Monday, January 25, 2010

January 2010

January 25, 2010


Now that the house is livable that's exactly what we've been doing...living. Not working so hard and enjoying the Sonoran Desert and Tucson. We've hiked the trail out our back door that takes us to spectacular views throughout Tucson Mountain Park. We also found that we're 10 minutes from central downtown and 15 minutes from a strip of local restaurants and shops near the university. Plus, one of the best places to buy produce is in a Mexican influenced area minutes away and a small farmers market nearby.

Over the past week some wet and windy weather has moved in and we've been deluged with rain....a treat in the desert. Our rain barrels fill rapidly and we were glad to see that there is no standing water in the atrium. I've spent the last two weeks repaving and improving the atrium and it's beginning to look like a restaurant......I guess I'll add the tiki torches and Bruce can serenade our visitors with his guitar.

We bought a couple of bird feeders and I started an herb garden on the east side. This is in addition to the wine barrel halves we bought to try my hand at vegetable gardening. Next, adding some desert plants to our east and NW side (xeriscaping) to attract more birds....fortunately after they're planted it will be low maintenance.

Chasing the javalina from our yard...these guys are brave and pesky.

Our first visitor of 2010 was my long lost friend Shannon. She came out for 5 days....during the time of the rain. At night the wind howled so strongly it caused the windows to whistle....she slept right through it. The wind force and angle blew rain into our master bedroom window driving rain inside pouring on the floor....this window and the wall under it will be removed to make way for a french door to a balcony facing west to the Mountain Park.
Snow on the Catalina Mountains after the rain clouds moved through.

We've continued to buy our furniture and tools on Craigslist and have had great success as long as we're patient. There are very few things we buy new..including clothing. This town is loaded with consignment and resale stores. The house is now well set and we're both equally content and found its a lot of fun starting over....especially with a project like this.



The last bit of exterior painting.

Preparing to animal proof the ramada in the chicken coop.