Its almost 1 pm here in the beautiful town of Wenatchee, WA., and we are all so very greatful for finally getting the summer heat that we so enjoy and wait for.  Our last snow storm was in April, yes APRIL!!!  This of course reeked havoc, with our area farmers.  Many orchardists lost their cherry crops, such a heart-break, I have several Ag clients from my past life as a banker, that each year I worry about, sweat over, and say prayers for as I read the forecast, and listen to the Farm Bureau Reports.....sure enough, one of my longtime farmers was devastated. sigh  Such a hard life as a farmer, but so satisfying at times.

I realized it had been over an entire year since I had visited, and posted any of my thoughts, I actually do have thoughts on occasion, but haven't shared them.  Most recent drama in family circle, included middle daughter and her family lost their home and all belongings in a house fire about 6 weeks ago. Flames and horrific sound of fire "whirring" through the walls woke her up, she jabbed Dan, ran down hallway, and jerked her 8 yr. old son awake, ran to baby's room, actually physically kicked out the window, and crawled out, followed by son, baby handed by Dan, and then he exitted.  Scary fact was Fire Chief said about 5 more minutes it would have been truly tragic.  Good news is everyone is safe!!  Oh, did you know stainless steel refrigerators can melt?

Things are starting to move a bit more in the RE market here; alot of borrowers are either too scared to take that jump into homeownership, or step-up to the next level. we currently have impressive inventory of homes in all price ranges, and things are picking up, kinda' has a domino affect; am keeping my waiting clients informed of rate changes, as well as lending guideline changes that have affected all of us in the lending arena.  It's back to basic 3 C's of credit, which it should have been all along remember I am a long time banker at heart.  All the shifting, and credit issued will eventually be addressed, and our RE market will come back as strong as ever.  Actually, we here in Washington State have been protected from the majority of crisis' experienced by other areas, again, due to our beautiful area.  Well, gotta go, I'm hungry.

Take care.