Where's My Home?

Turns out the blog was always supposed to be called "Dryden is Home". I've lived in Dryden (and most importantly paid town taxes every January to the town of Dryden) since our moving caravan arrived on October 14th, 2004. In the past six months I've become a little more attached to Dryden (while still staying somewhat attached to Ithaca - since that is where a majority of my Finger Lakes region customers have their businesses). I've met my county legislator (Hi Martha!), had bagels with "Living in Dryden" writer Simon, ate lunch at Dryden's Plantation restaurant with Dryden Town Board member MaryAnn Sumner (she has two blogs - Five Wells and Drydem Democrats), walked in the rain at Dryden's Dairy Day (see Simon's review), and spent time driving around town visiting friends in between Etna and Freeville (a hamlet and village of Dryden, respectively), sat under the pavilion at the Dryden Lake for an outdoor meeting and to Gee Hill for a business meeting at a business partner's home office.

About two weeks ago I dropped in on the Varna Fire Department (Varna is another hamlet in Dryden) and I've started the process of being a member of the volunteer force (only about 16.5 hours of OSHA training left then I can get started for real training). The Varna Fire Department's fire district doesn't include my house (I think I'm in Brooktondale's fire district - Brooktondale is a hamlet of Caroline), but according to the fire chief I can reach the district in about 60 seconds (and since I work from home most days, I have some chance of being useful).

So, Dryden is my home. I started the blog in August of 2004 only really knowing that we were moving to Ithaca (I have an Ithaca mailing address even here in Dryden) and that people would know that Ithaca was home to Cornell (where Avery was going to attend school). See the new tagline above for a minor clarification.

Since I've spent more time driving through the town I've realized there are a lot of great views from a top a lot of the hills. There is a lot of farm acreage here in Dryden and although the street I live on (rt. 79) seems like a bedroom community for Cornell (of the three close neighbor families that I talk to often, four of the six adults work at Cornell), there are a few small businesses (Crispell's, A New Leaf) that must contribute to Dryden's commercial tax base.

Driving through the village of Dryden worries me in that there are many shop windows with "For Rent" signs. Until Dunkin' Donuts opens up on rt. 13, there isn't a place to get a cup of coffee in the village (and Dunkin' Donuts isn't exactly in the town square / intersection). I'm also a little concerned about the chatter I've been hearing about black holes of internet access in my own town. This is 2006 after all. There have been a smattering of news articles about Dryden not being zoned for wind energy (and after seeing "An Inconvenient Truth" Friday night, well, let's make that another post) and I wonder how the town board/zoning board/planning board are handling the growth of the 13/366 neighborhood, the Ellis Hollow neighborhood and the slow growth of TC3 while the hamlets of Varna and Etna are shrinking and losing their commercial bases. Growth in population leads to more traffic (which taxes the infrastructure) and leads to more consumption and usage of the town's water and sewer systems. If I'm going to continue to reap the benefits of Dryden's beautiful sunsets, maybe I should get more involved in the place I live.

Top Picture - Downtown Dryden, Tuesday, June 27th

Bottom Picture - View from Gee Hill, Saturday, July 1st

Comments

[John]

In the US nearly 750,000 owners are in trouble – this is up about 96% for the first eight months of this year (2007). You must first asses your ability to make payments on your loan before you consider the steps that need to be made to stop foreclosure and the refinance options available to you. If you are buried in debt then you may not b able to carry the burden of even a lower payment. You must ask yourself if the lower payment is better for your budget than getting in a lower rent situation. If saving your home from foreclosure is a viable option to consider then you must make contact with the lender who is trying to foreclose on your property. It is likely that they are already in contact with you so this may be easy to do. If you are several months over due you might need to make up a payment or two to negotiate with them to stop foreclosure. You can also show proof of your progress to refinance your home and stop foreclosure. The loan company or lender you are dealing with may have private investors that can help you out. Many foreclosure investors are in constant contact with lending institutions seeking loan opportunities for foreclosure properties.

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