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Back to College Time

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Tomorrow I take my daughter back to Eugene for her 2nd year of college (Go Ducks!)

It got me thinking about the reasons people buy and sell homes. Changes in their lives, and circumstances. For instance, being an empty nester may be a reason someone would want to sell their house, and find someplace new. If the kids are all gone, and those extra rooms are just collecting dust, it might be a reason to sell and find someplace smaller.

We frequently think about marriage, divorce, and having children as reasons for needing a new place to live. But I’m going to add getting rid of children to that list now.

Or you could just do what I am doing. I am repurposing her room into a man cave. I have a fire pit, some viking horns, some elk bones to carve into tools, a fur rug, chalk for cave drawings, a big stick to use as a club,  and no bath facilities. Hope to have the place all up to man cave standards within a few smelly months.

Picking up the Guitar

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I keep picking up the guitar in the house. I don’t really know why.

It is an old family guitar that we have  had in our possession for quite some time. One that I grew up with in the house.

My dad and brother are both accomplished guitar players, but I never really got around to playing much. A chord here, a chord there. But nothing really.

But then I picked up this guitar last week, and broke one of the strings tuning it. And for some reason it got me interested in doing something. I had to go buy strings…then I broke the Bridge pegs taking them out.

And now I have downloaded a chord app for the iPad…picked a couple of songs to learn, both of them pretty country. And the end of my fingers hurt when I type.

So you may be asking yourself what this has to do with real estate.

And the answer there is simple…….Nothing!

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone.

Adam “the guy who wears the kilt around Ashland” Bogle

Happy Summer Solstice

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Yay…it’s here. My favorite day of the year. Except this year it has been sadly anti-climactic. First, the long spring/winter weather kinda had this day sneak up on me.

Second, my family is going to a wedding this weekend in California and the past couple of weeks have been full of working hard to make sure that we can spend a few days with family in peace, without worrying about work at home.

Third, in past years we have had huge Summer Solstice parties. Starting with the house we had in Medford, where we held 4 day long parties with friend from San Diego, Portland, Eugene, Boise, Seattle all came to our house..pitched tents in the yard…..threw air mattresses on the floor in the extra rooms. We had activities planned…tiedye projects, games, bonfire, etc….

Image courtesy of Ennor via Creative Commons

When we moved to our home in Ashland, the space was no longer there for the huge party at our house, and that sadly ended. But starting in the last couple of years, we found some good camping spots and started working on the revival of the Summer Solstice party.

But given the wedding plans of this year, we were not able to get it going….but I am putting all of my friends on notice right now…NEXT YEAR. I have marked my calendar for June 20-25th. Camping at a TBD location (most likely on the Rogue River).

The first Re-Annual Bogle Summer Solstice Extravaganza.

Blogging and Exercise

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I was just thinking about how easy it is to

A: Not go to the gym

B: Not write on my blog

And the similarities are kinda amusing me. Let’s say the holidays come. It’s cold outside, lots of people are having parties, there is good food, plenty to drink. You go to a party and decide that I just don’t want to go to the gym today. Then you skip 2 days. Pretty soon you tell yourself that it would be silly to go to the gym, when I know I can’t make it next week…so why bother til I can get back into my routine.

3 months later…15 pounds later….you go to the gym. But you can’t make up for 3 months of skipping, except by one hour at a time…one day at a time.

Now blogging. Same thing, different season. The weather starts to get nice, you’re going to the gym. And you go a week without writing a blog post. Then 2

3 months later….lost momentum, etc….you write a new blog post. But you can’t make up for 3 months of skipping, except by one post at a time, one day at a time.

One could always bring up the argument that listing houses, showing houses, writing offer, going to work, cooking for the family, doing yard work, blah blah blah etc….is always more important.  But those are the must dos. There is someone else there to be accountable for. Or at the very least, someone more obvious to be accountable for. 🙂

Now I have given up promising to do anything but try to be better…do what I know I should do, exercise, blog,  meet people, etc…but at least I can be amused by my short comings….right?

Here’s to all you procrastinators out there!

And don’t forget,

The best place for information on Ashland Oregon Real Estate is still www.AgentInAKilt.com

Handball tournament report with video

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Something that those who know me find out quickly is that I am passionate about handball. My dad started me playing when I was around 9, so I have been playing for 30 years. Dad and I used to go to tournaments all of time when I was young, and those are great memories.

I have only played about a tournament a year for the last number of years. But the World Championships are going to be held in Portland Oregon next October. The world championships are held in the United States once every 9 years. They rotate between Ireland, Canada and the US, and are only held once every 3 years.

So because it is going to be so close to home, and I turn 40 and can play Masters for the first time next year (read:I won’t get beat by 20 year olds, I’ll get beat by people my own age). So I plan on playing a tournament once a month for the next year in preparation. Fortunately, they are held on weekends, and I will only need to miss a couple of days of me real life as the Realtor.

This weekend was a tournament just up the road from Ashland in Grants Pass. I have a couple of injuries, and planned on not playing, but was talked into it in the last minute. So it was more of a fun time, than a serious competition this time.

I took my little Flip Video camera, and made a video montage of the weekend. It will most likely bore all but those who were there…but if you wish to see how I spent my weekend, you are welcome to watch the little video. There is very little of me in it (since I was behind the camera), and when I am on screen, I don’t have a kilt on, so you may not even recognize me. The video technique is quite poor, and I apologize for that. If you want a real videographer, I recommend Jeff Kastner Films.

Here is the short version with bad music…keep the volume down.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIbtbf-x0jA]

And now the long version with real sound…no music. (I am in the white shirt, at the one minute mark for a couple of seconds)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnTf4bz5vvE]