Rain...

Yup.  February 7th and it is raining.  So far today the snow has compacted down to about 27 inches on the ground.  The snowmobile trails are going to be HORRIBLE after today unless we get some snow.  There was already a number of spots that really needed some help from Mother Nature...and she is having no mercy.  From what it looks like...chances of rain linger throughout the next WEEK or so.  It is not going to be like a couple years ago (yet) where we have 70 degree days in February...but a longer stretch of temps in the high 40s with rain nearly every day does NOT help the chances that this will be a snowmobiling season to remember.   John Dee was a bit optimistic with his forecast graphics...I think he needs to push the thaw line further north and include some rain up into the UP this weekend.  It is only the 7th...so we have plenty of time to get cold again.  The question is, will we get more meaningful snows?  That is a tough question to answer this late in the game.  We have not had one BIG snowstorm this year.  So maybe we are about due?  I will be crossing my fingers.  I am not even going to discuss what the temps look like...it just depresses me.  It is going to suck all week though.  Check out weather.gov if you really want to know.

Today we are going out house hunting again.  The house we had found that we REALLY like...fell off the market a couple days after we saw it.  That bugged me a bit since it was such a perfect house in regards to what we were looking for.  Ahh well.  Another will come along.  I am not really optimistic about today though.  A bunch of the houses I found and sent to our realtor were already pending sales.  Dang!  I must have a talent for picking out what people want.  There are so many good deals out there right now...you are crazy if you do not act on them.  There is a 15,000 dollar tax credit coming your way to boot!  If you buy a house in 2009 you can claim in on your 2008 tax return...or I imagine next year you will be able to claim it on your 09 return.  So you instantly have 15,000 dollars to spend on a home...plus whatever other money you can come up with.  Too bad I did not know about this before...I would have put in an offer on that house a while ago. :P  I am still not sure what motivated us to move into our own house.  We tried that before in a rental and hated it.  I am thinking because we could not truly make it OUR house.  That is probably what we are feeling right now in this house.  We have some stuff here but we cannot paint, change floors, change rooms, etc.  We are bound by the ideals of what someone else wants this house to be.  It has been a VERY good thing that we have been able to stay here...but we have not actually lived here.  We are staying with the intent to leave...and we have lived that way for nearly five years.  

Wish me luck on our ventures today!  If I am your new neighbor...I will surely introduce myself. :P

Goodmorning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek