News from the front

The war continues between me and the Houston housing market, but even in the mud and noise of war, a flower blooms.

We're still battling to find a house to buy or rent. You'll recall from the last blog that we'd found a house only to discover that a petroleum pipeline ran near the house. THAT turned out not to be the problem; the problem was that the builder had operated under more than one company name in the last several years, had been to court and lost concerning shoddy workmanship, and was in some financial straights. Cross another house off our list.

We decided to punt and find something to rent: a townhouse close to work maybe. We enlisted another agent who specializes in rentals. We toured maybe ten places and found two that fit the bill. After debating over night we called the agent to pull the trigger on one. She told us that both had been rented -- one for more than its asking price. Two things are at work here: the refugees from Hurricane Ike all need to rent places until their houses are rebuilt and people whose houses are foreclosed all need to rent somewhere to live. The Houston rental market, particularly for upscale places in nice parts of town, has sky rocketed.

So, we go back to realtor #1 telling her to boost the ceiling price we're willing to pay and to show us houses built after 2003. She finds us three: in a country club, on a golf course, beautiful layout, brand new, and not over budget ... and directly under the landing pattern for Bush Intercontinental Airport. The planes come over the house at about 3000-feet. The noise is perhaps not as bad as we experienced in UK. The people we talked with who live there say, "Oh, yeah. The airplanes. What ever." We love the houses, love the location (the country club has the right feel, isn't expensive, has 27-hole golf course), it's only 35 minutes from work.

What to do, what to do?

The bright spots are more like candles in a cave, but we're taking our happiness where we can:

I passed my Texas driving test.

Wife has a new iPhone ... which I should say is really cool and fun and over priced and carries a hefty monthly fee. Did I mention it's really cool?

We're going to get a refund on our sofa that the moving company lost ... when I moved TO the UK seven years ago.

Good Buddy Bruce was here on his way back from Venzeuela with news that he's NOT retiring because he's been promoted to a great new job.

Work is good and I'm starting to find direction there. No promotion in sight or hearing, but, hey, in these times -- a job's a job.

My mom's doing well and having her 88th (I think) birthday ... or maybe she already had it ... I can never remember whether it's Oct 13 or Oct 17.

My daughter's and her husband are doing well. She teaching and acting.

And ... oh, darn ... that's it.