Zeeland, ND

[Grace Seeker]

You are to kind my brother!I would wholeheartedly accept the lodging ....if uncle wants me to do the work?

Your a good man Grace Seeker, I would humbley accept...and bring you some of my wifes samosas!

GREAT!!! You and Woodrow get the timing worked out, and we'll throw a good old party when you get here.

 

[Italianguy]

GREAT!!! You and Woodrow get the timing worked out, and we'll throw a good old party when you get here.

Uhhh huh, you just said that because i said i would bring samosas.;D

That would be awesome! I love helping others, not that uncle needs it, but I always offer no matter what!

It's funny, today for the first time in years i was working in the feild with Mohammad, one of my employees. We went to a service call for this 89 year old laddy, her post light wasn't working so Mohammed and I get out of my truck i walk right up to the light twisted the bulb in a little more and it worked. The old lady was so worried that she wasted our time and wanted to pay me... I never take money from the seniors;D I refused to take her money and told her we were only there for 10 minutes, She GRABBED Mohammeds arm and wouldn't let him go until we took money!! I was laughing my butt off!;D;D I told her just call us back if she needed anything else, she said NO, what is the going rate for an electrician these days.....i couldn't bring myself to tell her my hourly rate...I was afraid her heart couldn't take it. She said "How is $15 " thats what i payed my last electrician.......;D I had to accept it or she would have kept Mohammed! .....I should have left him there;D;D When we got in the truck Mohammed said "When was the last time she had an electrician come for that rate...1929? I was laughing so hard;D.

No way i would tell her $215.00 an hour.

I love the seniors, usually i will take coffee or cookies as payment;D I get more pleasure in payment with their stories and talking to them. Sometimes I am the only one they have to talk toimsad

 

[Woodrow]

Uhhh huh, you just said that because i said i would bring samosas.;D

That would be awesome! I love helping others, not that uncle needs it, but I always offer no matter what!

It's funny, today for the first time in years i was working in the feild with Mohammad, one of my employees. We went to a service call for this 89 year old laddy, her post light wasn't working so Mohammed and I get out of my truck i walk right up to the light twisted the bulb in a little more and it worked. The old lady was so worried that she wasted our time and wanted to pay me... I never take money from the seniors;D I refused to take her money and told her we were only there for 10 minutes, She GRABBED Mohammeds arm and wouldn't let him go until we took money!! I was laughing my butt off!;D;D I told her just call us back if she needed anything else, she said NO, what is the going rate for an electrician these days.....i couldn't bring myself to tell her my hourly rate...I was afraid her heart couldn't take it. She said "How is $15 " thats what i payed my last electrician.......;D I had to accept it or she would have kept Mohammed! .....I should have left him there;D;D When we got in the truck Mohammed said "When was the last time she had an electrician come for that rate...1929? I was laughing so hard;D.

No way i would tell her $215.00 an hour.

I love the seniors, usually i will take coffee or cookies as payment;D I get more pleasure in payment with their stories and talking to them. Sometimes I am the only one they have to talk toimsad

Does this mean if I get you up here I will have to pay your more than the 25 Cents a day I got as a kid doing farm work?

 

[Italianguy]

Does this mean if I get you up here I will have to pay your more than the 25 Cents a day I got as a kid doing farm work?

Nope, I will just require at least a floor to sleep on and food, prefferably not under 20 feet of snow...although....I always wanted to build an igloo as a kid

25 cents! That was allot of money...at some time. My first boss used to deliver milk for 10 cents a day, and he said he raised a family on that, ....of course that was after walking to work, up hill, both ways, while trecking through 10 feet of snow, in a blizzard, and having to fight off bears;D...but he always delivered! He also told me when he was a kid if you wanted crunchy cerial you put broken glass in it for crunch!:hmm: And he walked 20 miles to get a loaf of bread. I just love those "Your just a young whooper snapper" stories;D

In all sincerity, I will do what you need for free uncle.You have been very kind and have taught me much about Islam. The way i see it...I owe you!

I just like talking and meeting new people And helping out, while making new friends. You could give me a tour of Zeeland......takes about 20 minutes right

 

[Woodrow]

Nope, I will just require at least a floor to sleep on and food, prefferably not under 20 feet of snow...although....I always wanted to build an igloo as a kid

25 cents! That was allot of money...at some time. My first boss used to deliver milk for 10 cents a day, and he said he raised a family on that, ....of course that was after walking to work, up hill, both ways, while trecking through 10 feet of snow, in a blizzard, and having to fight off bears;D...but he always delivered! He also told me when he was a kid if you wanted crunchy cerial you put broken glass in it for crunch!:hmm: And he walked 20 miles to get a loaf of bread. I just love those "Your just a young whooper snapper" stories;D

In all sincerity, I will do what you need for free uncle.You have been very kind and have taught me much about Islam. The way i see it...I owe you!

I just like talking and meeting new people And helping out, while making new friends. You could give me a tour of Zeeland......takes about 20 minutes right

Actually a walking tour of Downtown Zeeland can take as long as 10 minutes if you stop in at the grocery store and look at all the products (both shelves).

You really can walk past every house and store in the heart of Zeeland in the city proper. However the city limits extends outward in a 20-25 mile radius to include 5 or 6 farms within the city limits. that is primarily for mail delivery service.

We just bought a second house here. We will be moving into it on this Tuesday. Our intent is to live in it until we finish refurbishing the house that is in the pictures near the Winnebago.

Here is the second house we move into on Tues.

This is the detatched garage and carport

so for the time being, between the 2 houses, Winnebago and travel trailer we can house a few people.

Our long term goal is a Dairy Farm about 9 miles out of town. We finaly agreed upon a price. It is a fairly large operation with a dairy barn, a family house a farm hand house and 8 other out buildings. The bad part is the owner sold off most of the land and only left 65 acres to go with the farm, which is much too small for the size of dairy operation the farm is capable of handling. We plan to use it for our horses and move our honey business and food distribution business to it.

Here is an aerial picture of it, I took from a picture the current owners have on the wall in the living room:

Land prices here are very low, way below what one would expect. For example that second house we got for $10,000 on a 3 year no interest note. The farm we got down to $120,000 which includes all of the farm equipment such as tractors and hay bailers.

But we only have a year to arrange the financing of it.

 

[cat eyes]

wow mashaAllah that house is beautiful may Allah give you and your wife many happy years in it inshaAllah

 

[Danah]

MashaAllah!! is it still snowing there?

when it will stop snowing Uncle Woodrow?

 

[Woodrow]

MashaAllah!! is it still snowing there?

when it will stop snowing Uncle Woodrow?

The last snowfall of the season usually is in mid May. There is always one last severe blizzard in April and then it starts to slack off.

 

[Cabdullahi]

Uncle woodrow you gotta move out !! its too cold how is it possible to live there?

 

[Woodrow]

Uncle woodrow you gotta move out !! its too cold how is it possible to live there?

It does not take long to get used to it. I grew up until I was 19 years old in a similar climate. It just takes knowing how to prepare for the winter during the warm months. You fast learn to always keep a minimum of 3 months food, water and fuel on hand at all times.

At our age we really don't mind staying indoors for the winter.

 

[Italianguy]

Actually a walking tour of Downtown Zeeland can take as long as 10 minutes if you stop in at the grocery store and look at all the products (both shelves).

You really can walk past every house and store in the heart of Zeeland in the city proper. However the city limits extends outward in a 20-25 mile radius to include 5 or 6 farms within the city limits. that is primarily for mail delivery service.

We just bought a second house here. We will be moving into it on this Tuesday. Our intent is to live in it until we finish refurbishing the house that is in the pictures near the Winnebago.

Here is the second house we move into on Tues.

This is the detatched garage and carport

so for the time being, between the 2 houses, Winnebago and travel trailer we can house a few people.

Our long term goal is a Dairy Farm about 9 miles out of town. We finaly agreed upon a price. It is a fairly large operation with a dairy barn, a family house a farm hand house and 8 other out buildings. The bad part is the owner sold off most of the land and only left 65 acres to go with the farm, which is much too small for the size of dairy operation the farm is capable of handling. We plan to use it for our horses and move our honey business and food distribution business to it.

Here is an aerial picture of it, I took from a picture the current owners have on the wall in the living room:

Land prices here are very low, way below what one would expect. For example that second house we got for $10,000 on a 3 year no interest note. The farm we got down to $120,000 which includes all of the farm equipment such as tractors and hay bailers.

But we only have a year to arrange the financing of it.

WOW! Uncle, I need to move there....minus the snow. That is really low realestate prices! I only have a 1/4 acre that i built my house on and it still cost me $480,000.00, not including the neighborhood fees. My office wharehouse is only on an 1/8 of an acre, and it cost me $2,200,000.00. I know that sounds really high but our average home sale price around here is a little over $250,000.00 for a 3 bed, 2 bath rancher.

Our building in Astoria Queens NYC was valued at over $4,000,000.00 in 2004. It's an apartment building my great grandparents bought after they came from Italy. It cost them $6000.00 when they bought it.

 

[Beardo]

Grandpa Woodrow, that is WAY cool. To live on a farm and all. How big is one acre, by the way? :X In miles etc?

Don't you need workers to manage such a big farm?

 

[Italianguy]

Grandpa Woodrow, that is WAY cool. To live on a farm and all. How big is one acre, by the way? :X In miles etc?

Don't you need workers to manage such a big farm?

An acre is 43,560 square feet. I think there are 640 acres in 1 mile sqaure?

 

[Woodrow]

Grandpa Woodrow, that is WAY cool. To live on a farm and all. How big is one acre, by the way? :X In miles etc?

Don't you need workers to manage such a big farm?

The original land grants here were in 160 acre blocks. Typically one family can manage 160 acres. However at our age if all goes as planned Inshallah, we will be hiring 3 or 4 farmhands.

It takes 640 acres to make a square mile. The shape of this 65 acres is a rectangle 1 mile long and about 600 feet wide.

 

[S<Chowdhury]

Nice Pictures Bro...looks a bit like a hick town to be honest haha but i don't mind love to live somewhere like that hopefully inshallah after my studies i'll be able to move :statisfie

 

[Italianguy]

Nice Pictures Bro...looks a bit like a hick town to be honest haha but i don't mind love to live somewhere like that hopefully inshallah after my studies i'll be able to move :statisfie

Your marrying a bush girl remember....soon you will be living in the woods, driving your "Pickem-up-truck";D

Just kidding bro! CHADKE! PATHE!

 

[S<Chowdhury]

Your marrying a bush girl remember....soon you will be living in the woods, driving your "Pickem-up-truck";D

Just kidding bro! CHADKE! PATHE!

HAHA i don't mind the nature part, I'm hoping to move to somewhere in British Columbia inshallah but Pick Up Truck you must be crazy...how many asian guys do you see driving those redneck vehicles haha

 

[Cabdullahi]

HAHA i don't mind the nature part, I'm hoping to move to somewhere in British Columbia inshallah but Pick Up Truck you must be crazy...how many asian guys do you see driving those redneck vehicles haha

are u going leaving England to go to the bush?

 

[S<Chowdhury]

are u going leaving England to go to the bush?

Mhmmm definitely i hope soo.....its very appealing

 

[Woodrow]

WOW! Uncle, I need to move there....minus the snow. That is really low realestate prices! I only have a 1/4 acre that i built my house on and it still cost me $480,000.00, not including the neighborhood fees. My office wharehouse is only on an 1/8 of an acre, and it cost me $2,200,000.00. I know that sounds really high but our average home sale price around here is a little over $250,000.00 for a 3 bed, 2 bath rancher.

Our building in Astoria Queens NYC was valued at over $4,000,000.00 in 2004. It's an apartment building my great grandparents bought after they came from Italy. It cost them $6000.00 when they bought it.

One reason for our low prices is the dwindling population. We are one of the few states that looses population every year. The population in 1902 was nearly 10 times today's population. The height of North Dakota's economy was during the height of the cold war with Russia. There was something like 10,000 missile sites scattered throughout the State. Each with 3 to 6 ICBM's loaded and ready to be launched against Targets in the USSR. After the last Nuclear Arms treaty all of the sites were turned back into farmland and the missiles were disarmed and cut up into scrap metal. I missed out on buying one of the abandoned missile silos, most of them sold for $5 each and were about 5 acres each. But they had some neat underground buildings on them along with the underground silos.

The good part is now the nukes are gone. Kind of a scary thought of living near thousands of nukes. One accident and most of Canada along with the central states would have become a great big deep lake.

This is a typical Silo:

There are still some available in South Dakota.

http://weburbanist.com/2007/11/02/suburban-abandonments-missile-silos-for-exploration-visitation-and-even-for-sale/

But the $5 government price is long gone and most now go for 15 Mill and require a $300,000 down payment. You do need your own plane as most are 20-30 miles from the nearest road.

But they do make for unique hideaways: