Did I tell you I want to buy the parcel next to me? I tracked down the current owners, but ended up corresponding with their 50 year-old son because the parents died in an airplane accident August 1, 2008. It was a home-built plane that the dad built. He was a retired engineer who'd worked at Ball Aerospace. They were returning from a dream fishing trip to Alaska.

He is in charge of their estate, and says he has no intention of selling the parcel, and not even the small part that I am interested in. In particular he sounds kind of angry that fishermen from my land might stray onto his land. He doesn't have No Trespassing signs posted, so why wouldn't they? In this area public land alternates with private land, so without signs, nobody knows whose is whose. We'll just see if he goes to the trouble to come up here and post some signs, and where he thinks his property boundaries really are.

I'm not giving up hope because he still has to settle the estate, and he's got two or three siblings. It seems like a lot of parents' estates have at least one heir who wants all the assets liquidated fast so they can get their money. And this parcel is not attractive at all. The best part is along the river, but it's not buildable, and barely accessible without going through my land.

So, I'm keeping a good thought that it will work out.