Family in Town, Better Weather, and Building a New House

Been pretty lax in keeping up to date with my blog posts this month. A lot going on and some exciting news at the end of the post.

Tuesday 1/5

Nancy studied Spanish this morning, I headed into town for therapy. My foot is improving spectacularly. 

Wednesday 1/6

Nancy had her Spanish class this morning, I did some exercise on my foot. We met Paulette Herder at Noon, to look at models and lots. Joan came along to offer her advice. Looked at a number of lots, checking out views and where the house we like would fit. Spent a couple of hours walking around vacant lots. Found a number of them that we like. Turned out to be a nice sunny day, good for looking at lots. The one with the best views turns out not to be workable with the standard Herder Building floor plans that we like. Needs a custom build to fit on the lot.

Paulette had contacted a couple who had built a Presidio model so we could take a look at one. That is the floor plan we liked the most of the ones we looked at. As soon as we walked in we knew this one was the one we liked. Now we just need to find the  right lot.

After doing the lot tour we zipped down to the Fry’s in Sahuarita for “geezer day,” they give seniors 10% off on the first Monday of the month. 

Thursday 1/7

Rained steady all day, started out in the 50’s and dropped into the 40’s in the afternoon. After thinking about it and looking at plats we have narrowed our lot choice down to the first three, more options if we can’t meet on prices. Called the real estate agent who works with Herder to look into two of the lots that are listed by owner with no prices listed.

I went for therapy late in the morning, Nancy took it easy, she is fighting a bit of a cold. We were scheduled to go to a Tucson Festival of Books volunteer liaison meeting late in the afternoon, but it had been raining steadily and fairly hard since mid-day. Joan had started over here from Tucson Estates for a massage and found a lot of water on the roads, so she went back.

When we left for the meeting we encountered a lot of standing water in the first half mile of San Joaquin Rd, had not even hit any real dips yet, so we came back home. Should have tried it in the truck instead of the smart! When I went to send an e-mail to the TFoB directors about missing the meeting there was an e-mail form them: “Don’t come to the meeting if you are not already on the way, lots of flooded roads.” 

So we had a quiet afternoon and evening, listening to the pitter patter of rain on the roof. Finally stopped raining around dinner time. 

Friday 1/8

Nancy & Joan went to the Desert Museum in the morning and then stopped and had lunch at Coyote Pause. I stayed home as my foot was kind of sore and the therapy folks told me to ice it and take it easy on walking for a day or two. I did do my exercises and the stationary bike.

We went over to Joan’s rental for a nice steak dinner in the evening and watched the Blackhawks win their 6th game in a row!.

Saturday 1/9

Weather improved today, sunny but still on the cool side, high of 50. Nancy did laundry in the morning, I went to the gym and did 10 minutes on the exercise bike.

Joan had been in town doing some shopping, we met her at BK Tacos for lunch. Nancy & Joan then went one way for some shopping and I went the other for the same. Needed a new passport photo, camera at Walgreens broken! 

Later Nancy & I went back over and looked at the lots we were interested in, trying to narrow down our choices. Later I heard from our real estate agent, Tom Zwicker. He spoke to the two owners that had lots For Sale By Owner. One price was way out of reach, the other was within striking distance. So we were narrowed down to two lots. Told Tom to make an offer on one, we’ll see.

Back home and vegged, both of us nursing colds now!

Sunday 1/10

No response yet on our offer, but this AM we realized that the lot with a great view that we thought would not handle one of the standard Herder homes would actually work. Late in the morning we went back and looked at that lot again, we really like it. So we’ll see how the response to the offer goes and decide from there.

The three of us ran into Beyond Bread for lunch, then back home to relax. Blackhawks won their 7th in a row tonight and Marion Hossa finally broke the ice and scored two!

Monday 1/11

Nancy went to the morning meeting at the park to promote the Bopp Rd cleanup in two weeks. Park residents sponsor a stretch of road for trash clean-up and Nancy is the coordinator.

Looks like the lot we made an offer on is not going to work out, so we have shifted our attention to the lot we originally liked the best. Still a pretty fluid situation. Nancy had a cold the last few days and now I have it.

Thursday 1/14

A couple of lost days here! I was dog meat Tuesday and Wednesday. Skipped my therapy session on Tuesday. Wednesday morning early Nancy & Joan headed off to the airport to fly home for a couple of days to see their mother.

They are headed into cold weather!

I felt well enough to make my therapy session this morning and hit Food Conspiracy. That was about it.

Friday 1/15

Still tossing around ideas on which lot we want to go with. So many moving parts, price, view, which model will fit, does the lot need site work before building. A bit more complicated than I thought it would be. 

Did a number of errands in the morning, then went over to the foothills and looked at four lots and then stopped and picked up plats from the Herder’s office so I could see how the various models fit. They have floor plans called “snippets” that have the same scale as the plat, so you can put the snippet on the plat and see how that model fits on the lot.

Found one viable alternative to our first choice, which may turn out to be a tight fit. This lot is a bit cheaper, but needs site work. The others I looked at all had pretty good views, but usually a problem. Tall trees on neighbor’s lots blocking the view is one issue.

 Saturday 1/16

Nancy & Joan came back late this morning. I spent some time cleaning up and doing a few of the things I  should have done earlier in the week. Went back over to the Foothills and looked at lots again! Seems like I am getting obsessive over this whole thing! We’ll see how things go.

Joan went home and Nancy & I looked a lots again then had lunch at Coyote Pause. Back home in the afternoon. 

Sunday 1/17

We were a bit slow getting going this morning, but Nancy did a couple of loads of laundry. Nancy and I went to the grocery store and then had lunch at BK Tacos. Stopped by the Foothills again and walked through a house under construction that we have been watching. 

It is one of the two models that we are considering. Which model depends on the lot we choose. They put up drywall this week so it was nice to get a better feel for the interior layout than we were able to get when we were just looking at studs. We really like the layout. It was our second choice for a floor plan, but fits better on the lots we are looking at. Also a 150 square feet larger. We are meeting with the builder and his wife on Wednesday to go through some details - and maybe make a decision.

Back home in the afternoon, Nancy spent a couple of hours studying Spanish and then we watched the Blackhawks tie a franchise record with their 11th consecutive win. Yeah! Then of course - Downton Abby! 

Monday 1/18

Morning meeting at RV park, Nancy talked about the Bopp Rd clean-up next Monday. Joan came over late in the morning and we took a short walk in the desert. Milestone for me - first time out in the desert since I got here! Foot has really improved.

We went over to Ajo Cafe for lunch (Nancy & Joan are partial to their coconut cream pie!) and then we made a quick stop at Camping World and then back home.

Nancy & one of her friends studied their Spanish lessons while I hooked the batteries back up in the truck. Several days ago I went out to look for something in the truck and realized the interior light had been on long enough to flatten the batteries. I had started it just a few days before that, so strange that the batteries went so flat so quick. Everything seems to be OK, issue apparently just a serious discharge of the batteries. I’ll keep an eye on it for a few days.

Tuesday 1/19

I headed into town for my therapy appointment. Joan had a message scheduled.

After therapy I whipped across town to Bookman’s for the first visit this year, only bought three books! Then I doubled back and met Nancy & Joan for lunch at Beyond Bread.

Back home in the afternoon and the Blackhawks won again!

Wednesday 1/20

We puttered around home this morning then right after lunch we had a meeting with the builder, John Herder, and his wife. Looks like it is a go to put the floor plan we want on our first choice of a lot. Yeah! We discussed a lot of details about the things we will want. He will put together the proposal for building on that lot to the Homeowners Architectural Committee for approval. We should know by Friday and then we can proceed with a purchase offer on the lot.

Nancy’s sister Connie arrived today to stay with Joan for the weekend. We went over to Joan’s rental for dinner and Nancy made a nice pasta dish and we had a nice visit.

Thursday 1/21

Graduated from therapy this morning, Tim at Agility Therapy says “You’re healed!” Thanks to everybody there for the great treatment.

Joan & Connie both had massages with Angel this morning, then the three of them went to Coyote Pause for lunch and then on a shopping trip. After therapy I ran by Walmart to pick up my prescription - that they LOST last week! Had to have my doc send them a new one because they lost my renewal. How does that happen?

Stopped at BK Tacos for lunch and then back home for the rest of the afternoon.

Friday 1/22

Connie’s husband Laurie arrived late this morning. Nancy & I met Joan, Connie and Laurie for lunch at Beyond Bread and then we came back to Joan’s place. We all went over and looked at the house under construction that is similar to the one we want to build and then went to the lot. While we were there Paulette called and told me that the homeowners association had approved the plans for this lot! Yeah!

Called the realtor and set up and offer. After cocktails we went to a Mexican restaurant that we had not been to before la Parillia Suiza, it was very good, excellent food. We will be back here!

Saturday 1/23

First thing this morning we met the realtor and and signed the paperwork for the offer on the lot. Should hear back from the seller by Monday.

The girls went shoe shopping, Laurie and I went over to Starr Ridge and looked at a couple of models and then home for lunch - leftover sandwiches from Beyond Bread.

We all relaxed at our place in the afternoon and then went over to Nimbus Brewery for dinner. Burgers and fish were good as usual, but service was very slow. Not very busy for a Saturday night, but apparently that is usual since there were only two people working! Have to remember to avoid Saturday evenings.

Sunday 1/24

We all headed up to the Desert Museum first thing this morning. Spent the morning there - as usual I managed to spend more money than I should have in the bookstore! Lunch at Coyote Pause and then back to Joan’s to watch the first half of the Patriot’s/Bronco’s game. Then Connie and Laurie headed for the airport with Joan. 

Nancy got a text from Karen saying they were home, so we dropped by to see them before we headed home to watch the Blackhawks. Hawks got their mojo back after two road loses in Florida.

Monday 1/25

Monday morning meeting and then the Bopp Rd trash pickup - Nancy’s last time as coordinator of that task! We had 34 people helping and they picked up 25 large bags of trash in a bit less than two hours - only real find was one lady came up with a five dollar bill. 

Received word from our agent that the seller has countered our offer on the lot. Better than we had expected and we accepted the counter so we are on our way! Went over to the Herder model house and signed the paperwork.

This is the entrance to The Foothills:

The front of our house will have a Northern exposure. This will be the view just a little to west from the double sliding doors in our great room:

And this will be the view a little to the East:

Our lot is at 2,728 feet according to my GPS! That's 2,000 feet higher than Geneva! Nancy says she will have to adjust some recipes.

After signing the papers on the lot we took a tour through one of the models in Starr Ridge called the “Cowboy House.”  Large house with a lot of different and interesting finishes, also has a killer view on a lot backing right onto Tucson Mountain Park by Cat Mountain. Nice house, might be interested if someone dropped $600k in our lap! Selecting finishes and hardware will take up a fair amount of time this spring. We hope to be in the new house sometime in October.

We went over to Joan’s house for a while. Then into town for the first of the science lectures at the U of A.  for this year. Met Karen and Gary at Gentle Ben’s for dinner before the lecture. Another full house at Centennial Hall and they opened the doors early! We barely made it in, need to start going a bit earlier. Fascinating lecture, but a bit hard to follow as it was a whole lot of information on ocean climate modeling crammed into a short lecture.

Tuesday 1/26

Nancy was up early doing laundry, I pretty much vegged. Late in the morning Nancy & Joan went to the zoo to see the baby elephant (that is not so much of a baby anymore.) I went down to Walmart and picked up some groceries, stopped at Chase to get a “Source of Funds Letter” for the lot purchase. Nancy & Joan stopped at Beyond Bread and brought home sandwiches for lunch (and dinner!) After lunch I ran out and had a propane tank filled, then did some house cleaning while Nancy went to her Spanish study group.

Joan came back over for the Blackhawks game. Not a good night, Hawks losing 5 - 0 in the 2nd as I write this!