Santan Freeway on track

The AZ Republic has an article today about the pace of work on the San Tan Freeway:

Dirt has been flying for well over a year through Gilbert's once-open grounds as contractors sculpt a six-lane freeway.

Now the concrete's being poured as crews push forward with major paving operations, signaling another milestone in building the $163 million, 12-mile remainder of Santan Freeway, which extends to Elliot Road in southeast Mesa.

The Valley's months-long dry spell has helped keep work on schedule, too.

"Construction continues to be pretty smooth, and we're moving ahead," said Ian Satter, an Arizona Department of Transportation spokesman.

A majority of the new Loop 202's mainline paving is complete, and plans call to begin laying down rubberized asphalt in March, Satter said.

ADOT still is holding to a late spring to early summer opening.

The rest of the article talks about the anticipation of various town officials and what specifically remains to be completed.

I asked The Mister how the opening of the Santan affects Morrison Ranch. There are two effects that immediately came to mind. The first is that it increases demand for the industrial park property along Power Road. We have already begun some informal talks with various users for that ground; but we are getting calls inquiring about that property much more frequently than we did even 2 years ago. The second effect is that the freeway will make the south side of Morrison Ranch the front door rather than the north side, which is closer to the Superstition Freeway. This will offer a larger variety of users for the commercial corner at Higley and Warner. It means we will have more choices, and in our minds, choices are always good.

One benefit that came to my mind when pondering the Santan freeway is that when my daughters come home from Tucson, their commute time will be shorter. Choices are good, but visiting offspring is the very best.

Lakes and lights

Here is a close up look at the gunnite being applied to the lake edge at Highland Groves lake. As I've mentioned in prior posts, the lake is composed of a hole in the ground with rubber sheeting on top of that, and dirt on top of that. If that were the end of the story, the edges would eventually erode, and the rubber sheeting would slip out of position. So an application of rebar and then concrete on top of that holds everything in place, and looks nice, as well.


We can't get concrete on Fridays, due to the cement shortage, so even though they got a good start on the edge last week, it got interrupted by a lack of concrete. The edges are all prepared, so once they get going again, it should progress quickly.

In other updates of note, the palm lights on the southeast corner of Higley and Elliot are now illuminated. My impatience with this detail is legendary, but at last they are lit, as well as the bollards along the path.

And the Panda Express at that same corner has got furniture inside! We have heard that they would like to open February 9; I know it always takes longer, but it looks like they are nearly ready.

Lakes on my mind

No, of course this isn't the lake at Highland Groves; this is over by Lakeview Village, and that is the Farm Bureau building in the background to the left. But it points out some of the multiple purposes of our lakes. First and foremost, they are the receptacle for the reclaimed water that we use to irrigate our trees and turf in the common areas throughout Morrison Ranch. Beyond that practical use, they offer aesthetic beauty for a walk or a run or just a glance from the car window while driving down the street. And then there are the relaxing uses like sailing a boat, as shown above, or catching (and releasing - remember, it's reclaimed water) fish.

When the Lakeview Trails North community is completed in the next couple of years, the ambiance of the lake to the east will be complete and integrated, and the choices for a pleasant stroll exponentially increased.

And what about those other lakes? Highland Groves lakes had the gunnite shot yesterday; the water is on tap, so to speak, so as soon as the edges are completed and inspected, it should begin to flow.

Fish Dwellings

An astute reader pointed out last week that the single pipe in my picture of the lakes at Highland Groves was inadequate to house the fish. I should have mentioned at the time that the pipe was merely the first one. Here is an updated picture of the south lake, with much higher density housing in the fish community:




Of course, as I've said time and again, it always takes longer; we're still waiting for the gunnite to be completed. It will need to cure for a short period of time, and then the water can be added.

Big League Dreams Preview

The AZ Republic tells us of a meeting to check out the concept and layout of Big League Dreams, which will be built by the town next to Highland Groves:

Opening Day at Gilbert's Big League Dreams ballpark may be more than a year away, but residents can get a sneak peak this week of how the complex will look.

Gilbert is hosting an open house Thursday at the Southeast Regional Library to go over some of its future capital improvements projects. Chief among them is the ambitious project that calls for converting a one-time alfalfa field owned by the town into an eight-field sports complex.

Town spokesman Greg Svelund said representatives from Big League Dreams USA LLC, the developer, would be on hand to answer questions. Sketches of the concept, along with photos of the company's other facilities, will be on display.

Svelund said officials would continue to work on the concept's design the next few weeks, before a final proposal is brought to either the town's Design Review Board or Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.

Town officials said they hope the 63-acre ballpark, on Elliot Road between Recker and Power roads, can help lure sports tournaments, league games and other diversions to Gilbert.

Big League Dreams, based in Chino Hills, Calif., enters public-private partnerships with communities to build sports complexes with scaled-down facades of major league ballparks.

It runs five parks in California and Texas and is in stages of planning and developing five others, including its venture in Gilbert.

In October, Gilbert hired M.A. Mortenson Co., of Minneapolis, and Phoenix-based Kitchell CEM for pre-construction services and project management. Gilbert staff members said they hope the complex could be finished before April 2007.

If you're interested in your future neighbor, check it out.

Albertsons Questions

Yesterday, the deal was struck between Albertson's and a consortium of buyers. The AZ Republic lays out the details:

Albertsons won't check out of Arizona, at least not immediately, after the supermarket chain's sale on Monday.

The new owners said they will continue to operate stores under the Albertsons name "on an ongoing basis" in certain regions, including Arizona.

A consortium including grocer Supervalu Inc., drugstore chain CVS Corp. and an investment group led by Cerberus Capital Management struck a deal on Monday to buy Albertsons Inc., the nation's second-biggest traditional grocery store chain, for $9.7 billion in cash and stock and $7.7 billion in debt assumption.

Basically, it appears that Supervalu Inc. has purchased all the Albertson stores that are performing well, which are Idaho, Utah, southern Nevada, southern California, and the northwest. CVS will get the freestanding Osco stores, and the underperforming stores - which include the AZ stores - will be purchased by Cerberus Capital.

The local grocer's union representative is reported as "questioning the motives" of the Cerberus purchase:

Alan Hanson, an organizer for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99 in Phoenix, questions the motives of the group that will oversee Arizona stores, led by Cerberus Capital Management in New York.

"These entities . . . are not interested in running a grocery business," Hanson said. "They are interested in the real estate value."

I don't think that he needs to question motives; real estate is what this company is in the business of doing; and they have the right to do that without disparagement. But for us Morrison Ranch residents, the real question is, what will happen to our Albertson's at Higley and Elliot?

The answer is unknown for the moment; I suspect it's even unknown by the folks who will make the final decision. The grocery business is a difficult business to run; the margins are small, the competition is fierce, and the consumer is picky. The Wall Street Journal (subscription only) describes the evolution of supermarkets:

For most of the past century, supermarkets dominated the food-selling business with weekly specials and prime locations. King Kullen opened what is widely considered the first supermarket in Queens, N.Y., in 1930, advertising itself as a "price wrecker" with new concepts like self-service instead of employee picking, and ample parking.

Following the population growth in the suburbs in the 1960s, supermarkets began focusing on larger locations outside of cities. Through the 1970s and 1980s they added banks, coffee shops, video rentals and other amenities to turn the grocery store into a one-stop shopping center.

But in the 1990s, supermarkets began losing their grip as new rivals with lower operating costs lured customers with cheaper goods. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s consistently lower prices meant shoppers no longer had to clip coupons and stock up on sale items to keep grocery bills low.

In addition to seeking lower prices, customers joined clubs like Costco that turned grocery shopping into a treasure hunt with diamond rings and cashmere sweaters at closeout prices. In 2001, Wal-Mart displaced Kroger as the nation's largest food seller. At the same time, Whole Foods and other upscale grocers siphoned off a small but lucrative batch of consumers with appetizing prepared foods and organic and natural goods.

The result is a new generation of shoppers like Shay Hemphill. Although her mother always shopped at the same Jewel store run by Albertson's, the 23-year-old Chicago student shops at three retailers. She buys vegetables at a small local grocer, paper products at Wal-Mart and deli meats and frozen foods at Jewel. At discounters "the prices are easier on the pockets," Ms. Hemphill says.

This mega-billion dollar sale is supposed to be completed mid-2006. After that the decisions will begin to be made regarding the Arizona Albertson's. So it seems safe to conclude that our own Albertson's will continue as is through most of 2006; after that, we shall see.

Highland Groves Lakes Near

The Mister and I are back to the balmy temperatures of Morrison Ranch, and I came home to some pictures of the Highland Groves Lakes progress. The Water Expert sent me this picture of the lake showing the pencil steel which is a fancy word for rebar. The gunnite is supposed to be poured tomorrow, and then the water should go in sometime next week.



Here's another view; the pipe in the bottom of the lake is the first of many to go in as fish homes. I had read about some lakes that put Christmas trees in the bottom of their lakes for fish habitats, but The Water Expert said he was hesitant to do that because the needles and branches get caught in the filters. So we will stick with used concrete pipes for now:



The lights in the background are the stadium lights from Highland High School.

I'll be watching for the first signs of water and I'll pass it on to you.

Nearer Narnia than Arizona

The Mister and I woke up to about 8 inches of snow this morning, and I couldn't help but think of Narnia in the movie The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe when I saw this lamp post:




And The Mister was able to get a postcard picture of the castle. The founder of Colorado Springs, General Palmer, built this castle for his wife in the late 1800's. It is now a conference center for an organization called The Navigators.





We desert rats have enjoyed the scenery even though our toes have been frozen pretty much the entire time. It would be difficult to replicate these tree-lined streets into an Arizona community, but we work within our environment, and I think it's turned out well. Plus, I can't remember the last time my toes were cold in Morrison Ranch.

Happy Belated Blogiversary

One year ago yesterday, I posted my very first blog post to the Front Porch. I have been thinking about this for a while, and I planned on going back and selecting some of my favorite posts and linking them; and I may yet accomplish that, but at the moment I am in Colorado Springs. Yesterday when I would have liked to take some time and review and post, I didn't have access to the internet. Isn't it interesting how the internet so completely captivates computer users? The Mister actually gets a tiny bit crabby himself when he isn't connected; but I get downright grouchy.

The truth is that after a year, lots of posts and pictures, a few steady, faithful readers (thanks, dear daughters and sister!), plenty of hairpulling as I figure out how to make the computer program do my will, much cajoling of The Mister, Bias For Action and The Water Expert to keep me up to date on Morrison Ranch happenings, and occasionally wondering if the residents of Morrison Ranch were actually benefitting from the posts - I have to say that I really enjoy blogging. There are days when I don't have much to say, and there are days when I say things that aren't interesting to certain folks, and there are days when I have plenty to say; but the upshot is that I think I'll give it a go for another year.

I'll pull up a couple more rocking chairs; and I'd love to have more input from you. You can post comments, and you can send emails (and to those who have emailed and it's taken me forever to answer you - yes, there will be catch and release fishing in Highland Groves lakes - my only excuse is that I get lazy about checking emails when the inbox is empty for weeks at a time). If there is a specific topic or question about Morrison Ranch that you'd like more information on, I'll do my best.

Thanks for reading for a year.

Shade, Beautiful Shade

Okay, since our front porch reported a chilly 35 degrees this morning, I realize that shade might not be high on the priority scale at the moment. But when things heat up this summer, we'll feel differently. I was on a power walk last Thursday morning and noticed a truckload of guys digging holes in the sand at both the tot lots in Higley Groves West. I was hoping they were pouring the footings for the shade structures, and indeed they were. Here is the western tot lot on Park:




And of course, the larger tot lot to the east on Park:




The cottonwood trees at both playgrounds have grown enough to make a difference as well. Even better news to the residents of Higley Groves West is that the funding came from current reserves.

Highland Groves Lake Update

The Water Expert is keeping me up to date on the lakes at Highland Groves. When you look at the picture below, you may be tempted - as I was - to think that the liner hasn't been fully installed yet. The truth is that the dirt you see is actually on top of the liner:



The Water Expert explains:

The lake liner is installed with some soil plating completed. Fairco is still shooting for filling the lake at the end of the week. I think it will be the first part of next week. They still have the concrete shore line to install, the two fountains, and need to boot the liner around all pipe entrances to the lakes. The picture {below} is of the 36” fill pipe going to our wet well and pump station from inside the south lake. Cool stuff.

It is indeed cool stuff, and will get even more cool when it's all wet.

Lakes Update

The Water Expert sent me some pictures of the lake at Highland Groves. Guess what?! The liner is being installed! I think I mentioned before that the liner is pre-cut to fit the lake; this avoids waste, which keeps the cost down. The pieces are then put into the lake in a jigsaw puzzle fashion, and welded together. This is how the process begins:





It has been very cold the past few mornings, and that heavy plastic is difficult to work with when it is chilled. But they made good progress, and it began to look like it should:




When I heard that they "weld" together the seams, I had to ask how one can weld plastic. My only experience with welding is The Mister wearing a giant mask and brandishing a big flame-throwing stick that can easily singe one's arm hairs; somehow that picture doesn't jibe with long sheets of plastic. They actually do use heat to sort of melt together the seams; they have a machine that rolls along on top of the overlap and magically glues together the two pieces.

The Water Expert says that they should be able to start filling the lakes by the end of next week.

On a related note, our existing lake next to the Farm Bureau building has also been affected by the cold temperatures. Some of the tilapia are dying, as they just can't tolerate the cold water. This makes the catfish happier, though, as it increases their food supply. Not to worry about the tilapia, The Water Expert assures me; they are incredibly prolific in their reproduction.

I Can Almost Smell The Orange Chicken

The Panda Express on the corner of Higley and Elliot has been making tracks, especially since Christmas. I love the red brick, and I'm really excited for the drive-through (I know this is a paradox, since I talk so much about being pedestrian friendly; but I do find that when I don't feel like cooking dinner, I don't much feel like going inside to buy it, either). The Mister and I noticed that they were getting power hooked up in the last couple of days. (On a related but separate issue, there is some progress in the inspections of the power box next to the Bank of America; is it possible? Could the palms in this quarter circle actually receive their lighting soon? Stay tuned.)



And just a stroll down the parking lot shows some progress on the shops between Albertson's and DiRicci's:




This is from the back of the parking lot; it looks small, but The Mister says that, depending on who the tenant is, there will be 3 or 4 shops in this space.

Back To School

Gilbert's school system fires up again today after what seems like a really long break. It only seems that way because they got out just 2 days before Christmas; nonetheless, I've heard lots of groaning from the kids, and not a few sighs of relief from the parents who are eager to get back into a routine.

There's a nice article about a kid at a small school in today's AZ Republic:

Surrey Garden Christian School, a K-12 private 1A school in Gilbert, is the smallest of small schools in Arizona.

It has 27 high school boys. Twelve play soccer. Eleven play basketball. And one has a special story.

Ivan Villegas is a 6-foot-5, 205-pound junior forward who is legally blind in his left eye. He shed 45 pounds since last summer and is averaging 28 points, 18 rebounds and five blocked shots for a 6-3 team.

"He's one of the best shots I've had in basketball," said coach Steve Currier, who has coached in Ohio. "He learned to get that depth perception."

Villegas said when he was 8 years old, he had a cancerous tumor removed from behind his eye. He said he lost the lens, which made him legally blind in the eye.

"If I didn't have (the tumor) removed, it would have killed me," he said.

Villegas, who puts a brown contact in the left eye to match the color of his right eye, said he remembers what it was like to see out of both eyes. He said he uses that recall on the court.

"I can see fully," he said.

But Villegas knew he had to change his body. He was a load at 250 pounds as a sophomore, but he said he was no help to the team, because he was too slow.

He said he stopped eating Mexican food, started eating salads and protein, worked out with weights and in the gym with former Arizona State assistant coach Russ Pennell, who runs Arizona Premier Basketball Academy in Mesa.

Pennell has given Villegas the confidence to believe he can ultimately play at a four-year college.

Villegas wonders how dominant he would be if he was at a big school, but his parents wanted him out of the public-school system three years ago to pick up his academics.

"I was told by Russ, it doesn't matter where you play, if you can play the game, you can play anywhere," Villegas said.

It was the first sentence that caught my eye, of course - "the smallest of small schools in Arizona." I know this from firsthand experience, since my third daughter and future son-in-law both graduated from this school (and his parents hold the positions of principal and teachers). I've been to towns I never knew existed in AZ to watch these kids play their hearts out in various sporting events; towns that are anywhere from one to four hours driving time for the parents and coaches hauling the kids to the events. It was great fun to watch them compete; and the long hours in the car were worth it compared to the alternative, which was NO competition. I wish young Mr. Villegas well and have no doubt that his talents will get some attention from scouts.


As I think about our family, we've enjoyed quite a sampling of the schooling available in Gilbert. The Mister and I feel strongly that our kids' education is our responsibility, and so have worked to find just the right situation for each of them to excel. Gilbert has some of the best schools in the state, as measured both by scoring systems and parental satisfaction.

And GPS is adding a new elementary school, right here in Morrison Ranch. They've begun construction on the new school in Higley Groves, at the intersection of Park and Cole. I'm unsure of its name, but I understand that it will open next fall.

Boomers Value Roots

There is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal’s online edition (subscription only) today entitled “Old Kid on the Block.” The article talks about a trend among baby boomers in particular to buy back their childhood homes. The reasoning seems to be this:

Trying to satisfy a longing for meaningful roots and connections, some Americans are buying their childhood homes. Often the buyers are baby boomers, perhaps the last generation to have childhoods so centered around a single house. In the case of adult children who inherit a house, moving in can be emotionally easier than selling. There are also some realists who say the financial benefits of buying from aging parents, in terms of generous deals and tax breaks, are a factor -- especially in today's real-estate market.

The article showcases a few families who have made this purchase; one fellow even went so far as to remodel the entire house to make it be exactly as it was when he was growing up. This involved removing walls and a bathroom that had been installed by subsequent owners, and trying to find or duplicate his mother’s wallpaper.

It goes on:

Americans over age 40 are more likely to feel a strong connection to childhood homes because they grew up in an era when families spent many years in the same house, building neighborhood bonds, says Gary Melton, director of the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life at Clemson University. Because the average child today switches homes every five to seven years, according to U.S. Census data, "the significance attached to any one place won't be as great" when today's kids are older, he says.

Kevin Keim, director of the Charles W. Moore Center for the Study of Place in Austin, Texas, suspects that people who buy childhood homes are searching for parenting role models in an age of broken families. Moving back to a childhood home gives people a sense of comfort, says Mr. Keim, even more so if their parents' marriage was healthy. They see the childhood home as "a symbol of the notion of family." There can be risks, though. Because leaving the nest has always been the American way, Mr. Keim says, those who buy childhood homes may be viewed by others as stuck in the past, or somehow dependent on mom and dad.


Well, yes, I did have that thought about the guy that remodeled back to the original; I mean, really now, removing a bathroom?! We Americans put a pretty high value on having lots of bathrooms.

Apparently there are certain years more conducive to bonding with a house than others:

In terms of building an attachment to a house and neighborhood, ages 9 to 12 are formative years, says Claudia Coulton, a social-sciences professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

I can attest to that; The Mister and I moved twice during those formative years of our kids’ lives, and did we ever receive some grief about abandoning those sticks and bricks! Of course, it isn’t really the house itself, or the floor plan; it’s the memories that were made there: swimming parties, losing a fingertip, sleepovers, and mundane trivia.

But when people talk about living in one house for a long time, I immediately think of my mother-in-law. Her parents moved into the family home when she was 7. She left to go to college for 2 years in California, then came back and got married and stayed at this house while her husband went off to the war for 18 months. When he returned, they moved into their own house and started a family. Soon after The Mister was born, she and her new family moved back in to the home, and she has been there ever since – a total of 65 years in one house! Talk about roots!

She can tell you about every addition and subtraction to the house, from adding the den to subtracting the sleeping porches. She knows when every tree was planted, even the ones that no longer exist. I suspect she has many pictures in her memory of the house at different stages of its existence, landscaping and colors.

We’ve had many a family celebration in that house, and I know that it’s a very meaningful place to all three of the sons, which is why they have vowed that it will never be sold.

We are all about roots. When The Mister had his first visions of Morrison Ranch, his goal was to facilitate community and agriculture, two of the largest roots of his upbringing. We hope that there might be several families in Morrison Ranch that make those great memories in great houses; and who knows? Maybe someday the kids that are growing up here today will be the homeowners of tomorrow.

AAARRGGHH!

The piles of hair on the floor next to my chair attest to the frustration I am feeling at resolving to blog early and daily; instead, I am fighting with the cyber-germs for hours at a time... I WILL prevail. Sometime.

Agribusiness Will Survive

Early in our marriage, I often heard The Mister bemoan the fact that the number of farmers in America continued to decline. I was moaning right along with him as I wondered how we could continue to feed and clothe our nation. His answer to that was that we continue to improve our farming skills so that farmers are more efficient and get greater yields per acre on their crops than in the past. As I watch and listen to The First Cousin's sons improve their farming techniques in Gila Bend (did you know that there is such a thing as a tractor that is guided by GPS? It helps make straight rows, adjustments for variations in the field and other amazing benefits.), I am reminded that agriculture is very much alive and well in the U.S., even though the number of farmers might still be declining. I did find a census performed by the USDA in 2002 that stated there were just over 2 million farmers in that year; the surprising thing about that was that the census performed in 1997, 5 years earlier, showed just UNDER 2 million farmers.

I got a further reminder from this article in today's AZ Republic about food-chain followers:

Not many people know the entire process of how agricultural commodities go from pitchfork to table fork.

So, the Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus is taking students on a tour of firms in the region that are involved in all stages of the process, said Raymond Marquardt, the school's dean.

This is the second year for the field trip. The tour is the bulk of a weeklong course Marquardt will teach with assistance from Dale Berry, a member of the school's advisory council.

The course starts Monday.

For the first four days, about 40 seniors who will take the course will visit companies, including Schnepf Farms, Poore Brothers, Bay State Milling, American Italian Pasta Co. and a Wal-Mart Supercenter as well as a Wal-Mart distribution center in Casa Grande.

"There's a surprising number of agribusiness firms here," Marquardt said.

On the final day of the course, students will be required to submit a written report and deliver a marketing presentation.

"We're not going to tell them which company they have to deliver a report on until Day 4," Marquardt said.

And yes, there is a relationship with the ASU Morrison School of Agribusiness. The Mister's parents donated the funds to set up the school and endow the chair.

Agriculture has a way of getting in one's bloodstream and never leaving. Farmers are a resilient lot; that's why I'm pretty certain that Agribusiness will survive even in this era of dwindling acres and farmers.

Technical Difficulties

At the moment, the Missus is trying to post, but Blogspot is fighting back! Just know that she wants to keep you informed.

Catching Up Is Hard To Do

You may suspect that I haven't been sitting on my Front Porch and visiting with you because I'm lounging around the house in my robe doing nothing but eating sugar cookies. That's actually a pretty good guess and not beyond the realm of possibility, but actually I've been trying to re-establish a routine while catching up on the undone work of the past couple of weeks. I will admit to nibbling on cookies and interspersing some bowl games into the work mix; but honestly, between Christmas un-decorating, beating back the dreaded paper piles, and stealing a few moments of movie attendance with my daughters, I haven't given much thought to Morrison Ranch issues.

Much to my chagrin, life is back to "normal" now with the departure of the last daughter. I'll try to get back to business tomorrow.

Checking in on the Lakes

The Water Expert sent me some pictures last Friday to update me on the lakes' progress. First, at the lake that is already established at Town Center North by the Farm Bureau building, the pump station was getting its annual checkup on the motors and filters. It required a crane to lift off the Bermad Stainless Steel filters and then get a thorough cleaning. Everything checked out great.




Over at Highland Groves, the lakes should be getting their liners put in tomorrow. The Water Expert tells me that the liners are pre-cut to fit the shape of each lake, so it's a bit like putting together a puzzle to get them in the lakes properly. He is predicting the lakes will be filled in the third week of January. Here's how it looked on Friday:




I remember when the first lake was being built and The Water Expert was photographed standing next to the sleeve holding the pipes for the fountain, which was about 12 feet tall; I asked him if the fountains were ready to be installed in these lakes, and he told me that these fountains are a little different from the one at Town Center North. These fountains will actually float on the top of the lake, which is feasible because they aren't as big as the first one. The water levels of the lake will have no effect on the fountains, since they will always be on top. As usual, I have trouble visualizing; thankfully I'll soon be able to see it rather than trying to imagine it.