Rip Van Winkle Bear Is Back!

Yeah but it is in English we can actually read.

.....

Dennis

Dotty!

Thanks for "classing up" this thread with your presence and the great insight of your comment!

Looking forward to seeing you at the DCS dinner next Wednesday night.

SmarterThanTheAverageBearBear

Bill,

Thanks, my friend!  I should've checked Ferrante's stock on line before asking you to do that for me.

Looks like I'll be drinking Erol's beers at York this time.

CryingInMyBeerBear

Wow, Norm! (and Dennis), I'm super-impressed that somebody on the Forum actually read Chaucer and compared my saga to the Canterbury Tales!  Chaucer and Beowulf cured me.  They caused me to change my major to broadcast journalism!

TheSagaContinuesBear

Now there's food for another story.  How did a dude majoring in "broadcast journalism" become a fighter pilot?

.....

Dennis

Bear,

Do you want the wine from San Sebastian's Winery? 

Episode 7:  The Bear fights back!

Off-screen narrator:  "When we left our forlorn and apparently defeated hero, he was seated at his office desk, staring blankly at a "contract termination notice" from the builder which seemed to have finally brought this gut-grinding saga to an unhappy end.  He seethed internally as he imagined someone else buying the house that he had put so much mental energy into, and over which he had taken such an emotionally tumultuous roller coaster ride during the past 8 months.  He gazed at the sales manager's signature, feeling utter contempt for the man's two-faced perfidy.  But the seed of an idea had started to sprout in his fertile mind....perhaps in the end, David could actually still defeat Goliath.  He knew it was a long shot, but it was the only avenue left other than abandoning his 7-year long dream by admitting defeat....and that would have been unthinkable."

After another sleepless night, I jumped into my car and headed to the Broomfield County courthouse.  In my briefcase was my copy of the 30-page purchase agreement that I had signed the previous June, and which was also signed by the builder's sales representative.  I strode into the clerk and recorder's office and paid the substantial fee to have the entire contract recorded against the title of Lot 11. 

My stomach churned.  I had never been in such a position before, but I knew that recording my contract would "cloud" the title and effectively stop the builder from selling "my house" to another buyer, at least for the moment.

I then raced to my office and wrote as restrained an email to the sales manager as I could muster.  As exquisitely as I knew how, I detailed for him what I thought of his character in polysyllabic but unmistakeably precise terms.  I then informed him that in light of what I considered "breach of contract" I had recorded my purchase agreement, effectively preventing him from marketing and selling the property to anyone but me, and included the recording number from Broomfield County Clerk in the event he wished to verify that I had done so.

Then I called my lawyer to see how much trouble I was in for recording the contract.  John was a good guy, on my side both professionally and emotionally.  He had already sparred with the builder on my behalf once before over the issue of increasing my deposit to cover the cost of my upgrades, a skirmish we had won.

I emailed John the contract to examine.  I already feared what he might tell me, but I had to go through the motions to make sure.  He called me a couple of hours later,

"Bear, you know that the deadline in the contract for financing expired a couple of months ago, right?"

"Yeah, John, I know."

"So, you know that if this ever goes to court, you'll lose?"

"Yep, I figured you'd say that.  But don't I get any latitude for the fact that it's their lender that has dragged this thing out?"

"Nope.  I wish I could tell you otherwise, but especially in this environment since the mortgage crash in '08, the courts are jealously protecting the discretion of lenders concerning loan approvals, even if they're 'in-house' lenders.  What the builder and his lender have done to you is wrong, even unconscionable, but it would cost more money than I think you have to win this on the legal merits in court."

"Can they sell the property to someone else as long as I have my contract recorded?"

"I wouldn't think so.  No title insurance company would insure over something like this, and nobody would buy a property or lend on it with this kind of a cloud on the title.  And despite how small the chances of your winning were, no buyer or title company would risk losing their substantial stake in the property."

"If we needed to, how long could we drag this out in the courts?"

"At least a couple or three years.  But if the builder gets mad enough, their attorneys might sue you for 'slander of title'.  And they might also reconsider their offer to give you back your earnest money."

"How likely is that?"

"Hard to say.  Depends on how mad the builder's management gets at you."

"So, if this went to court, an action for slander of title, and I call in the news media, you know, paint this as a big arrogant corporation with an incompetent mortgage company trying to crush a poor little guy like me....?"

"They would have to think twice about going there."

"Good, I'll make sure they know how PO'd I am and that I'm ready to take them down with me in flames in the news media if they decide push it."

John laughed at the sheer audacity of my plan.  Foolhardy as he thought it was, he said it still might work.  He warned me that I didn't have a lot of time.  He ended the conversation by admonishing me to work hard with my back channel buddy at the mortgage company to get the loan approved as quickly as possible so we could cut the corporate lawyers off at the pass.  Once we had loan approval, it would render the issues moot and make it easier for the builder to close with me rather than spinning their wheels and dragging things out even more.  I was up for revenge, but John and I figured the builder would just want to get me out of their hair while removing the sunken costs of the house on Lot 11 from their books by closing as quickly as possible.

After talking with John, I felt a little better, until I checked the multiple listing service website and saw "my house" already listed for sale with another local real estate broker!

To Be Continued....

The action!  The thrills!  The suspense!  This is by far, the most interesting thread of the year so far!

OnTheEdgeOfMySeatAndy

Thanks, Andy, and to think it's only peripherally related to trains!  What we won't do to get more room for the layout!

SagacizedBear

Episode 8:  The Roller Coaster Ride Continues....

(Writing this and reliving it is surprisingly almost as traumatic as experiencing it in the first place!  I'm worn out from it, but committed to finishing the story before leaving for York next week!)

Voice over from unseen narrator....

"When we last left our protagonist, he had just discovered that despite his quck thinking and legal maneuvering, the builder's on-site sales department had obviously decided that since they had finally disposed of this inconvenient little nuisance, they were now proceeding to sell the house out from under him!  Yet another crisis had raised its ugly head.  What was he to do?!"

I jumped into the car and sped over to the house.  Sure enough, there was a "for sale" sign in the middle of the freshly sodded front lawn!  The listing company was the standard one that the builder used to post their "inventory homes" in the multiple listing service (MLS) for a small fee.

Fortunately I knew the owner of this "mom and pop" brokerage and was on good terms with her.  She was an experienced professional and knew her stuff.

"Sarah, this is Bear Owen.  I just saw your sign in front of a new house on Quandary Loop."

"Hey, Bear!  Yes, it's a beautiful home with a lot of really gorgeous upgrades in it and a fabulous view."

"I know, Sarah, that's my house, I know all about it!

Stunned silence.

"Whaddya mean 'it's your house'?"

I quickly gave her the condensed "Cliff's Notes" version of the saga up to that point....and ending with, "So, this morning I recorded my contract and clouded the title.  I'm sure you had no clue about any of this feud between ******* and me when  they called you up listed it with you."

"Absolutely not!"

"....and I'm not telling you how to run your business, but I think you need to know about it so it can be disclosed to any other brokers who want to show the property to prospective buyers, maybe even put it in the 'broker's remarks' section of the MLS brochure?"

She was shocked.  She couldn't believe that the builder hadn't told her anything about the clouded title.

A couple of days later, the listing was withdrawn from the MLS!  I had dodged another bullet, or so I thought.  Confident that my deal was safe for the moment, I packed my bags and Jophie and I went to York to unwind for a week and see all of you.

While at York, I got several phone calls that forced me out of the Orange Hall, much to my consternation.  They were from the builder's mortgage company, again promising that if they could just have these three more documents, they would be ready to close in just a few more days.  Yeah, right.  I'd been hearing that for three months at that point, but I told them that as soon as I got back into town, I'd send them whatever they needed.

After York and the traditional associated events, we were in the boarding area at BWI preparing to fly back to Denver.  My cell phone rang.  It was my tenant, Norman, from our rental home a few blocks from Quandary Loop.  Norman and Judy had become close friends over the years of their tenancy, and were well aware of the "house saga".  I could tell from the tone of his voice that something was wrong.

"Bear, we drove by your new house to see how the finishing touches were going, and somebody from the sales office was showing it to a couple!  We knew that you would be concerned, so wanted to inform you right away!"

I was alarmed, but I told Norman not to worry about it, that I was on my way back to Denver and would straighten things out when I got back.  The news was like a fresh knife thrust to my already overworked solar plexus.  It worried me because it revealed that the sales staff had not been appropriately impressed with the recordation of my sales contract and were still trying to re-sell the house to another unsuspecting buyer.  I knew if they signed a contract with another party, things could get very messy in a hurry!

The next morning after we got back to Colorado, I emailed the builder's sales manager, yes, still the same low life who had signed the contract termination notice.  My message was scathing, to say the least, but civil.  I told him that I was aware that his sales staff was showing the property to other prospective buyers and by implication, representing it as free and clear, unencumbered by my recorded contract.  I made sure there was no ambiguity about the fact that I regarded my recorded contract as legally binding and enforceable (which expressed much more boldness than I was actually feeling at the time)  I told him that I was working my way through the final stages of obtaining loan approval and that if they signed a contract with another buyer, it would be a huge mistake on his part.  I blathered on about how I was committed to the purchase, that I had conditional loan approval (which was true but shaky), and that I would figuratively fight him and his employer to the death regardless of how much it cost, including the substantial balance (in the eye of the beholder) of my entire retirement savings investments.  I did my best to impress him with just how insanely angry I actually was!  I told him that I was prepared to tie up the property for years if that was what it took to get his blankety blank lender off its incompetent posterior and close my loan.  I related that I had carefully documented the errors, omissions, and countless incidents of egregious incompetence on the part of his in-house mortgage company, and that I was prepared to exhaust every legal remedy available to me to protect my right to complete the purchase of the property including tying it up in court for years if necessary!  My parting shot was a threat to go to a well known Denver television news reporter who specialized in exposing corporate overreach against "little guys like me" if they didn't back off in their attempt to find another buyer for "my house"!

Up to that point I hadn't rattled my sword much, because I knew I didn't have a strong enough case and didn't want to invite the builder to have their legal staff sue me for "slandering the title" by speciously recording my contract.  I knew that if they signed another sales contract with a third party, things might end up in court a lot faster than I had feared.  In fact, when I recorded my contract, I had done so in the hope of never going to court where I knew I would most likely lose the house, my earnest money, and end up paying a lot of legal fees to the enemy's attorneys!  Nevertheless, this was a crisis that demanded application of emergency procedures.  The builder's blatant attempt to find another buyer had forced me to go on the attack and now I was sabre rattling for all I was worth, hoping against hope that the corporate Goliath would not be too nimble on his feet while I danced around like the crazed mad dog which they by now had concluded that I was! 

I copied John, my attorney on every nasty and threatening email I sent to the builder's sales manager.  I was afraid to talk to him, but finally I called him to see how much of a mess I was making for myself.

"Whaddya think, John?"

"You've got some big ones, buddy."

"Is that good news or bad?"

"All I can tell you is that I've never seen anybody play such a weak hand so well!  I think you actually do have them convinced that you are just crazy enough to follow through on this!"

"That's all I needed to hear.  See you in court, Counselor!  Oops, no, that's not the purpose of this exercise.  Okay, let me rephrase that, let's hope we don't ever need to see each other in court."

My hope was that as a prestigious builder of geezer communities, their sales staff had never heard of anybody recording a contract to throw a monkey wrench into the works that could potentially tie up one of their properties in court for years.  Nevertheless I was worried that sooner or later their dozing legal staff might awaken and with some top down pressure from some regional manager in the builder's corporate heirarchy, start looking into how they might cook my goose before I could get loan approval, close, declare victory, move the wife and trains across town, and put the whole thing behind me!  Then all I would have left to do is figure out how to make the payments!

To be continued....

FrazzledAllOverAgainBear

Bear, I just came in from a days yard work, collapsed into my recliner for some easy reading, and found 2 updates. All this exciting reading, I'm waiting on the edge of my geezer chair for the next chapter!

Grrrrrrr.  I've been to a long funeral, a long reception afterwards, watched the Masters and the Tiger game to conclusion and come to my computer and find this saga still not over.  I'm getting a plane ticket and . . . . . 

.....

ImpatientDennis

Bear-  The usual great stuff - entertaining for all of us and we've been anxiously waiting for updates for just a matter of days.  I can't imaginge living through it over an extended period.

This story keeps bouncing around in my head and I just realized I don't think we're close to the end.  I mean I think we're close to the end of the house purchase saga, but I suspect there's a part 2 of significant note.

The timeline says there must be more than just a house purchase story.  Bear just dated us with a York reference.  That puts us at a point about a year ago.  I don't think Bear would be going into such great detail about the fight if he didn't win.  And I don't think it's possible to drag the purchase out more than another month or two from this point.  So I suspect Bear eventually bought the house in late spring/early summer of last year.

End of story, right?  Can't be.  Because right around the time I suspect Bear closed on the house, Bear disappeared from this forum.  Something else had to have happened.  Since he's back now and in apparent good spirits, I'm guessing (hoping) whatever happened after the house wasn't too bad.  But regardless, there's clearly a major sequel to this story...

Always turn and face the attack.

 

Make your decisions promptly. It is better to act quickly even though your tactics are not the best.

 

Never fly straight and level for more than 30 seconds in the combat area.

 

When diving to attack always leave a proportion of your formation above to act as top guard.

 

INITIATIVE, AGGRESSION, AIR DISCIPLINE, and TEAM WORK are the words that MEAN something in Air Fighting.

 

Go in quickly - Punch hard - Get out!

 

          - Sailor Malan

 

The ordinary air fighter is an extraordinary man and the extraordinary air fighter stands as one in a million among his fellows.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Why, oh why were these guys picking a fight with a fighter pilot?

I have the scenario:  He lost the house and his realtor's license, Jophie divorced him, and now he is working as a bellhop for tips in one of the ski resorts.

.....

Dennis

I also caught up tonight.   two updates at once is mind boggling, I will check more often  .  I do like the trick you had up your sleeve, but did not like the bugged you at York.   Looking forward to the next update.

routingfortheunderdogbear

Ah, RippingMyHeartOutBear, you're killing me here. Such angst, misery and what a roller coaster ride. I wish I had known about this earlier. It does, however, show you what descendants of Yankee owners (Del Webb was a major Yankee owner in the 50's) are prepared to do for a buck. Of course if they had retained ownership for another 50 years, they wouldn't have needed that buck.

Although I am not a licensed attorney in Colorado (and certainly NOT a licensed professional engineer), I am a believer in justice. Now I have some clients at the Hunts Point meat market. For those of you who are not familiar with Hunts Point, it is the major meat distribution center in the NY metro area. In fact, the movie Goodfellas was partially filmed at my client's business. And if you know anything about meat, you would realize that a lot of beef comes through Colorado. And a lot of VERY INTERESTING people hang out at the Hunts Point meat market.

That means that my clients deal with Colorado a lot. So I asked this little Jewish guy what happens when he has difficulties in Colorado. He looked at me with a quizzical look and said he didn't have any problems in Colorado. I asked him, how could that be? He said that he had some persuasive mouthpieces who went to Colorado when needed. I asked him which lawyers he used, and he just couldn't stop laughing at me. Without trying to be ethnically offensive, but certainly not being politically correct (and I never want ot be totally politically correct), he then explained to me the difference between an Italian and Sicilian. So, I'm guessing that Jophie isn't Sicilian. On the other hand, SurpriseHeresAFinishedHouseBear, maybe that's a VERY GOOD thing.

So if you want appropriate contact information, you will be buying the beer at York. Otherwise it is my pleasure. I do look forward to seeing you. Will you be in stripes or will you be WearingADottyPerryShirtBear? No other options permitted.

Gerry

BroDennis,

Your threat to buy a plane ticket and come out here after me would normally worry me some, after all you are a BIG guy!  But until I tell you the rest of the story, you wouldn't know for sure where to find me....the old house, the new house, or the Denver Rescue Mission!

Hang in there, buddy. 

Look at it this way, you liked "The Perils of Pauline" and were disappointed when it ended with the advent of summer vacation.  Then all you had to look forward to was the ol' swimming hole and autumn when "The Perils of Pauline" started a new season of re-runs that you had already seen the previous year!

StringingYouAlongForTheThrillOfItBear

MichMike,

You make some intriguing points of speculation about the story.  You might be Chief Inspector Holmes, or you might be Inspector Cleauseau!  You won't have to wait too much longer to find out which.

I appreciate your keen interest in the story.  It was a living H**L going through it.  Sometimes failure makes you stronger, if you survive.  Pat Marinari thinks my best tidbit is:  "It's not a perfect world."  I think because that's so obvious it's embarrassingly pedestrian.  So, I kinda prefer this anonymous quote in reference to Murphy's well known Law, "....and Murphy was an optimist!"

LivingProofOfMurphy'sLawBear

Ted Hikel wrote:  "Why, oh why were these guys picking a fight with a fighter pilot?"

Well, Ted, probably because, going in, they didn't know anything about fighter pilots, or maybe they were just plain stupid.  But the fighter pilot who survives to fly and fight another day, is one who never underestimates his enemy, and approaches the merge with circumspection.  I was watching them warily and sleeping with one eye open!

To your excellent posted points from air combat survivors of the past I would add....

Speed is life!

No matter how good the weapons system is, the manufacturer never made a rear view mirror big enough to my liking!

Never take a knife to a gun fight!

Pick your fights carefully.  If you aren't absolutely sure you can win, take a coffee break.  (paraphrasing the top scoring ace of history, Erich Hartmann, 352 confirmed kills, WWII)  "See, decide, attack, reverse."

None of this constellation of knowledge and experience, unfortunately, totally eliminates the role sheer dumb luck plays, both for and against you, the clueless pilot just happening to have an otherwise superior enemy unluckily drift into his sights!  Remember, in the history of air combat, the vast majority of all kills were "unobserved" meaning that the loser never saw his attacker!

In my case, I suspected that my adversaries still hadn't appreciated the tactical advantage that I tenuously held, which for the moment threatened to blunt their vastly superior corporate wealth and power.  Nevertheless, that didn't mean that if things didn't develop with the lender fairly quickly, the sleeping giant might finally awaken and crush me decisively!  The stakes for me were getting pretty high, but I was committed to seeing this thing through to victory or expensive defeat no matter what!

I knew if they made a contract for the house with another buyer, they would soon discover somewhat painfully when the title company delivered the commitment to the buyer that I had "clouded" the title making the property basically unsaleable to anybody but myself as long as my recorded contract was in place.  I figured that when that happened, it would trigger Armageddon for me, so I was bravely rattling my puny little sabre in order to get them to stop trying to sell the house to somebody else.  That would buy time until I could get my own loan approved and get to a closing.

BreathingHardJustRememberingItBear

BrotherGerry,

You had me laughing really hard as I read your most recent post!

Political correctness, R.I.P.!

Fortunately for me, Jophie's family, both sides, came from Northern Italy!  But, when I sprang my little surprise on her a year ago January, the words of my part-Sicilian neice were still ringing in my ears, "She's gonna kill you!"  I wasn't confidant at all about the outcome of that caper, just how well or how badly it was going to play out!  But, anticlimactically, you know that it did turn out well, at least that matrimonial part of the story, but there was a lot more trauma to go through as you have seen and will still see.

Del Webb is pulling out of Colorado, maybe because of their vexing experience with me!  So maybe I can start sleeping with both eyes closed at some point in the future.  Nonetheless, just in case, keep those guys' phone numbers in a safe place, I might still need to hire some "persuasvie mouthpieces" sometime.  When you live dangerously like I do, you just never know for sure when you might get yourself into another jam.  By the way, at my counsel's law firm, John's boss, and my personal and real estate attorney for 36 years is Italian too, the southern kind!

I'll buy the first beer!  You gave me a tough couple of choices about what I will be wearing to the OGRTGIF on Thursday at York, but since Dotty is such a sweetheart and Marty is such a gigantic Irish cop, I think you know what I'll be wearing as long as I can get a weekend pass from the Colorado Department of Corrections to go to York in the first place!

Size44LongBear

Hey BeCarefulThereBear. Two words:

Lorena Bobbitt.

Gerry

Episode 9:  Light At the End Of the Tunnel....Or Is It Just Another Onrushing Train?

Disembodied narrator's voice from off-screen...."When we last saw our hapless hero, he had become the mouse in that cartoon we've all seen of an eagle screaming down to snatch him up in its fearsome talons.  The mouse is making the last puny but courageous gesture of defiance in the face of swiftly approaching doom...."

Around the middle of May, I riffed off another icy scarlet letter email to the sales manager.  To my surprise I received an unexpectedly conciliatory reply!  It wasn't anything earth shattering, and I knew it could be a trick.  I wasn't about to let my guard down.  He intimated that maybe there were some "administrative inefficiencies" at the mortgage company and that he would look into it.

He wasn't doing this out of the milk of human kindness, not this spineless S*B.  By now he knew I must have accumulated enough written evidence of incompetence and possibly worse on the way the staff at the mortgage company had processed my loan....the broken promises, the lost documents, the miscommunications....to sink that ship with a couple of well placed emails to Federal officials or worse yet, the investigative media.  So, I figured he was just hedging his bets a little, maybe throw me off the trail.

What he didn't know was that because of my clandestine relationship with the new regional mortgage manager working feverishly behind the scenes to get my loan underwritten and ready to close, I wouldn't go to the Feds as long as they obtained my loan approval before I ended up in a lawsuit with the builder's side of the corporation.  My loyalty to my inside helper prevented me from playing that card as anything but a last resort. 

In the meantime, my mortgage guy did have some good news for me.  My decision not to lock my loan rate several times during the endless months of processing had been a good one.  The interest rate had dropped another half percent.  Considering the rate of inflation and massive deficit spending at the national level, if they could get me through underwriting, I was going to be buying this house with virtually "free money"!  Adding to that was the fact that the builder was paying all my closing costs, about $20 grand in round numbers.  If this nightmare ever came to an end at a closing table, I would be doing okay for myself!

Warily, I started thinking that despite my self-protective pessimism, maybe this might happen after all and that maybe, just maybe, I wasn't going to have to take myself and the builder down in flames together in court.  But, like a rat that's had his tail stepped on one too many times, I was still not ready to trust any of these guys.  Nevertheless, I was starting to feel enough fledgling confidence to talk to a custom cabinet maker about installing built-ins before we moved into the new house if I could pull this miracle off!

To be continued....

I have reading this whole episode from your first post. I'm not sure i could have done what you did but I am glad to see somebody stand up to these type of people. 

Can't wait for the final post, this is a great read. Much better then some books I have read. 

Keep doing it Bear,

Dave

YorkIsGettingAwfulCloseBear!

Are we ever going to get to the end of this story???

Sure Bill.  I think the final episode is scheduled to air at 6pm Eastern (5 Central and Mountain) during the OGR Network's coverage of the DCS User Group Meeting!  I'm not sure how they're going to have to title this program.  Look on your TV Guide schedule for either Law & Odrer SRU: Special Realty Unit, or The Bears of Our Lives. 

Can't wait for the exciting conclusion Bear.  I hope there's a lovely photo of a natural backdrop for your next layout that will be posted with the final installment.  It's very difficult to paint realistic clouds and mountains on cinder blocks and iron bars!

Interesting updates.  Would to see the builder have to give you the keys.  Will Bear prevail or get another curve ball.   Looking forward to the next update.

OnlyafewhoursuntilYork

Hooray, Bear, and congrats on your new home. A great view  of the Rockies, a home to satisfy the Mrs., and a huge train room to boot!

Now, pack for York. You've a huge task ahead, enjoyable though it may be, to build a layout to rival Pat's. however, as your Quandry Tale tells, you can accomplish whatever you put you mind to.

Looking forward to see you this week in the Orange hall!

again, congrats!

CONGRATULATIONS !!!

Now you are BUILD*A*BEAR. I keep taking my grandchildren to those stores and they keep sucking out my money.

Gerry

From my brief visit to the layout room with a nice house on top, I can say that this ordeal appears to have been worth every bit of Bear's angst and worry. 

The house is gorgeous, the view is spectacular, the train room is perfect and Jophie is obviously proud and excited about "her" new house.  I must add that this guy is such an incredible writer that i found myself checking here a few times a day, anxiously awaiting the next installment, even though I knew the whole story.

Jim:

Bear will have no problem surpassing my layout, I'm, hoping to read stories here about the perils, pitfalls, and joys of the construction process.  Oh, and i hope the process starts very soon.

Congratulations!!   Time to start building your layout. 

WaitingtoseepicturesofBearslayout

Can't wait to see the pictures. Great story.

thanks for a great story have really enjoyed the reading, my daughter and her husband are leaving to day  to visit her inlaws whom purchase another place near pikes peak, they will be driving from n.h. I have a feeling that they will at some time move out there, if so i will tell them about the great real estate (bear). 

Yea. Do I see a Victory roll!

Bear, My sister-in-law is visiting from Oklahoma City. Her and her husband are commercial realtors. I am in the process of printing out your escapades for them to read. I am sure they will get a kick out of it. See you at York.

Thanks to all of you who've hung on to this point of the story.  Unfortunately for you loyal matinee attendees, there's more!  I certainly don't blame those who dropped off along the way (so where is Erol?)  Despite the therapeutic benefits of lying on the couch spilling my guts with my keyboard in my lap, I almost couldn't endure reliving and writing it, so I can imagine how little fun it was to wallow through it with me.  But hey, daytime radio and television survived for 75 years on soap operas!  To those who just couldn't stomach it, I almost couldn't either!  Absolution granted!

Jim,

Thanks very much for your enduring interest and moral support.  As you will see, although probably anticlimactic at this point, there is more to tell, perhaps an epilogue installment or two?  Remember, I said last Thursday at 4:30 PM, MDT, a climactic event in the saga was about to take place?  Well, that too will be revealed in order to satisfy any residual curiosity about all this that you might inexplicably have left! 

As far as "rivaling Pat's layout" is concerned, that will never happen.  There is within my mix of pathetic creative and mechanical skills and abilities, there is nothing except landing a 747 or DC-10 well, at which I could humbly match mine with Pat's.  He is the consummate designer, craftsman, innovator, mechanical genius, and archetype of self motivation and skill.  There's absolutely no chance that my layout will rival anything Pat has ever put his mind to, model railroading-related or otherwise!  Privileged as I am to have learned anything at the feet of the master, I humbly hope that some of the lessons learned at the Hodgson Valley layout, and in Pat's incredible workshop, will translate into something of unapologetic plagiarism on my own dream layout! 

The only aspect that my future layout could rival Pat and Jean's in, is size.  And unlike other facets of human folly, in model railroading it's not size that matters, but quality of scenery, track plan, operability, reliability, and overall fidelity to theme.  In comparison to the Marinaris' Hodgson Valley, there's no contest unless I hit the Power Ball jackpot and hire Dave and Ted Hikel to build the layout!  Then, I might give them a run for their money!

Chris and Spence,

Thanks for your perseverance!

Building a layout has many phases, but the first one can be put behind me now as long as I can afford the monthly payments, the procurement of the space!  Now the blank canvas is on the easel awaiting the first brush strokes, the vast ceiling is ready for the installation of the endless array of lighting it will take to create the Hikel brother's vision of "Light-O-Rama", and the sawdust still awaits liberation from the lumber.  Let's see if I can translate a still hazily out of focus image of model railroading daydreams into a "brick and mortar" reality!  I promise to let you see it progress in my race against the Grim Reaper to get it completed and begin enjoying it before I kick the bucket!

I plan to photo-document the project from bare-walled (or is it "Bear-walled?) basement to completion with the thought of writing articles for OGR or even a book in the genre of Howard Zane's fabulous "My Life With Model Trains". 

I've always believed that for me at least, an essential aspect of model railroading is still photography.  Since most of us can't hope to animate all the people, animals, and motor vehicles on our miniature empires, (possible exception:  The Hikels) still photography, ironically, is the only way to "bring the thing to life".  Otherwise, the trains move, and everything else is unrealistically frozen in mid-gesture as if a neutron bomb had just gone off!  So, I look forward to creating my own John Allen-like photographic world, themed differently, but portrayed like his Gorre and Daphetid with a good still camera as an irreplaceable part of the hobby for me.  Add to that, prototypical operations with my pals, of course, and maybe it can be a "perfect world" at least a 1:48 version of it!  (Sorry, Bill Bramlage, I ain't no 'loop runner')

I've visited some world-class and famous scale fully scenicked "toy train" layouts to learn what aspects of them I want to incorporate into my own....Tony Lash, Pat and Jean Marinari, Phil Klopp, John Shankland, David and Diane Gahagen, and Peter Hambling's Northwest Trunk Lines (Dave and Ted Hikel, builders) to name a few.  There are a few more I want to see before I cut the first lumber, and so forewarned is forearmed!

Pat, as usual, I am humbled by your kind words.  One of the greatest blessings in my life is being able to count you and Jean as our friends!  I owe much to the OGR Forum for introducing us to each other.  The Forum has enriched all of our lives in countless ways, but none of them as much as bringing us together as lifelong friends.  Jophie, Sharon, Joe and I can't wait to see you and the Gaineses on  Wednesday, only two days away, and start enjoying our York time with our mutual train goober pals!

B&M Fan,

If your kids decide to move out here, I know a good Realtor!

Don,

If somebody would lend me a flyable F-4 for an hour or two, I would gladly oblige, right over the sales office and in full afterburner!

More to come....

ShovelingAnotherAprilSnowOffTheWalksBear

I have enjoyed the story.

Score one for Bear.  Good to see you got the house.

Bear,

I have been following with keen interest.

While you are a memorable character in life, the varieties of "Bears" in written word have been most entertaining. And at a good time, too! The week preceeding York almost always seems to crawl by. Thanks for letting us in on the first chapters of your memorable adventure>

Stop by and see us at Vince's in the Orange Hall, Friday and Saturday.

Thursday is "take you train-nut grandson to YORK DAY" and Chase and I will be scouring the fairgrounds instead of working!