Expensive Digs

[Dean Hoffman]

The article says it's an expensive house but it comes with 50 acres of dirt.

[Ed P]

The interior is just as exquisite. Well maintained over the years.

I wonder what the monthly upkeep for tax, insurance, electric is. CT is one of the most expensive states for utilities.

[micky]

YOu 2 subscribe to the WSJ! I'll have to figure out some way to up my game!

[Ed P]

I buy wine from WSJ wine and get a "free" subscription.

[Bob F]

"You have to ask - you cannot afford it"

[T]

Yikes!

You'd need an army of staff to take care of the house and the grounds!

Looks pretty though.

[rbowman]

Is it fertile soil? Oh, I forgot, the days of evaluating acreage by its potential to grow crops are long past.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Are you a farmer?

I'd value 50 acres of dirt for its ability to keep me farther away from my neighbors. Trees would be my preferred "crop".

[rbowman]

No, I'm a hunter-gather. My ancestors were doing fine before the farmers trickled in from the Middle East. I may have been reading too much Wendell Berry recently. There was a time before industrial farming when land was judged by its productivity and carefully husbanded. I realize those days are gone,

I realized long ago I'm am not Ted Turner and can't buy enough land to get away from annoying neighbors.

[Cindy Hamilton]

I hunt and gather at the grocery store. It even worked well when I lived in a tiny apartment.

[rbowman]

Works for me. Every spring I think about a garden and then reality intrudes. I'd be fighting the zoo parade all summer. I don't think there are any rabbits around, just skunks, coons, deer, and others.

Oh, and the magpies that have decided cat food is good stuff. I'm not sure what's going on with that. A couple of days ago the cat was lounging on the lawn when a magpie landed next to her. The cat shrugged. So much for cats decimating birds. The bird must know the cat is no threat.

[invalid unparseable]

Thread reminds me of a couple of things.

Decades ago visiting relatives in Connecticut we went to grandfather's farm. Do not know how big it was but vividly recall going into barn to meet his third wife (he had outlived the first two) who was milking a cow.

Also have a friend with a 40 acre farm in nearby PA who had shot a neighbors dog that was going after his chickens. Even at his 40 acre camp in central PA he killed a neighbors dog chasing deer.

[rbowman]

We had a programmer who moved from the west coast to his dream survival ranch in the middle of nowhere. He had a couple of super special Rottweilers he had imported from Germany that he had plans to breed. The dogs chased the neighbor's cattle; neighbor shot the dogs.

I was just as happy when he moved on. Another of his hobbies was reloading .50 BMG shells for his Barrett. I could see things going downhill rapidly.