| Family home in country setting
There are certain things you can expect to see inside a raised ranch, but before you make any assumptions about our Home of the Week, take a peek inside. Situated on nearly an acre of land, the house in the spotlight is set back a bit from Fisher Road. Evergreens and tall deciduous trees stand among what promises to be a grand perennial garden in the spring. This garden creates a buffer between the house and the street. A sweeping half-circle driveway stretches from one front corner of the property to the other, pausing in front of the two-car garage. A stone wall separates the driveway from the front yard, which is slightly elevated from the gravel. .
Investors look for signs the market has hit bottom
The worst remains the 89 percent decline in the Dow between September 1929 and July 1932 that spanned the Wall Street crash and the start of the Great Depression. The most recent bear market, after the Internet bubble, shaved 38 percent from the Dow and 78 percent from the Nasdaq from 2000 to 2002, Investors now must figure out when the market is at the bottom. Thompson thinks the market could rise 12 percent to 15 percent over the next five years. "Most of those returns will come from that bounce off the bottom," Thompson predicted, though he said the market could fall another 5 percent before it bottomed out. "The market is made up of human beings, who tend to overreact to uncertainty," he said. "If you have cash earmarked for stocks, this is a good time to put it in." Sowerby, too, believes most of the market falloff has already come.
Garage-kept in Colorado
When I moved West 10 years ago, there was one thing I never dreamed of seeing: a garage in my backyard. A mountain lion, sure, John Elway and a real cowboy. But not a garage. I once had a garage, back East, in college. It was handy for storing junk, my weights set and a trailered boat. But the move to Colorado meant leaving the V-hull behind. "Where would we use a boat in Colorado?" my wife asked years ago. (I couldn't answer through my sobs as my prized fishing vessel rode off hitched to another man's truck.) But my wife's garage pitch was clever: "You can use the garage to hold your new boat." It would be joined by our only car. But I shivered. I saw myself losing open space and gardening room in our modest backyard. I enjoy parking on a Western street. I can commune with nature by scraping ice off the car in winter, or sliding into a 500-degree driver's seat in our ever-longer summers.
Outdoors Report: Prospects appear promising for razor clamming on ...
Conditions should be much improved with better weather when selected ocean beaches open for razor clam digging Friday through Monday. On a three-day dig during the holidays, clam diggers had to contend with swells of 13 to 15 feet and the resulting rowdy surf. Nonetheless, many diggers achieved their 15-clam limits or close. "Those iffy conditions scared off a fair number of folks," said Dan Ayres, state coastal shellfish biologist, "but those who came the first night did pretty well. The north end of Long Beach was good, Twin Harbors was good, Mockrocks was good." You can take that to mean there is no lack of clams on most beaches. With the weekend forecast calling for showers, temperatures in the mid-40s and swells maxing out at 9 feet, digging should be a little easier, too.
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