Hi gang-

Found out over the weekend that my wife and I are finally going to join the ranks of homeowners!

We'd come in second place on two other properties recently but found this one a few weeks ago. I never knew buying a house would be such an emotional roller-coaster type affair! WOW!!!

We're, (my family of 5 plus 2 pugs, 2 guinea pigs, a rat and some goldfish) are moving from a 1000 square foot ranch (i.e. a sardine can) to a 2300+ square foot split level corner property just across town. We go from having a rather small back yard to having over 3/4's of an acre in BOTH our front and back yards. (Any suggestions on a good riding mower?)There is also a small creek that runs through the rear of our property...with an additional section of our land just across it. (We'll need to build a nice deck-bridge over its span...)We have roughly 30 mature trees (mostly Oak and some Evergreens) outlining our lot. 2 fireplaces, four bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, family room, laundry room, double bathroom upstairs, jacuzzi and new bathroom downstairs, finished attic, also. Same school district too, which is a plus.

Our 3 girls will finally get their own rooms and I'll finally have a permanent, user friendly space to work on music. Nothing overly fancy is in store, but we have a huge finished basement (38' X 12') with which we'll use as a family room in front of the lower level fireplace, with my acoustic piano, my Tryos, PSR 3000, etc...getting set up in the other side of the room.

I'm not as sophisticated recording wise as most folks around here. Typically, I'll just run RCA's from my Berhinger PA amp to my Sony CD Recorder...then burn everything to my hard drive...then to a final version on a CD.

Our computer will be set up in the same room as I will be, so perhaps it's time for me to take the next step in home recording and consider a program like Cakewalk or Cubase I suppose. I'll be looking for a set-up that I can easily switch keyboards in and out off, of course. A nice workstation desk unit may be another thing to look at.

Any fresh suggestions or ideas would be appreciated. It's a blank slate right now...so, I can set it up however I wish. I don't ever see myself with a highly exotic set up but I'm open to straight-forward ideas that can enhance my creative juices.

Also, the house uses oil heat, has a spetic system and well water. NONE of which we've ever used. If anyone has experience with these, please drop me a line. Everything will be getting a hard look during our home inspection on Tuesday morning, but early indications suggest everything is in good working order.

The heating oil especially interests us. How much will we use during a winter, how much does it cost, how often delivered, etc. I'm usually paying $160-$200/month for electric currently...a few friends have said I'll save money bigtime between the oil heat and our two fireplaces.

Very exciting times for all of us...just wanted to share...

Very much looking forward to hearing/seeing some studio/workspace ideas!

Bill in Dayton