We helped friends install a walk-in tub on Saturday (my part was installing two new electrical circuits for the pump and heater).

Sunday we cleaned up some trash out of the building on the square, and then hotfooted it back so we could see my Dad for a Father’s day dinner.

It was also 100 degress this weekend with very high humidity…so we may have been slightly “less energetic” than normal.

So…since I have no interesting working pics…

Random cat gourd!

(I bought this at this year’s Clarksville Fine Arts Festival).

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Lots of food, great music, and pretty good weather made for a fun day. Lots of high-caliber artists with quality wares made for a “target-rich” environment for the discerning collecter.

I sold some books, made some friends, and generally mucked about having a good time.

Krashdragon came all the way out from Cleburne to pick up a book! THANKS for coming out! It was great to meet ya!

I expect to see the rest of ya’ll for next years festival!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

This year the 2010 Clarksville Fine Arts Festival will be Saturday, May 22, 2010, from 9:AM to 4:PM on the historic square in Clarksville, Texas.

This year’s festival is going to be a great one. The artists’ booths are all reserved! There will be glass blowing demonstrations, music, wood turning demonstrations, plenty of food, and a lot of talented artists to meet!

I’ll be there signing books and will also have original art and some prints.

Art. Music. Food. Fun. What else could you need? Come on by and see me!

We’ll have a house full of guests, be mucking about the square all day Saturday, and we’ll be at the Wine and Cheese event Friday night as well.

Come see us. You’ll have a great time!

Directions and more information are here.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Well…remember the one about scraping paint?

Yeah, we’re still there. We’ve done some other things…the standard yardwork, cleanup (this weekend was our town’s big cleanup week, which meant we could take some things to the city yard for disposal), and I’m certian we’ve reglazed at least one window pane.

But…The 2010 Clarksville Fine Arts Festival is coming up (and I expect to see y’all there), and that meant several things.

1) We are going to have a houseful of guests. That means getting at least a couple of the rooms of the house marginally habitable, right? After-all, we can’t really expect our guests to scrape paint, vacuum the room, and find a bed to set up…or can we? Hmmmm….
2) We wanted to finish the siding on the tower of our building on the square…at least for the most part. Since the courthouse is actually not in the the square’s center, that leaves our tower as a focal point…and it looked terrible. Now it looks better!

Anyway, haven’t posted much about the work on the house at this moment simply because even though it’s going on…none of it really yielded interesting articles and pictures.

We’re almost done scraping the sunroom. It looks truly cancerous now. I can’t wait to actually prime it. THEN you’ll have some pictures!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

This year the 2010 Clarksville Fine Arts Festival will be Saturday, May 22, 2010, from 9:AM to 4:PM on the historic square in Clarksville, Texas.

This year’s festival is shaping up to be a great one. There will even be glass blowing demonstrations!

I’ll be there signing books and will also have original art and some prints.

Art. Music. Food. Fun. What else could you need? Come on by and see me!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

But inflation eats cash reserves, returning nothing. As prices rise the money can buy less. Any interest earned only offsets a small fraction of the loss of buying power.

Have I put you to sleep yet?

History and basic economics suggest our economy is headed for recovery, but next on the list typically is very high inflation for a period of time.

Owning real property is a hedge against inflation, and if the inflation rate outpaces or even comes close to the finance costs you are even that much more ahead. One of the reasons long-term homeownership builds wealth despite taxes, maintenance, insurance, and finance costs.

It can even make sense to buy with the intent of selling later (after the inflation has raised the price). Home “flippers” do/did this…and as long as they were intelligent about what they were paying and when to get out of the market, many did extremely well.

But I’m not talking about a house. Houses we’ve got!

With a property and plan in mind, it can make sense to buy now.

Of course, it only makes sense to buy now as long as your income holds out…which, in these times, can be a serious question. If it doesn’t hold out…well, THAT’s when you need the cash reserves.

Sigh. Risks. There’s no reward without them. How much though? We could fall hard or succeed gloriously.

Cash or property…that is the question. I wish I knew the answer…it’s a real and immediate question for us at the moment…plans are cooking in the brain. Plans with distinct targets as to property and use…the property I can get…maybe. The rest of the plans…well…I don’t have a clue how I’d carry them out. There’s only so much time in the day. How much “flying by the seat of my pants” and instinct is safe? Reasonable?

I’ve almost always come out ahead listening to my instincts…and almost always regretted (sometimes severely) when I ignored them. But my instincts now…they run contrary the mainstream thinking…I guess they usually do though.

What’s this all about? Getting out of the corporate world (eventually). Small town Texas. The Old Vic. More projects than I can handle. Projects I like. Food. Publishing. Books. Art. Money. Time. Towers. Internet. Responsibilities. Bloodcurdling sheer panic.

Cash or property…yep, that is the question. It’s about a $35,000 question as a matter of fact.

All balanced against our future plans and security.

Gad. It’s a wonder I sleep at night.

More later (with specifics when I can).

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

There were dozens of outstanding artists, a Friday night gallery show, some fine Texas wines, beautiful sunny skies, great food, rocking music, and a lot of friendly people.

Thanks for coming out…and we’ll see you again next year!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer