Right…tons of work today. Going offline until later.
@phoneboy Just don't spend so long there that you get drafted into the IDF. :-)
@matigo I didn't either, but I can't live any more cheaply here than we do with the house. My combined mortgage and space rent is less than what one-bedroom apartments rent for around here.
@matigo Ours is a Meyer lemon tree, which is a special variety. They're nice, but different than a standard lemon. Lemon trees (and other citrus) grow easily here--my wife grew up about ten miles away on what was once the biggest citrus farm in California. It's still one of the biggest.
@matigo I could never afford something bigger in Ventura. Even if I could, all I'd get would be a bigger mortgage payment, a bigger property tax bill, and not much more living space than I already have. I never want to move again.
@matigo Who pays for a home in five years? I have a 30-year mortgage. I'll be 75 years old when I pay it off, if I live that long.
@matigo By Japanese standards, we have a lot of land. By American standards, practically none. We have a small strip of lawn, some planter beds with flowers and such, and a lemon tree.
@matigo We got very, very lucky. We bought at the bottom of the market, and the seller was motivated. Go 100 meters outside the park where we live, and the houses in the adjoining neighborhood are half a million dollars and up (and they're nothing special, either).