Official AZ Homeowners

Hurray! We did it! After signing a stack of papers literally 2 inches thick (Steve measured!), on Wednesday morning, we now own a solar home on four acres in St. David, AZ, or at least we will in 30 years. We moved out of our real estate agent's front yard and out to our little house on the prairie, umm, desert. We spent the rest of Wednesday unloading the trailer we has hauled from Salt Lake with some things to make the place livable and semi-comfortable--a bed, dishes and pots and pans, a camping table and chairs, TV and DVD player and a couple of living room chairs. None of us (dogs included) slept very well the first night--too many new creaks, hums, and other house sounds. Last night was a little better.

Yesterday was getting-established-in-the-community day. We went to the power company and got the electricity in our name, established an account at the local credit union, got library cards. We met our nearest neighbor, Keith, and his dogs, Lobo and Tramp. Keith is an old motorcycle guy/ex-hippie who scrounges around in the desert for downed mesquite and manzanita, and makes really beuatiful rustic furniture that he sells in upscale shops in the little tourist towns around here.. He had a really cool bar stool that I thought would look great in our kitchen. He would give them to us wholesale at $125 apiece, but we need three, so I'll have to think about it.
And save my pennies.

Today we went shopping and spent a couple hundred dollars on little things--shampoo, laundry detergent, paper towel holder, shower curtain rod, etc. It's amazing how fast that stuff adds up. We are also getting used to all the new appliances, and running into a few problems. I've cooked on a gas range all my life and this one is electric--definitely a learning curve.l The dishwasher and fridge are great, with the ice cube dispenser far superior than the one in our SaltLake house.
The shower controls in both bathrooms needed some tweaking. The installer had set them so the handle wouldn't go past warm, apparently so we wouldn't accidentally scald ourselves, probably for liability purposes. Steve and Glenn, the general contractor, were able to take fix them, so we can have nice hot showers instead of lukewarm ones. Our new washer, however, is another story. It's a front loader, and when it tries to spin, it makes horrendous noises and bucks and shakes halfway across the room. Doesn't matter how large, small, heavy, or light the load--it does the same thing. Luckily, being brand-new, it's under warranty. The good news is that there's an authorized service person right in Benson. The bad news is that his repairman is out sick, so we'll have to wait until Monday to get it looked at. I counted my undies and have enough to get by until then.

Our son Chris and his girlfriend, Sharon, are coming up for the weekend. We're looking forward to showing them around.

Unexpected Fun

Yesterday, we had planned to go to the Bluegrass Festival in the park in Benson. We had taken the dogs for a hike in the wash near where we're staying, messed around for a little while, and finally wandered into Benson in the early afternoon for the festival. When we got there, close to 1 p.m., we discovered that it ended at 4:45, admission was $12 apiece, and you had to bring your own lawn chairs if you didn't want to sit on the grass. Didn't seem worth it, so we left, stopped at the Benson Ice Cream Stop for hot fudge and banana shakes, and decided to take a Sunday drive to see some of the country instead. We drove down a little country road, through a town (smaller than St. David, which is pretty small) called Pomerene; we were headed toward the mountains when we saw a small sign in the middle of a cluster of mailboxes on a side road, pointing the way to something called Gammon's Gulch and a donkey rescue center. Intrigued, we turned in, and soon found ourselves at a parking lot to what looked like a set for Western movie. We were the only car in the lot, but got out to have a look, and were met by the owner and proprietor, James "Jay" Gammon. It WAS a Western movie set, lovingly built by Jay, and furnished with antiques from 1870 to the early 1930's that Jay has scrounged from all over Arizona or had donated. All the buildings are "real," not just fronts, and are mostly very old buildings that were ready to be torn down that Jay discovered, took apart, and reassembled here. Jay's father was chief of security for John Wayne in the 1960's, and Jay has been around the making of westerns all his life, as a set designer and a bit player. If you remember the John Wayne movie "Rio Bravo," the little Mexican boy leading the funeral procession and beating on a drum was Jay. Gammon's Gulch has been the setting for many movies, mostly independent student films, but also some for the History Channel and some Hollywood ones too. Jay has met and worked with many Hollywood actors and had an opinion about them all: Val Kilmer--"very hard to work with, full of himself;" Kurt Russell--"the worst. Thought he was better than everyone else;" Peter Coyote--"toilet mouth, but a really nice guy;" Sam Elliott--"great guy, really friendly and down-to-earth." Jay took us on a personal tour of all the buildings, talking a mile a minute about where everything came from, and obviously very proud of his little town. He even played us a tune on the honkey-tonk piano in the saloon as well as a number on the banjo. He and his wife live on site, in the Grand Hotel at the end of the street. The price for our personal tour? Seven dollars each, payable only after the tour was finished and only if we liked what we saw. We did both, and left smiling, promising to spread the word and bring our friends. The donkey rescue next door is only open for tours by appointment only, but we took the phone number and will save it for another visit.

Back "Home" in Benson

We are back in Benson (actually, St. David), ready to close on our new home. Yep, we bought it! We got an amazing deal--apparently the builder had several spec homes that weren't moving in this market, and wanted to sell before it went into foreclosure. It was originally listed at $214,900 when it went on the market in October, dropped to 189,000 in January, and had just dropped again to 179,000 when we looked at it for the second time in early March. We made an offer of 167,500, figuring that would give them room to counteroffer, but they accepted the offer as written. We couldn't believe it! So, for the past month, we've been mailing and emailing paperwork back and forth to the mortgage company, the realtor, and the title company. The amount of paper is staggering--we half more than a half inch worth of copies! Things certainly have changed since the last time we bought a house (20 years ago). Both the realtor and the lender agree, saying that it gets worse every year. Some of it I can understand, but some of it is totally ridiculous. The lender actually required a "motivation letter" saying why we wanted to buy a house in Arizona. Why that is any of their business is anyone's guess. Anyway, all is well; our closing is scheduled for Wednesday, but may happen a day early, which would be great.

We arrived here on Tuesday for the home inspection and final walk-through on Wednesday. We parked the RV on the property Tuesday night, but, because of liability issues, the realtors didn't want us staying on the property after that one night until it's officially ours, even though it was ok with the owner. Sydney, our realtor, offered her front yard as an alternative to $30plus a night in an RV park, and we gratefully accepted. She lives on 15 acres, has a huge yard, horses, and two dogs who welcomed Ellie and Tex like long-lost pals. There is a lot to see and do around this area, and we've been doing day trips here and there. Once we close and have the keys to the house, we'll be moving some things in. Although we won't be moving here permanently for at least a year, we'll be making lots of trips down with stuff, and working on building a storage building and a garage/workshop.

The pictures in this post show a couple of views of our house and some of the flora on our property. The barrel cactus are starting to bloom, and prickly pear and cholla won't be far behind. There are lots of little desert wildflowers in purple, yellow, and white. The mesquite, which in the winter looked black and dead, like they had been in a fire, are beginning to green up too. The elevation is 4000 feet here--too cold for saguaro and citrus, but I can have my favorite ocotillo. My mom said she'd buy me one as a housewarming present (Thanks, Mom!).