tire. I declined and have been adding air every other day. My sister steered me to the shop she uses. The manager once ran a different store and I did some business with him. His wife developed cancer and he left to devote his time to her. She died, and he went back to running a different store for the same owners. My sister’s advice was sound. His shop fixed my tire, for free, and told me the small sidewall damage was no big deal. Now, Sisty is one up on me. In truth, she is now so far ahead I’ll never catch up.

Why didn’t I get a tire from the first shop? Old car salesmen can smell the slightest whiff of smoke.

Speaking of Sisty, she lets Banner stay with her when I have road trips. I don’t think he fits a toy schnauzer sized bed.

Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Ever wonder how local merchants must have hated the Sears catalog? Today it is Amazon. I make a determined effort to buy locally, even at a higher price, but am often frustrated. Ten minutes on the Amazon site and I’ve found it, ordered it, and have it the next day. While I dislike their “wokeness” I admire their efficiency. Best part, not having the Wal-Mart experience.

Inflation.

Prices are going up, we all feel that. I go through about two reams of letter sized paper a week. The price seems to double every time I buy a case.

Can’t Go Home Again – the book.

I don’t do Kindle being a Latter Day Luddite. I received my paperback recently and am slowly reading my way through it. Powerful stories that stir my very soul are rare in my life but not while reading this book.

Drought

We still haven’t received any significant snowfall; just strong winds to suck out what little the soil contains. Picture from 12/16/2020 blog post taken just South of Harriman, WY.





DRJIM

That was the road to see Big Boy.


10 comments:

drjim said...

Most of the traffic control jobs my son has been going on are in Weld County, and he's amazed the developers were allowed to build these large tracts without improving the roads. They're just now upgrading the electric power lines playing catch-up with the builders. It's gonna be a nightmare for all these city folk to drive back into the city from these new developments. And I'll bet most of them are in arrears in 24 months.

I was quite happy to see the CORE bill get snuffed.

I had friends with houses like in your meme! Most of them made a damn good living 'under the radar'. Probably be a lot harder to do these days.

I just ordered a bunch of capacitors to replace my "stock", and what would have cost $125 a year or so ago is now $300. Just about blew me out of my chair. I could have saved some $$ buying them on eBay or Amazon, but I prefer better quality parts than you usually get at those places.

Went buy YCGHA and got the Kindle version by mistake. Could have sworn I bought the paperback, but that's what the all-seeing, all-knowing Amazonians gave me. "Very Good" read so far.

I remember going to Harriman. We got off the 287 by Virginia Dale, and took back roads to the crossing. I continued North when we left, and picked up I-80 West of Cheyenne. They were stopped there for a good 20 minutes or so, and it felt like we were watching a living, breathing thing.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Your son's observations are spot on. Each jurisdiction have their own rules and levels of enforcement.

I've taken every opportunity to see the UP steam engines. I remember SLW feeling the Wyoming chill at Tie Siding. We managed to be in the only fog bank for miles around but what a magnificent sight, #4014 and #844 double teamed climbing Sherman Hill coming into view around the bend in the mist.

Old NFO said...

Good news on CORE! And yes, those folks will be out on their ears, wondering 'whut happened'... STILL haven't gotten to see BigBoy in person, dang it.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

OldNFO
The UP hasn't released a 2022 schedule. Several static 4000's are on display around the country.

LSP said...

Wow, I shudder to think of that kind of mortgage debt, well, any debt really. But that's fearsome and I guess typical. Dam, my youngest sister pays that kind of money for a ONE BEDROOM apartment in Dallas. Kyrie.

BTW, I like your advice on older cars as opposed to 60/80k pick ups... wisdom.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

LSP
Older vehicles need maintenance ad repairs more frequently. My experience is I spend about 2-3 "new car monthly payments" a year on my old stuff. I bought my 2005 Buick for $700, spent $180 replacing the turn signal switch, and recently $312 on a minor tuneup. My biggest repair and the Mitsu was $900 on a car rebuild. The carb was never designed for ethanol and internal gaskets were eroded. At some point I need to have the front steering rebuilt as the alignment is down to the last possible settings.

To each his own. What I want in a vehicle is reliability and dependability. Even though I've worn out two Lincoln Towncars, I didn't buy them for any prestige reasons. They were the vehicles best suited for my needs at the time.

RHT447 said...

Sprawl. Developers and municipalities love to pack 'em and stack 'em. One of the things we loved about our old neighborhood in northern California was that it was too far out to be connected to the city sewer system when it was built. Every lot had to be large enough to accommodate a septic system.

Am still driving my 2001 Silverado that I bought new.

-1 on Walmart. Will go there as a last resort, but I leave feeling like I have been to a third world country.

Big Boy. My wife and I could feel the heat from the boiler as it made it's way out of Mansfield earlier this year. In case you haven't seen this--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4BWsYbJROQ

Well Seasoned Fool said...

RHT447
Always enjoy those videos. DRJIM and I were able to stand beside it at Herriman, WY when they stopped for water on the way to the Golden Spike Celebration.

When the UP brought it back from CA to be refurbished I was at Tie Siding, WY and shot this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7MOBSIdPuU&t=16s&ab_channel=FrankWhite

RHT447 said...

My better half just sent me this. You can drag the view through 360 degrees through the
entire video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF79h6NIgOw

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Thank you.