Catskills - Sullivan County - Ulster County Real Estate -- Catskill Farms Journal

It's Fair season, and we happen to have a real good one real close over outside of Honesdale PA, celebrating its 150th yr.  Wayne County Fair with funnel cakes, cotton candy, sausage sandwiches and milkshakes.

Here's the Mayberry squad car, circa 1955.

And the quintessential fair stand above.

So I'm sitting on my porch Saturday morning killing some time before my 10am meeting with John and Sidney about building a home up near Catskill, and I realize I've ventured into some national geographic oasis of activity.  You really don't understand the foundation to some of those cliches out there until you experience them -

Take for instance, 'busy as a beehive' - jeez, as I was sitting there I was hearing this low drum murmur and after awhile I got up to check it out and christ there is this huge wasps nest right under the eave of my porch roof.  And there was a lot of activity around it ( and now I look out the window to see a turkey, its child, and a squirrel running around - and yesterday when I went to pick Lucas up, there was a deer in broad daylight standing in the front yard, all nonchalant-like - its absurd at times)

And then below it is this big ass spider web -

With a big ass spider -

And wouldn't you know it, a wasp gets caught in the web,

We it exhausts itself trying to break free...

and we can't forget about the robin's nest and 5 chirping babies...

and this is literally within a 10' foot area of my front porch.

So Wayne and George from the Bank and Eric from the Insurance company and I set out Friday afternoon for a round of gold at Woodloch Pines, quite a nice well-tended course.  We played for some money on the back 9.  I had a $45 exposure, and maxed that exposure out by the 18th, but then George and Wayne didn't collect (figure they already have enough of my money) which always makes me reflect on what's wrong with me, since I definitely would have collected if I was on top of the stroke/hole count.

Then Micah, son of Heather of Micro 4 fame and their french speaking friend from France and Lucas were out in the woods prior to going to the fair.

Then off to the fair, stopping first at the Poultry barn for some pedigreed roosters.  Don't believe the rumors that roosters just crow at the crack of dawn - from my experience, they crow all day long and they just get lucky that it coincides with morning time.

Lucas was doing the fair bare-chested.

Pigs in a Blanket.

Pig Pen.

3 shirtless boys hugging near the sheep barn.  Why, no one really knew.

2 cows resting.

Pig's Butt.

Goat and Sheep barn.

Llama area.  Learned that there are 2 types of llamas, defined by the genetic length of their hair.

Good rides for a small fair.  Lucas didn't meet the height requirement for most, though I argued his puffed out country curly hair put him over the limit.

Boys like their cars.

Not only great hats, but awesome license plates behind them.

Two dudes at the fair.

A sign that speaks for itself.

Poor puppies.  Seriously like 10 days of being manhandled by kids, dropped, squeezed, petted, pulled, etc...

3 boys and their dogs.

Back at home with Mr Big Hair (talk to his mom).

And the owner of Catskill Farms, way too sexy for his John Deere hat (I know, what an asshole!!)

Gotta get up early on Sunday, be in Bearsville outside of Woodstock by 11 to meet some prospective customers, then to Saugerties by 1 to meet some possible customers then back to my apartment I keep in Saugerties to watch the Bed Race down Partition Street, then meet up with the owner Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty for pizza around 5ish.  Got my deal closer Lucas in tow, so should be a real profitable Sunday afternoon.

Farmhouse 21, aka Arts & Crafts 2, is located in Saugerties NY, where we are building our 3rd and 4th homes in that area since last July.

Here's the annual bed race below on a main downtown street, just below my apartment.

Then over to Old Sawmill Road where we have a 1600 sq ft 3 bedroom 2 bath home on 3 acres.

Defined on the outside by the stone and tapered columns, and on the inside with an open floor plan and a super cool space serving as the dining room.

Using some salvaged wood right inside the front door.

The man-shed back behind the house.

Lot's of work being done last week on this house, with most of the interior going from the insulation phase to the paint stage in less than 6 days.

Then next door on 3.5 acres is Barn VI.  This is a hot house, an iteration of Barn V which was such a head-turner.  This week is this houses turn to be fluffed and flattered and fretted over and fondled.

I figure the Craftsman will be done in Mid-September, and it's for sale.  And the Barn should be rounding the final corner here at the end of September as well.

Well, just to make it real easy on those folks out there wish us harm and are always poking needles in Catskill Farms dolls, we went out and bought this real expensive, high-profile mailbox that catches your attention regardless of how distracted and driving you may be.

Below is our old big boy mailbox.

And here's our new one.

We've been taking bets on how long it would last before someone took a baseball bat to it, and have built up quite the kitty, with an under/over hovering around 30 days.  Gary over at Barn 3 has $20 on early September but I think it might fall before that.

Though, in all honesty, most of the nonsense we deal with up here in nowheresville comes from folks who would pee in their pants just thinking about doing something so 'crazy' so I tend to put my big money on a longer out date, hedged with a few dollars on tomorrow.  Of course it's not really fair that I can bait them like this, but hey, it is my blog, and it's also my mailbox (and my camera watching it).

So if you want in, let me know before it's too late.  $20 minimum, and you must provide an alibi if the mailbox falls on the date you predicted.

Happy weekend, a little humidity-free chill was in the air this morning. Hitting the links with the Jeff Bank prez and Senior Loan Officer in a few hours - first time out this year.

I had a nice visit with some prospective customers the other weekend and then in the mail I got this unexpectedly.  

The Lego set and Single Malt.  Now there's some class (unlike Brandi Merolla up in Narrowsburg).

Our architect Kevin and myself lent out our knowledge to Builder Magazine, a rag I think is one of the best national magazines on home-building trends, real estate and design.

Builder Magazine Design Article

Many of you will recognize this design trick since we probably used in your home if you built with us in the last 2 yrs and have a home smaller than 1400 sq ft.