A Rainbow in Prescott?

Although it never did rain, there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky yesterday evening.  It lasted quite a long, over 30 minutes as the sun set...

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Havalina On Board!

Had a family of havalina pass through the yard today.  First I saw one adult, then a second adult and finally three little ones followed!  Not sure I am happy they were in the yard...

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Great Time in Vista, CA

The drive to Vista, CA wasn't too bad, only 5hrs because I stopped in Chandler, AZ first!  When I got to the Gilpin household cars were everywhere.  Of course the kids plus a girlfriend are living at home.  I stayed in the band room which was pleasant enough. 

We did the Sunday evening beach (something the Gilpin's do often) where I saw Ann for the first time, then Natalie and Loya a few days later.  Modesta and I did Sea World.  I hadn't been in years.  It was quite fun and the shows were pretty good..

I traveled down to San Diego to do Balboa Park, a favorite stopping place for Scott and I, but the memories came into my head and it was too sad... I did not stay and headed back to Vista.  Finally, Mark, Modesta and I went on the Hornblower champagne brunch.  It was a 2hr harbor cruise with great food and plenty of champagne   

On Sunday I drove back to Chandler and Monday did a little shopping before heading  back to Prescott.  It was good to see friends and family...

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Road Trip!

I am off for a week long road trip!  After my GE range is delivered today (between 1PM-5PM), I will be driving to Chandler to see Melinda & Walter, then early Saturday morning I am driving to Vista, CA to see friends and family!  I am trying to work in a trip north to see Dennis & Marie Kerfeld, but it might have to wait until another time.  It is a 7+hr drive from Vista.

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Food Poisoning!

Well, not sure what food did it, but I am sure I was suffering from food poisoning!  Although I rinsed them, I think it might have been the carrots!

The cramping and nausea started around 8PM and it all came up around 3AM after which time I began to feel better.  The next day I still had cramps...

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Yeah! The Couch Just Left the Building!

Finally, the "damaged" couch was just picked up to be returned to Overstock.  Unfortunately, I was the last stop of the day and they were 45 minutes later then the 5PM last stop time.  But, I did not have to re-package the couch.  Thanks to Overstock. com customer service!

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Granite Oaks Water Users Association

On Saturday, July 30, 2011, I went to our water users annual meeting.  It was held in the garage of local home owner.  Apparently our development has three wells which supplies our water.  What was interesting is that in the local water shed, there is a significant yearly deficit of water. Wells are dropping 6ft per year.  And there are 1000's of wells in our area!

The state is working to "harvest" runoff water.  The good news is that our wells are in very good shape and one is barely down from when it was drilled in the 90's.  There are even back-up generators so if we loose power we can still run water.  In addition our non-profit organization is very profitable with 1.6Mil in assets and over $400K cash in the bank! And the water rates have not gone up since they were established in 1994!

The wells are manged by a paid engineering company, the bills and taxes are managed by a paid company, but volunteers sit as a board which makes all of the decisions.  Interesting...

http://www.gowaterusers.com/

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Rain

It rained this afternoon for about 30 minutes on and off...  Yeah!

PS Update - still raining and it is after 6PM!!!

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Yavapai County Building and Planning

Stopped off at the Yavapai County Building offices today to get information on building permit requirements.  Looks like my permits might cost $500+. I was hoping for much less!!!

If the building is detached it must be at least ten feet from any other structure.  This might eat into  my setback requirements for the "sheet flooding".  I have a picture of the plot plan so I will have to take a look at it and figure out where I am going to put this dang building!

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Overstock.com Furniture

Well thanks to my friend Laurie I took the leap and ordered furniture on line!  It was a little scary ordering expensive or not so expensive furniture without seeing them or feeling them in real life!  So far I have ordered (2) chairs, (1) couch and (1) computer desk. 

Unfortunately, the couch had a puncture wound and had to be replaced with a new one.  The only hassle is that I am still waiting for the freight company to pick-up the damage couch!

Assembly can be tedious as was the case with the computer desk!  And instructions are less than adequate. So using one's common sense is a requirement!

Desk in pieces...

Desk as pictured on Overstock.com - mine looks just like it!

So far quality has been pretty good accept for the couch.  Overstock.com was very helpful getting the issue resolved.  However, I think they have a problem freight company on their hands...

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Wild Arizona Fox

This is the second time that I have seen this animal.  The first time it was very fast and I thought it was a small coyote (about 2 weeks ago).   However, this time I saw it close up and  it stopped and looked back at me.  It crossed through my carport to the front of the house.  Then I lost it in the brush.  Not sure if it is jumping the fence or digging through the bottom.  Kind of interesting until I found an article about a jogger who was attacked by a rabbit fox in Yavapai County!  Yikes!

Wild Arizona Fox

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Garage/Art Studio

It is time to start thinking about the new garage/art studio!  I have been playing with my architectural software for preliminary ideas. I want to match the style of the house. This morning I contacted a local drafter that can build acceptable plans for the county.  Perhaps I will not have to wait until next spring, but stay tuned...

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Compost Bins

I am starting to think about building some compost bins.  My landscape is currently pretty wild and I will soon begin the process of pruning.  So with the compost bins in place I will have a place to put the green waste. I like the idea of a three bin compost, but as a single person I am not sure I can produce enough waste.

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In Search of a Mountain Bike

I drove to Phoenix/Chandler last weekend to see family, look at granite slabs and I was hoping to pick-up a bicycle!  Walter was kind enough to give me a bicycle rack that fit my car so I was really to purchase that bike!  

Unfortunately, after going to 3 shops, no one had my frame size (16") in my price range.  I guess the good news is that now I will do additional research and perhaps buy on line at a discounted price allowing me to get better components   According to experts and friends spend the money up front or spend it later in broken bike parts!!!!  Hopefully I will see Mike I.  this weekend, an avid mountain biker and he can give me some first hand advice...

I am looking at this yellow baby...

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Updated Fan!

One of the first things I noticed about my new house was the "outdated" fans in the house.  So I saw a beautiful fan in Home Depot and purchased it to replace the white fan in the great room.  I will probably use the old white fan in the art studio...

Except for a few electrical issues, which turned out to be a problem because I did not read all of the instructions! all went pretty smoothly.  It was a little scary at first making sure all the electrical was off, but in reality it is pretty simple.

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From Humpbacks to Havalina!

Hawaii House

On May 28^th I closed on a small Santa Fe style house in Prescott, Arizona after leaving the island of Hawaii in early April 2011.

Unfortunately, my significant other of 40 years and I parted ways...  We retired to Hawaii in July of 2007 to build an oceanfront home!  I put many hours into the design before we moved to Hawaii.   We completed the house and moved in on January 28, 2009.  But, as life shows it’s twists and turns, we came to a cross roads and decided to part ways.

In the mean time I am very busy improving my new small Santa Fe house.  Read on to see what I have done and will do!

New Arizona House

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