Page 196 - Adobe Photoshop PDF

experience to attract business. As time went on it became evident that
Gus either had ulcers, as he said, or he was worried about uprooting
himself from Switzerland and building a new life for himself in the
States. Gus was unmarried. Gradually we realized that he really wasn’t
going to come.

I investigated a small construction business in Santa Cruz which
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The personnel were experienced and their equipment had recently been
completely overhauled. On a Saturday, I went to Santa Cruz and inter-
viewed the supervisory personnel. Lou Helvey (Barbara Ellis’ husband)
was a CPA and was kind enough to go with me and made a quick review
of the company’s books. The whole setup appeared attractive. However,
when Jean and I discussed the matter, she felt that our children had been
upset by a move from Arabia to Lafayette and she did not wish to upset
their lives by an additional move. On that basis, I dropped the idea.

We were anxious to buy a home of our own. The home we rented
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homes in the Orinda-Lafayette area but they were often badly designed
or had been added to poorly. We decided to have a home built for us.
We searched for building lots. In Burton Valley in Lafayette, there were
good builders operating and it was an attractive subdivision area. How-
ever, the lots were typically small. I wanted a large garden.
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the driveway leading to the rear lot would be a part of the purchase. I
wanted outright ownership so that there would be no arguments about
the use of the driveway or its maintenance. When the owner and his at-
torney came to the house to close the deal, we found he had changed the
driveway ownership. He proposed to retain ownership but allow us to
use the driveway. Fortunately, we declined to accept that provision and
the deal failed.

We looked at a rear lot in Upper Happy Valley. We weren’t en-
thusiastic about a rear lot, but the area was attractive. Gord already lived

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