Top O' the Season to you & yours... - 12/24/11 07:30 PM
To all my ActiveRain friends - always good visiting with you from time to time here in the Rain. Let's work for an improvement to our market in 2012.For EVERYBODY'S sake.
From Lisa & I to you and yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and may 2012 be your best year ever (or at least a close 2nd). Trout Lake, CO... and just for giggles - here's a pic of me in 1957. I'm the little fella being held up in the truck. Back then Telluride CO was just a little mining town with maybe 450 hardy souls. On Christmas Day … (2 comments)

Keystone XL Pipeline - Can somebody please explain the protest? - 12/19/11 07:27 PM
I am genuinely perplexed and am hoping someone here can help me out. I've been reading about this Keystone XL pipeline that's got everybody atwitter. As I understand it, the Canadians are going to extract oil from sand in their own country. Their first offer was to ship it to our country via pipeline crossing several states (many of which already have oil refining/transport facilities in place) to reach refineries in the mid-west and/or the Gulf Coast. Have I got that right?
Doing this would reduce our dependence on foreign oil imported from countries that don't like us much to begin with and can … (22 comments)

Hand-crafted Heart Shapes Boxes for your holiday treasure. - 12/09/11 05:41 PM
Dane Wunderlich here - the less seasoned member of the team, with a special holiday offer for our ActiveRain family. After a hectic day helping buyers and sellers, I like to unwind by doing a little woodworking. Last year, being mostly broke, I made some heart shape boxes for family members. Their friends saw them and I ended up getting a lot of requests for more. So this year I've amped up my production during this slow real estate season to make a selection of custom wood boxes that are selling pretty well. The push to buy local, to buy custom, … (2 comments)

Another Extinct Species - Moderates in Politics. - 12/07/11 04:57 PM
 
Up in Sacramento, our state capitol, there's a great little restaurant about 2 blocks from the Capitol called Frank Fat's. It's been there since 1939 and over the decades it's earned the sobriquet 'The Third House' because it was a popular gathering place for legislators, lobbyists and governors - along with California's business and financial leaders. It's been said that more successful legislation has been concluded over a dish of Honey Walnut Prawns at Fat's than was ever conducted up the street. Tales of politicians from opposite sides of the aisle fighting like cats and dogs during the day resolving … (12 comments)

Too big to fail? Or just too big to nail? - 12/07/11 03:34 PM
The four biggest banks in the country now control 62% of all bank assets in this country, up from 54% five years ago when housing/banking troubles started. According to the Wall Street Journal, 
JP Morgan/Chase assets have increased from $1.3 trillion to $2.3 trillion  Bank of America has grown from $1.4 to $2.2 trillion  Citibank has edged up from $1.8 to $1.9 trillion  Wells Fargo has gone from $.5 to $1.3 trillion  During the same five year period, housing prices have tumbled by 50% or more in some markets and home sales, job growth and consumer confidence continue to stagnate across the … (8 comments)

Occupoo LA? Musings and advice from the 98% - 12/01/11 02:29 PM
As I watched and read the news accounts of the recent breakdown of the Occupy camps in New York and Los Angeles, I couldn't help but recall a little sticker I kept on my bookcase for years - a memento of a Grateful Dead weekend in 1987 that read - "Deadheads Leave Only Footprints". For that event, some 15,000 Deadheads descended on Telluride Colorado, population (at the time), less than 1,000. Locals marveled when the horde migrated on to the next venue after a week that they left the landscape nearly as pristine as when they arrived, and in some cases, … (4 comments)