This charming Tudor Style home will be open for the first time on Sunday

22, 209  3-5 pm. Ottawa Hills, in Grand Rapids has been a wonderful

neighborhood to live in Grand Rapids since the 1930's. 

 and  a fireplace in the living room for warm, crackling fires for the holidays

and into winter's cold, snowy evenings.  It alos has a sunroom, a large kitchen,

half bath off the back entry.  A two stall garage, a backyard deck, and an attic

for storage or future expansion. and

1407 Alexander SE                                                     Listed at $129,900

                VIDEO LINK

There is a new neighbor coming in the fall of 2010: a new Christian Elementary School.

If you lived in this home, your children could walk to school,it is less than a block away.

Grand Rapids Christian School Under Construction in Ottawa Hills 

I took 2 hours for a sight seeing trip while in San Diego to walk through

 USS Midway Museum, which was just a short walk from my hotel. I took a few

photos of the flight deck, control tower and views around the harbor. Hope you

enjoy this brief tour. 

I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to see how our Navy crews lived through

WWII, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.

 In the Vietnam War, I flew Helicopters for the 155th Army Air Corps.  The Vietnam

workhorse Huey helicopter, one very similar to what I flew back in 1970 was on

 the flight deck. During the Vietnam War, I'm sure the USS Midway provided air

cover for several of the Missions I was involved in while serving.

                   The runway and conning tower of the United States' longest

                   serving carrier in the 20th century.

It was fascinating to learn that this ship burned 260 gallons of oil for every mile

and carried a 3.4 million gallon fuel capacity.  The new carriers are powered by a 

Nuclear reactor, so refueling isn't a problem anymore. 

Another trivia tidbit that awed me - the USS Midway served 10 tons of food daily

to the crew of 4500.  3000 potatoes and 1000 loaves of bread served daily.

And 500 pies were served when offered. 

                  A Slide show of all my USS Midway photos can be seen here.

Would your kindergartener come home and ask for a bowl of cereal

in Mandarin Chinese?  If you live in the Forest Hills School System

in Grand Rapids Michigan, this isn't as far fetched as it sounds.

The Meadowbrook Elementary School is home to the Forest Hills

Chinese Immersion Program.  This program is the first of its kind in

West Michigan.  The program just received a Federal Grant of $238,000

for the first year.  If all program objectives are met, it will receive

additional funds for the next 2 years. 

Leaders in Forest Hills educational community decided to add Mandarin

Chinese Immersion to their bilingual offerings with the assistance

of Michigan State University's Confucius Institute.  Currently 2

Chinese teachers are  on the school faculty to give students in

the program an early start in bilingual education.

The Forest Hills District is continuing to expand Mandarin language

courses at middle and high school levels.  With 55 percent of the

world's population speculated to be from Asia in the year 2025 and

5 percent from North America, being fluent in Chinese will be a real

asset in the future business world.

Forest Hills also has a Spanish Immersion Program running at the

Ada Vista Elementary School.

Front doors are the first impression that visitors and passersby get of your home. 

 We all make instant judgments about a home's interior when we see the front door,

just like we do about a person we first meet.  If you want to make a good first

impression, you should make sure your front door is attractive and welcoming.

I have a fascination with front doors.  I  drive by homes and look at the front door

or front entry.  I love to see a home with a touch of personality or a piece of artwork

displayed by the front  door that lets me know a little bit more about them.  

Do they like animals?  Are they proud of their home? Does everything appear to be

in good repair?

This front door reminds me of castle. I saw several doorways similar to

this in England inside castle walls.

Holidays and seasonal decorating are especially fruitful for my voyeuristic entertainment. 

 I especially like the his and hers well-dressed scarecrows guarding this front door.

For all of you that are not attending the NAR Convention in San Diego a little

peak at one of the Hot Topics. NAR has announced a new web site to

assist home Owners. It is still in Beta but you might like to check it out:

You care about your home. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® cares

about home ownership. To help you become the best, most responsible homeowner

 you aspire to be, we want to provide you with free information and tools you can

use to make smart and timely decisions about your home. 

Have fun and give me some feedback.   I'll pass your comments on to the group

that developed it.      

We attended Rebar Camp in Indianapolis on November 2nd. We had a wonderful

time, met some great people, and got all juiced up on Social Media. Seriously,

if you have the opportunity to attend one of these free seminars, you really should

take advantage of it.  Some of the best and brightest talents on the web were

presenters.  Plus you get the input of everyone attending, so it is a very intelligent,

knowledgeable crowd with expertise in many areas. 

Here are few photos of our groups soaking up the information:

 We want to thank the Indianapolis hosts and planners for being so welcoming and

sharing their Rebar Camp experience with us.

Thank you - Lola MacIntyre, Dave Woodson, & Harrison Painter

Cascade Hospital for Animals is holding a canine blood drive on Saturday,

November 14th, 2009 from 10am to 5 pm at their facility, 6730 Cascade

Road SE, Grand Rapids Michigan.

Blood donation is a simple procedure, taking less than 30 minutes, and does

 not require anesthesia or sedation. Dogs must be healthy, friendly,

50 pounds or over, between one and six years old. parasite free, current

 on vaccinations, have no heart murmur, and not taking the following

medications: thyroid, Phenobarbital, NSAIDS, steroid therapy, or allergy

 injections.

If accepted for the donation drive, the pet will receive approximately

$235 worth of blood work performed free.

 If interested, call 949-0960 or mail chfa@chfa.net.

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We enjoy autumn in Michigan, it is one of our favorite seasons. The fall colors, the

 crisp fall air, football games, crisp crunchy apples are just a few of the wonderful

things about fall in Michigan.

 While the autumn colors on the trees are a thing of beauty, they quickly become

a much detested chore to clean up.  Raking leaves on a beautiful fall day

 is fun for about 30 minutes. On a blustery cold, rainy day, it is a miserable

chore, a never ending job to complete.  The leaves fall like rain, and will

take a few days to 2 weeks to completely leave the trees.

If you live in the city of East Grand Rapids, Michigan, this isn't such a chore because the

 city takes away your leaves for you.  All you have to do is get them to the curb. 

As you can see in these photos of a few streets in East Grand Rapids, many

 leaves are at the curb, ready to be picked up and composted.

According to NAR's [National Association of Realtors] latest figures,

 Did You Know: November 6, 2009, the increase in single owner households is

on the rise.  They attribute it to baby-boomers that are widowed but staying

in their home.  There has been an increase in single women purchasing homes,

 per NAR's stats, almost one-quarter of first time home buyers were single

females who purchased their first home on a median income of $47,400.

                      Click on photo to see flyer

The national average for single occupant households is 28%.  This figure

is likely to rise after the results of the 2010 census is revealed in January.

This trend is good news for the small bungalows and ranch homes built

after World War II that are on the market today.  We have found that

condos and townhouses have great appeal to the single buyer, too.

It used to be unusual for people to live alone but is much more

accepted as the norm today.

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Roselle Park in Ada Michigan along the Grand River is  247 acre park that is

a dedicated Natural Habitat Refuge.  On a rainy Saturday a few weeks

ago, we stopped and took  a few photos.  It was cold and windy but

the fall colors were great.  We walked on one of the trails along the Grand

River. A very peaceful place to visit. Dogs on leashes are welcome.

 These silos were left from the previous owner of the property. The one with

the stars on top has been made into a 9 story observation tower. 

This stone states that Roselle park is dedicated the people of Ada Township

 View from the observation tower toward the Grand River

 On the walking trail along the river.

The Grand River, the longest river in Michigan. It starts near Hillsdale MI and

winds it's way north then west, eventually emptying into Lake Michigan.

This spot is just north of the confluence of the Thornapple River at Ada MI.

Roselle Park Nature Preserve on the Grand River

Roselle Park Flood Stage Spring 2009 Video

Roselle Park Photos