In that I regularly sign many of my communiqués with the appellation of Sq. Z., many readers over many years have questioned my title. Herewith follows my explanation:
Way, way back into 1959, my wife Judy and I signed an agreement to initially pay $97.00 a month (including insurance and property taxes) on a thirty year mortgage then fixed at 2.75% interest for a 1500 square foot, three bedroom, 1¾ bath home in Carson, California, a few miles north of San Pedro. At age 28, when into my second year with the L.A. County Probation Department, my monthly gross salary amounted to $475. Consequently, I expected to wait thirty years before claiming full ownership of our first home.
Dwelling on that thought a few years later, while reviewing the back pages of a Popular Mechanics magazine, I spotted an advertisement that offered Canadian land "cheap." I sent off for the brochure wherein one ad offered five acres of raw land on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron for $400. Wowsers! It took all of three years to pay off that amount. Annual property taxes seldom exceeded ten dollars. When the day came to receive title, the authorities appended Squire to my name, signifying I held full title to the property. I duly noted that the person selling the land to me had lost the Squire appendage.
Well and good, I thought, blithely sitting on that purchase for about two decades — ever satisfied that the Canadian land symbolized nothing beyond having a parcel of land paid for. After retiring and moving to San Luis Obispo County, my wife and I had need of a few thousand dollars, so I sent an inquiry to a real estate office on Manitoulin Island, subsequently listing the property. Within a few weeks, I had an offer from a New York hunting and fishing club that offered five thousand dollars. Wowsers! But the sale signified my losing the Squire title.
Just a couple of more details, sil vouz plait: Although our San Luis Obispo County property and the retirement cottage had been paid off, Judy and I had to borrow ten thousand from a local bank to have a road and deck constructed. Consequently, that debt obliterated any claim to fully titled land ownership. However, the day eventually came when we paid the local bank note in full. Our three acres with humble cottage, then and now, fully belong to George and Judy Zidbeck. I thereupon took it upon myself, as Laird of the Manor in a manner of speaking, to follow Canadian custom by awarding myself the title of Squire.
Know ye all that I take the title seriously while husbanding the land. My stewardship compels responsible caretaking. I have no desire to seek subdivision for profit, nor to harvest the oak trees commercially. I shall toil my loins over the sod while capable. Come the day I might have to relocate for health reasons, I pray that any future owner will gaze upon the acreage, and say, "I desire this land for my very own, and shall treat the place as special; this property commands me to fully squire the property."
Affectionately & Currently, Sq. Z.
