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Not too much going on to report. I’m being kept busy with work and other non-farm things, like watching the stock market defy gravity as real estate and credit sinks into oblivion. I read the other day that sales in the Chicago housing market have been going downhill for the last 17 months. Prices haven’t slipped too much, but sales activity has really dried up. Soon enough, prices will slip, too. Why do I mention this? Because we sold our house in Chicago about 17.5 months ago. I mention this so that you realize that I am a crazy genius and do not doubt any of my other predictions, methods, casual observations, or pithy exaggerations. I’d already experienced the dot-com bubble first hand, so I understood a real estate bubble when I saw one. I’m not sure what the next bubble will be, but I doubt it will involve Highland cattle, chantecleur chickens, or Allegan area real estate.

I also mention this because without a giant real estate bubble, I couldn’t have done what I did. Those of you hoping to move to the shticks, rehab an old farmhouse, equip a farm, and do so with little debt are going to have a much harder time now that the housing bubble has burst. For awhile, if you drove by a Countrywide mortgage office with the window down, they’d throw a mortgage into your car. Those days are gone. Now, if you want to move out to the country and take a massive pay cut, you’ll have to find some schmo who can actually qualify for a mortgage to buy your existing place in the city. (Aside: The spell checker actually had the word schmo in it. Who knew?) That’s going to make your urban to rural transition a bit tougher. This isn’t to say it’s impossible, but consider digging up a rich uncle if you can.

I’ll have to develop this train of thought some other time though. I’m heading down to South Bend this weekend to visit a couple friends of mine. One is my wandering comedian pal, Costaki Economopoulos, who’s name the spell checker likes intensely. The other is my friend Chris, a historian at Notre Dame. Hijinks should ensue. It sounds like a bad joke: a professor, a comedian and a rancher meet in a bar.

While I’m drinking Stella Artois and watching ND get pounded at some sports bar (I’ll be at a sports bar, ND is away), go over to thehousingbubbleblog.com and read up. Considering how much of the economy has been driven by home construction, home equity loans, and easy money, think about what that might mean for you and/or the millions of Baby Boomers who were counting on rising real estate prices to pay for their retirement. You might want a drink yourself afterward.

The Allegan Co. Fair has come and gone and the St. Joe County Fair (in Centreville) is winding down. Our two bulls, Thor and Thorndale, did fairly well at the Centreville show, taking two firsts and a third. My “winnings” almost paid for the entry fee and a day at the fair with Max. We had fun and are getting to know people in the area. I’m hoping to sell Thorndale, so its good for people to get to know me and my animals.

With the fairs over though, its time to get back to work. Cath is running back to our other home base (Chicago) for a Cubs game this weekend. The kids and I are picking up a chest freezer for all those turkeys, attending an auction to try and score a tabletop chicken plucker, playing soccer, moving the TV, and cutting firewood at the neighbors. Hmmm…who got the better end of THAT deal?

At least the weather is nice. We’re getting the last of the summer weather – mid 80s all weekend. I expect it to turn for good in a week or two. Then, I’ll hope I’m done with firewood for a very long time! Our friends Matt and Julie were up for the fair – with at least one of them thoroughly enjoying the Demolition Derby – but not enjoying last weekend’s frost warning. Silly Chicagoans! They wanted to camp out and got caught in the first fall weather. No one froze and the kids had a great time. I need to get Julie back up here to figure out what to do about my old apple trees though. Maybe we can bribe her with something.

It’d have to be a good bribe though. She and Matt brought Cath and I some serious Shwerma from Haifa Cafe in downtown Chicago. Ahh… Shwerma. Any day I can work on a pickup truck, have Shwerma for lunch, coach a soccer game and then watch ‘72 Cadillacs smash into each other is a good day in my book!

The county fair starts tomorrow and with it a stretch of weekends in which I am insanely booked. My birthday, another cattle show, fair stuff, a trip to South Bend to see Costaki Economopoulos and the usual splitting of firewood, houseguests (welcome Matt and Julie) and whatever random car repairs are needed this month all add up to one busy time. If I don’t post, don’t fear. I’m just recuperating.