We sold our friggin’ house!
Yes, they said it couldn’t be done (in fact, WE said that!), but the deal was sealed on January 10th. Good riddance to our $650 per month H.O.A. fees…and that lousy snake in the grass neighbor that tormented us for years. A pox on the lot of them!
Actually, we had a lot of wonderful memories during out thirty years in Bear Creek, and we’ll miss our friends, our nearby children and relatives, and our nice home. But, we won’t miss the three flights of stairs in that home! And, we’ll enjoy paying less taxes in Nevada…that’s for sure.
I had to make a quick turnaround trip to So Cal on the 8th/9th to retrieve some potted plants, a couple of large concrete urns, a 10′ Manzanita tree, and such. My sister Claudia and her boy-toy, Ted, put me up for the evening of the 8th, and I got to enjoy a nice dinner with Ted’s family in honor of his Mom’s 87th birthday. What a nice evening that was!
Since I was pulling a 12′ U-haul trailer behind the Jeep on my way back to Mesquite, and had a bit of spare room in it, I decided to take advantage of President Trump’s government shutdown and illegally relocate a couple of Joshua trees from B.L.M. land in the eastern Mojave Desert. I figured that enforcement might be a bit lax with no paychecks on the horizon…
When I got to the scene of my proposed heist, I realized that the Joshua tree forest was on private property, long-since abandoned and now derelict. So, I guess I was actually pilfering the greenery from a New York bank or something. In that case, I don’t feel too guilty.
Anyway, I paused there just long enough to harvest a couple of juvenile trees, which now flank my driveway in another part of the great American southwest. As long as the little buggers don’t croak (and I intend to treat them royally), they should should outlive me on this property.
I named them Joshua…
…and Joshua Jr….
The little guys have spiked hair.
I’ve been seeing a lot of Joshua trees in my new locale, because of my frequent hiking. I joined the Desert Fossils Hiking Club on my arrival here, and I’ve done several hikes with them; a very nice crowd. However, I stumbled into a smaller, more aggressive group that likes to do more adventurous and strenuous hikes in the local area. My three compadres are Mac, Lloyd and John, and we’ve done several ten-plus mile hikes over the past couple of weeks.
Yesterday, Mac, Lloyd and I did a big hike up in the Virgin Mountains. It was a ball buster, but that’s the way we like it. We don’t typically hike on trails; instead, we spot something in the distance that looks interesting, and explore ways to get there. We hike through brush, scramble down rock gorges, climb steep hills, etc. If we’re lucky, there might be some animal trails (free range cattle, mountain goats, deer, and such) which give us some idea of a sensible way to get from hither to yon.
We do pretty good out there in the wilderness for a bunch of old fogies. I’m the oldest, at 71, Lloyd will turn 70 soon, Mac is 66, and John is the youngster at 63. All of us are veterans, and have led very different lives, so we have plenty to talk about as we trudge through God’s Country. I love it.
With the burden of two mortgages per month now removed from us, Charlie and I are beginning to decompress and enjoy life here in Mesquite. We will now have a few extra dollars to fine tune our property here, starting with the backyard landscaping. That should be generally accomplished by mid-February, although we may supplement the landscaper’s design with a pergola and some other doodads. We also need to replace the front door with a fancy one, and finish up the interior with a couple of ceiling fans.
Other than that, the homestead is pretty presentable.
C’mon by and spend the night!