Our House

No, we don't live here, although we wish we could. This is our famed cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, around 1970 (old picture, no-one really drives those cars anymore). It has wonderful qualities to it, and we suspect it'll last for a century or more, due to its sturdy construction. We put a new tin roof on the top, and a lot of the younger trees have grown up around it (you cannot view this angle of the cabin anymore due to the growth).

We, as a family, are planning on putting in a sauna somewhere on the grounds, as well as a hidden memorial to the 2nd generation of Van Ripers (my grandfather, and his siblings), who all recently passed away. The grounds have never been touched by lumbermen, and appears as it would have had civilization never industrialized. We have an interesting species of carnivorous plant (the Sundew), several fascinating species of mushrooms, deer, the occasional moose, lynx, bear, and several other forms of wildlife living on the land.

The cabin pictured above has no indoor plumbing, except for a hand pump that loses its prime pretty easily. One may use the outhouse or a 'thunder-bucket' if one needs to relieve one's self. It also has no electricity except what you bring by way of batteries. We do have a refrigerator, oven/stove unit, and light burners all powered by gas, which we have hauled in occasionally as we need it. These and the fireplace form the only amenities.

The house we really live in is a far worse dwelling, filled with mice, birds and other vermin, swarming with mosquitoes, teeming with various forms of pestilence while giving us a wonderful panoramic sound of airplanes lighting upon fluffy clouds.

Incidentally, the owners of this house (obviously not the cabin pictured above, but the place we're living in) are trying to sell it. If you're in the market for a house, and you don't mind shelling out about $104,000 for this fine bit of property, let us know and we'll pass on a phone number or somesuch to you. If you truly have an interest in buying this house, it's actually a wonderful place, with a beautiful skylight in one room, excellent air-conditioning that only needs to be recharged with freon once a year, and a well-crafted ventilation system that allows you to experience the day's climate from within the house rather than having to go outside. It's an fine buy for the money, which is why we won't buy it ourselves.

Hmm... perhaps I should stick to computer programming and leave realty sales to the realty people.