Riding a strong market and my bike.

We’ve been home two weeks and I still feel like I’m trying to catch my breath. The good news is that the real estate market remains strong and my services in demand. There really isn’t any bad news, I am just happy I got away when I did. I’ve also been doing some household purging and working on getting into spring riding condition.

The office is getting busier, with two new listings and a couple of more in the works. The market remains strongly for sellers but there seems to be many buyers still looking for that perfect spot here in the Valley. It’s not really surprising, given what a beautiful place we live in. The new listings are for a home just outside of Boonville and a 15 acre piece of land over near Ukiah on the Boonville Road.

We tore out the carpet in our bedroom and the bedroom downstairs and had wood floors put in; we went with an engineered wood for a couple of reasons - color was a big one, but also availability. Then there is the water proof factor - living with aging dogs makes this a nice bonus. Since the rooms were torn apart for the installation I have been deliberating with each piece I put back. Not exactly “Marie Kondoing” the whole thing, but definitely taking stock of everything. I’m reading a book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life; the author is funny but also spot on. She’s made it fun and easy to assess and decide what to keep and what to discard.

We actually snuck away again for a couple of days to celebrate my husband’s and mother-in-law’s birthdays. We took Cookie up to Cottonwood, where it was in the 80’s, for a couple of nights. We squeezed in a nice bike ride in the Paynes Creek recreation area, a BLM managed property with a lot of wonderful trails through wetlands, meadows, and rolling hills, dotted with beautiful trees and bounded on one side by the Sacramento River. We did an eight mile figure-eight loop and encountered a couple hikers and one equestrian group, but mostly had the trails to ourselves.

I found skiing didn’t translate into being in biking shape, so I’ve also signed up for an online biking class three days per week. That’s been fun and HARD. The workouts make me sweat more than most outdoor rides do and I can really feel the effort. I noticed the improvement in my riding while on our Paynes Creek ride.

I’m glad to see that it is overcast today, as I write. The warm weather is nice but it won’t be nice six months from now. My body is also thrown off by the fact that it is winter still and the daylight ends fairly early - yet it seems like summer and that it should be light longer. Here’s hoping and praying for a return to some real winter weather.