For heaven's sake, Walt, be careful out there
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Unker Warry, I rike you, I rearry rike you: come here, big ferra
The lower end of the market, however, is doing just fine
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26 Valleywood
Valleywood's a popular street, and deservedly so. This property sold at full price, $1.495 million, back in 2013, when it was still in sort of rough shape. These owners renovated it and turned the garage apartment into very livable space. I'm not surprised at all that it's gone so quickly.
Apartment
Trial format
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I don' wike it!
Yeah yeah, everyone hates change, but this format should be easier to read on smart phones, which my statistics say 35% of readers are using, and it answers Walt's constant whining about the face page not containing enough posts. We'll see how it goes.
How weak is the higher end of the market? This weak
/Price cuts reported today:
28 Dairy Road. Prefab.
28 Dairy Road, $4.250 million, down from its original 2014 price of $5.995. Purchased for $5.125 in 2004.
449 Rogues Hill. $6.450 million, 2014 starting point, $8.250.*
One Old Round Hill Lane, $6.750 million, down from $8.495.
38 Parsonage Road, $7.999 million, on the market since 2011, when it started at $10.950. Sold for $9.950 in 2006.
200 Old Mill Road, $5.795, asked $6.730 million, purchased for $6.3 in 2004.
* Rogues' Hill Pics:
Cruel to squash this poor cow with a table, no?
It does have "the chair", however
when was the last time you had a dozen people over to watch a movie?
Credit where credit due: those are real books. must have driven the stager crazy to leave them
On a lighter note ...
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Did he end up in Trump tower? I don't know, but it'd be amusing
For many years I shared an office suite with Jeremy Kaye, probably my very best friend (I'm tossing in the qualifier "probably" just so as not to offend other friends). If you've purchased or sold a house in Greenwich anytime in the past 37 years, the odds are good that Jeremy was on one side of the deal or the other.
In 2008, maybe 2009, he and Lucile travelled to Miami to look at condos, whose prices had plummeted in the aftermath of the crash, and I was dumbfounded: "why on earth would you want to buy a condominium in Miami, of all places," I asked, "the worst place on earth?" He responded, "Chris, I'm Jewish, so I'm going to eventually end up in Florida anyway, and I want a bargain."
Oh, that card. Hope whatever you bought has increased in value, kid, and stayed dry during the recent drizzle.
It's 9/11
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So much sorrow, even now, but Sally Maloney, I wanted to just say, again, how very, very sorry I am for your loss this day - I often think of you, but always on this day - and how much I appreciate your support during my own difficult time during John's illness, and after. Neither of us, so far as I know, is Jewish, so I don't know whether a girl can be a mensch, but that's how I think of you
You purists, sue me.
It's early in the day but so far, the media' coverage of Irma's attack last night is unilluminating, even pathetic
/There's nothing of value that I can find, merely rehashes of old, inaccurate stories and speculation of damage based on the same horror predictions. The NYTs, among other "news" sources, has dropped its cash wall on hurricane reporting for the duration (a nice gesture), so I turned to it, hoping that that once great paper might still offer something of value. No such luck. Yesterday they had my cousin Henry, a science reporter, for crying out loud (in fact, he once edited the paper's since section) covering a sob-sister story about elderly patients in a nursing home, and their other reporters were assigned similarly useless tasks.
This morning's edition reports that Miami residents' cellphones and laptops are running out of battery power and the people are "fidgety". Oh, the humanity! The paper also repeats the claim that "four people have been killed" by the storm down in the Keys. Even one death is sad, of course, and come daylight, perhaps more deaths will be discovered, but for now, careful reading of the story shows that one of those four died "of natural causes". A minor matter, I suppose, but the media's insistence on boosting the death toll by including an old man whose time on this mortal coil had simply expired is, in my opinion, telling.
It's frustrating to have no reliable source of news on this storm (other than Mike Finkbeiner's reports over on EOS's site, but that lazy guy is, as of this writing, still abed). Frustrating because we have a number of FWIW readers who are either down there now or own property there (poor Libertarian Advocate just purchased a bungalow on Islamorada 10 days ago, damnit, and I need to know whether I'll have a fishing base to visit this winter), and I'm concerned. The few media reports there are from there focus on washing machines and the odd skiff floating around, but those are the effects of any normal hurricane, not a "nuclear explosion", as was being predicted. Is were more?
The positive side of this failure to report may be that it finally stamps paid to the illusion that we have a national press corp that's capable of providing hard, objective reporting. Instead, it's been exposed as the gang of ratings-obsessed jackals that it is, clinging to its meme: disaster, global warming, the foolishness of individuals, long past the time when the facts showed otherwise.
Certainly the media should have passed on NOAA's warning of a huge, apocalyptic storm bearing down on Florida, especially after that storm had just destroyed entire islands in the Caribbean, and I don't fault NOAA for predicting disaster, but as the past two days wore on, and Irma was slowed, then broken during her passage over Cuba, and the obvious was becoming, well, obvious, the press stuck to its original meme, and hyped its coverage by focusing on, say, 2' of water rushing down the streets of Miami and claiming that the end of the world, if it hadn't yet arrived, was still coming.
Phooey.
They're pulling down these stories as quickly as possible, so just for the record ...
/I'd meant to record last night's press coverage promising total disaster for Miami, but the articles had all been erased by the time I want back to capture them. So here's one from today's coverage:
AP: "Hurricane Irma Pummels Florida; This One Scares Me"
MIAMI (AP) — A monster Hurricane Irma roared into Florida with 130 mph winds Sunday for what could be a sustained assault on nearly the entire Sunshine State, submerging streets, knocking out power to millions and snapping construction cranes over the Miami skyline.
The 400-mile-wide (640-kilometer-wide) storm blew ashore in the morning in the mostly cleared-out Florida Keys and then began a slow march up the state’s west coast. Forecasters said it could hit the heavily populated Tampa-St. Petersburg area by Monday morning.
“Pray, pray for everybody in Florida,” Gov. Rick Scott said on “Fox News Sunday” as some 116,000 people statewide waited it out in shelters.
And for objective reporting, here's Mike Finkbeiner, commenting on EOS's blog (note that "negative" figures are heights below normal, mean high water)
North eye wall on top on Naples and Mike Bettis TWC now.
He is reporting gusts 44mph, sustained at 25mph. That would be true.
The open sky eye will be over him in 30 minutes. Sunny conditions, calm winds coming.
Hope he reports a pleasant afternoon in Naples.
Jim Cantore TWC in Fort Meyers reporting no winds.
Mike Bettis is in the north side eye wall. Reporting gusts to 57/now 50 mph and no damage. Blue sky about to open over him.
I am beginning to wonder if the 6 million people under mandatory evacuation have a class action suit for their expenses and compensation for unnecessary displacement.
3:32 pm – Key West about to break out into post-storm clearing. Blue skies. Winds 34 knots (1 knot = 1.1 miles per hour.)
3:35pm – Key Biscayne near Miami. Winds 43 knots gusting to 57. Surge 4 ft and falling. This seems to be the worst yet.
3:37 pm – Mike Bettis TWC – Naples gusts to 60 (he says, his body says different) NOAA says winds at 24 knots at 3:24 pm. He says live radar is real time.. Radar says he is entering the eye. Visually, winds are dying.
ANONYMOUS
The helmets they’ve been wearing are a nice touch. Stand by for the “worst which is about to come.”
3:40 pm -Mike Bettis TWC Naples- Wind dying and turning. Radar shows a double eyewall – storm seems to be falling apart.
3:42 pm TWC report that National Weather Service NWS says “surge immenent.” NOAA tide station: Surge rises from minus 4.5 to minus 4 ft.
3:43 pm TWC Dr Navarro in studio asks for hand wind gauge reading – MB: Reading gust of 60. Dr N: Any lighting? MB: No. Palms vertical. No flying debris. Dr N: Drier air has worked its way into core now. Likely to see falling winds.
3:50pm Mike Bettis-TWC-Naples “Maybe the saving grace is the angle of approach. Otherwise the surge would be 20 ft.”
3:52pm ditto -No tree damage. “The great thing about palms is they really take the wind.” (Not a broken branch or flying leaves in sight.)
3:55pm Dr Navarro TWC – “The surge will arrive in 2 hours.” “We are estimating a 15 ft surge in Naples.”
3:57pm Mike Bettis TWC “Power Companies estimate 10 million to be without power.”
4:08 pm Earthimage radar observation. No SW quadrant to radar. Eye disappearing.
4:09 pm Dr Navarro TWC “Naples is 15 minutes from blue skyes.”
Official Weather at Naples Airport:
http://w1.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KAPF.html
9/10/17 1:53pm wind-NE 49 Gusts 71
2:52pm readings N/A4:27pm Dr. Navarro TWC “Sustained winds 95 mph at Naples Airport.”
4:38pm ditto “We are within 15 minutes of seeing a change.” “The eyewall is wandering about.”
4:41pm Dr. Brian Norcross TWC “I don’t know that you are going to get the eyewall.”
NOAA Naples Tide Station data for storm surge:
09/10/2017 15:54:00 EDT -4.71
09/10/2017 16:00:00 EDT -4.76
09/10/2017 16:12:00 EDT -4.09
09/10/2017 16:18:00 EDT -2.70
09/10/2017 16:24:00 EDT -1.81
09/10/2017 16:30:00 EDT -0.99
09/10/2017 16:36:00 EDT -0.30
5:03pm Mike Bettis in Naples – Sunshine and thumbs up signal.
5:26pm Steph. Abrams on the S. side of the Manatee River on the south side of Tampa Bay: to Mike Bettis “There is no back side of the eyewall.” (EI-She is at low tide now with a surge of minus 3.5 ft. Actual tide at Mean Low minus 2 ft.) SA: “I am afraid about water coming over the seawall.” (Power is on at both locations.)
EI: I am only doing this for the entertainment value now. Florida Class Action Attorneys- Call me.
Firewood suppliers?
/Between the loss of my archives and the crashing of my iPhone and the resulting loss of my contacts, I was unable to fully respond to reader's request for recommendations of local firewood suppliers. I remembered Riverside's Brian Krois - (203) 496-1241, and the bespoke, kiln-dried, wildly expensive Vermont Good Wood, Old Greenwich, whom ascot-wearing, Jaguar-driving Gideon loves, of course, because they deliver, stack it neatly in a custom rack, and provide a debarked, bug-free product. Pshaw.
But my original post on this topic, years ago, produced a number of recommendations and testimonials from readers about other reliable providers. As I recall, Ada Cantevero's nephew (Gus?) was one such vendor, but I'm not sure he's still in business. If you have a recommendation, please send it along, and I'll add a page.
(Everything that follows is from the top of my head, so if I've missed an important aspect, let me know in the comments, and I'll correct.)
Volume: I used to heat our 1835 farmhouse outside of Bangor with a wood stove, burning six cords a winter. I'd buy a truckload of 20' logs, buck them into stove lengths, stack them, dry them, and use them, so I became quite familiar with the stuff. Tips for buying ready-to burn firewood starts with getting what you pay for: a cord is 4' X 4' X 8' (you presumably don't want 4' logs, so you should be receiving 2' - 18" wood, x 2). And you my not, probably don't require full cord of wood for a winter's worth of occasional fires. A number of vendors will drop off a pickup truck's worth of wood and call it, and charge you for, a 1/2 cord (or "face cord"). Depending, that might be accurate, but measure it after you stack it and confirm. When I returned from Maine back in 1983, the first company I tried delivered a woefully small load of wood that, even unstacked and loose on the driveway, was clearly, to someone used to dealing with large volumes of firewood, pitifully short of the 1/2 cord I'd ordered. The company offered no relief, so I called "Mr. Belmont", the the town's official weight and measure enforcement officer, and complained. Mr. Belmont was sympathetic: he'd stacked plenty of his own firewood as a young man, but said he couldn't help. A few hours later he called back, saying he'd researched the matter and by golly, there was an official state standard for measurement of firewood, so he'd be over. I'd stacked the wood by then, and the two of us had a grand time measuring the volume, confirmed my suspicions, and Mr. Belmont then visited the supplier. A rather surly driver appeared the next day with a large load of wood which, combined with what had already been delivered, probably came to more than a full cord. Ha!
Quality: You want hardwood, not softwood, meaning oak, maple, beech, apple,etc., and not pine or spruce. There's much more potential heat in hardwoods, and softwoods will throw far more creosote up into the flue. That's bad: fire hazard. A guide to wood identification by bark is beyond the scope of this post, but beware of dried wood that's significantly lighter than the other logs you're stacking: it's probably softwood.
Dried vs green: You want dried, because green wood yields more creosote, is harder to start, and consumes much of the heat generated by the fire merely boiling off the moisture before actually burning the wood. What you want to look for are greyed ends with a lot of cracks. No cracks, it was probably cut a month-or-two earlier, rather than the year before (Red oak requires at least two years of aging, because its dense grain traps that moisture, but again, if you don't already know how to distinguish red from white oak — hint — it's red) then once again, we're beyond the scope of this essay.
Dried firewood
Of course, if you're buying from a reliable vendor, you really shouldn't have to worry about this. Still, as Reagan said about the Russians, "trust, but verify".
Burning: if your house is new to you, or you haven't done so within the past few years, have your chimney inspected and cleaned before firing up. And if you're putting in a wood stove, either have it professionally installed or read up on the subject: You need minimum clearance, or a heat shield, between the stove and any non-masonry wall behind it. Heat from the stove can gradually char the studs behind that wall, lowering its ignition point well below normal, and that could provide an unpleasant surprise at, say, 2:00 AM.
Finally, there's stacking. A long wall of wood is boring, frequently tips over and, to my eye at least, unsightly. Far more fun to build, and much better looking, is the beehive stack, with a central airshaft which, at least in theory, allows better air circulation and better drying. You can find instructions on the Net: just Google "beehive wood stacks", but here's one such article. Have fun.
Under contruction
It doesn't have to be this big, of course.
UPDATE: In addition to a confirmation of Brian Krois's excellent service, found in the comments, a reader sent me via email a recommendation of the Atko brothers, who purchased Gus Cantavero's business. I notice that they offer a $100 discount ($175 vs $275) for green wood. If you have the time (a year) to wait, and the inclination and the space to stack your own wood, a beehive pile would offer an enjoyable bit of exercise and save you money: there's not a gym in Greenwich that can duplicate that combination.