With the Anza earthquake last week as another reminder we’re going to see the “big one” one of these days, Leslie and I spent a full day yesterday in LA reviewing and getting up to date on FEMA inspection preparedness.  FEMA needs a small army of “standby” contingent people who can be mobilized on short notice to respond to natural disasters.

I’ve been called up on 3 national disasters in the past 2 years and many women also participate in these call-ups, so this was Leslie’s introduction to the process. The training centered on the mechanics and organization of how FEMA immediately responds to the requested help of individual housing needs and how to assess the damage. A tiring but fulfilling day!

Class in session.

Focused!

Very slowly, working a couple of hours on the weekends, I’ve been shaping the horizontal stabilizer and elevator for the Tiger Moth. They’re pretty much done now except for sanding the edges to give a rounded look. Here’s what they look like so far on Saturday:

The elevator is the back part of the horizontal stabilizer. It’s the part that goes up and down, controlling the pitch of the aircraft.

Like a bird’s feathers, the pieces are light as Leslie shows.

Playing with french curves on what looks good for this corner.

Once I figured out what curve I wanted on the left corner, I transferred it to the right corner by measuring several points – one marking point is where the pencil is pointing.

Now come a few weekends of sanding, then sealing the two pieces with varnish.

Listed below are the February real estate charts for sold prices and the number of homes sold.

This data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.

The main take away from the data clearly shows a lack of inventory. The number of sold homes is continuing to fall in our area, contributing to the ferocious bidding and multiple offers for homes that are priced competitively. We’re still seeing distressed home sales (short sales and bank owned), but fewer than last year. So there’s a tug of war between these distressed sales (dampening raising prices) and a lack of inventory (normal supply and demand which wants to push prices up).

The percentage of single family homes that were distressed sales in the month of February are:

Ventura – 17%      Oxnard – 50%     Camarillo – 32%

Sold prices – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Sold prices – Condos in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Numbers sold – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

All data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.