Yerington, Future Ghost Town

Today we went out to look around Yerington as a possible place to live. I remembered it from years ago as a cute, small community tucked back out of the way.

It still is today, but since the HUGE, old, open-pit abandoned copper mine got designated a SuperFund cleanup site years ago, Yerington has been slowly dying since then. It's a shame too, since it was a lovely valley with agriculture all around--mostly cattle and alfalfa fields. It struck us as so odd the day we were there, and the home prices so low, that we checked it out online.

Wow. Literally every superbad, toxic thing you can think of is polluting Yerington. Right down to about 6 different kinds of radioactive horrors. It's in the ground, water and air. They even have to have bottled water shipped in for some of the residents.

Move there with a 12 year old child? Thank you, NO.

But our trip there wasn't entirely wasted, we got to see the town in it's not-so-arrested decay and the few people still there, and at least it gave us information on where NOT to look for a home.

The city water tanks...

The old drive-in...

One of the doors of the concession stand was kicked open, we didn't go in but I stuck the camera in and snapped a couple of pics. My guess on the age of the popcorn maker and freezer unit would be about mid-1960's.

Further into town was this awesome old abandoned brick building with two old gas pumps still standing--we were astounded some jerk hadn't made off with them yet.

People had even carved their names into the old, soft brick on the front of the buil--

HEY! Now that's just plain uncalled for.

We were puttering around, checking out this cool old building and telling the kid how the old gas pumps worked (marveling at 49 cents a gallon), when a man in the little park across the street called out to us, "Don't forget to check out the lady in the window!"

Huh? We looked up. And damned if there wasn't a lady in the window!

She is a happy accident, formed by the way the window broke. Very cool!

The corner sidewalk, still with it's street name inlaid.

We wave our thanks to the man and continue down the street.

Nothing on this old place is square anymore.

The last thing we see is one of those houses where the people have created weird and wonderful yard art. I can't decide if I like SpiderTurkey or RailroadDeadGhostCow best.

All in all, a fun day, even though it left us sad for Yerington.

Some Things Defy Explanation...

...in a rational, sane universe, anyway.

Like the tile we saw in the kitchen of the last house we toured--I've formed the hypothesis that the previous owners lost a bar bet. What else could explain not only the color of this tile, but the wooden edging, complete with little buttons to knock loose, never to be seen again? Wood edging, on a kitchen counter?

It's like they skipped off to the hardware store and chirped, "We'd like to see the tile that looks like dried vomit, please!"

It doesn't get any better up close.

Nasty. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the 70's era was a time of cultural tastelessness throughout America. Despite the kitchen tile the rest of the home is lovely and we've made an offer on it. Luckily for me I both own a hammer and know how to lay tile.

Yikes...

More house-hunting photo treasures...this time the World's Scariest Bathroom!

This, mind you, was the master bathroom. Nice...

The turquoise toilet (and it's matching sink) was vintage 1950's and actually kinda cool--but needed a new seat, obviously. The shower and it's mold garden was also vintage and a right horror. Why the previous owners had chosen to lay nice slate tile on the floor yet LEAVE everything else is a mystery.

And I cannot explain the weird water shut-offs just outside the shower nor the odd wasted space they occupy.

SNOW! Well, Yeah, But...Also, Nature's Caltrops!

So we had our first snowstorm of the year the other day, the kid was all excited about it for two days beforehand. Despite us telling her it wouldn't get down to our elevation, she was hopeful...

She asked if we could 'walk up to the snow' and we had to gently tell her that no, that snow was about 2000 feet higher than where we were standing, and we weren't hiking up there today. Patience, grasshopper, soon there will be PLENTY of snow to play in.

What's that creeping up onto my porch...?

We've done some house hunting in the last couple of weeks, and THESE damned things...Bullheads...are everywhere up here. The plant in the pictures was only one of many crawling it's way towards the house we were touring. Anyone with any sense HATES the damned things like nothing else. Go barefoot just once outside and you are in for a howling good time. Because they never, NEVER lie flat and harmless--they always have at least one or two points sticking up, and they are virtually uncrushable when you stomp on them. They don't do the decent thing that plants are supposed to do and rot over time, either. Like cockroaches, they never die.

A close-up of Nature's Caltrops!

What makes them extra-nasty is that they embed themselves in your shoes so that they get tracked into the house, where they then hook into the carpet, coming OFF your shoe...and later, after you shower and are padding around barefoot with bare feet tenderized by soaking in hot water....you find them.

I may start a public service of 'Bullhead Removal Via Flamethrower'. Hell, I could Tom Sawyer it up and charge people for the privilege of torching the damned things themselves.

It's A Perk!

We stopped by Gargantua (which seems to have become the official name for the giant gray house for now) yesterday to tour the back yard better and discuss the pros and cons of buying it.

While we were walking the yard I saw this...showing the pics we took to my daughter just now I told her, 'It even has a pool!' and brought up this pic:

Cue KidGlare and a muttered, 'That's not funny, mom.'

Yes it damned well was.

Uh...

During our house hunt today, I found this painted on the hallway of one of the homes.

I don't know, either.

Touring The Washoe Valley

Today we went for a drive to see what the Washoe Valley area was like since we've seen some property listings we like. We skirted both sides of Washoe Lake. One side is up against the mountains and features lots of towering pines, blue jays and chunks of granite--very 'Lake Tahoe'. The other side is more flat and has more sagebrush, elms, magpies and cottonwoods. Both were pretty and nice homes.

Although sadly, it isn't on the market, this old farmhouse-church building right next to highway 395 sure caught our eye. I would LOVE to live here...

Wow, the Bowers Mansion sure has seen better days.

Just kidding, here is the real mansion:

It's lovely and has a very nice, large, shady park surrounding it. When we stopped by the local sheriff's jailhouse crew was working on the grounds, a happy group of guys in old-fashioned striped jail-issue outfits. I guess if you have to do service like that there are lots of worse places to work!

The old log cabin we didn't have time to stop and check out properly, but we will soon. It was an honest to God log cabin with a well-constructed stone fireplace & chimney--whoever built it knew how to make a log cabin.

We found two of the houses on our short list of possibilities, one was occupied so we just looked at it from the street, the other--a two story clapboard farmhouse with a picket fence was vacant so we were able to walk all around it. The inside of it has been updated and is very nice, but the outside needs paint, landscaping and TLC. The area is very rural but has neighbors close enough so there should be playmates for the kid.

But damn, it was JUST the kind of place I love. Gotta get the realtor to let us in to look it over!