More Progress at Highland Groves

I have been lamenting the lack of a fountain in the south lake ever since the north lake got its fountain up and running. Driving by the community one day, I saw this:





Out of nowhere, it seems, the fountain in the south lake is up and running. Apparently the right fellow emerged to get the thing set up and going properly. I guess now all it needs is one of The Water Expert's custom-designed nozzles so that the railings aren't sprayed. The timers for running them and also a wind-sensor (to shut things down when the wind blows hard like it did yesterday) also need to be addressed. But it is good to see some progress on a detail that has been stuck for so many months.

First, the tank lights; now, this fountain. What amazing thing will happen next?

Frosty and Other Lights

I have a couple of caveats for today's post. First, I'm a far better writer than photographer, so even though I'm sharing a couple of pictures here, I know that they aren't exposed correctly or whatever, but I need them to tell the story. Second, my opinions on this topic are my own, and in no way reflect those of my officemates or any official position of Morrison Ranch or any of the HOAs.

I live in Higley Groves West, and there is a house in the neighborhood that is greeting Christmas in a big way. Meet Frosty:



That picture shows the proportion of the decoration to the house dwarfed behind it, but it isn't very clear of Frosty himself. So here's a better representation of the lights:



I love him; I know he's huge and unproportional and not terribly professionally constructed - a traffic cone for his nose? and The Mister says he's supported by the longest extension ladder The Mister has ever seen - but he shouts Merry Christmas in a giant way, and for some unknown reason I giggle every time I see him. If you're out looking at lights, come give him a gander. We were thinking what a great addition he would be to the grain tanks.

Speaking of the tanks - hold your breath! - we've been limping along with a couple of them lit, but with bulbs burnt out, and the timers not working properly, and some in our office not wanting them turned on at all until they could be fully lit; but yesterday, the company was working on them, and last night The Mister and I turned them on (timers still not proper) and took a picture, and ta-da!




All four lit, the burnt out bulbs replaced, a vision of wonder! And all before Christmas. And Bias For Action, who has worked tirelessly (well, ceaselessly anyway) to get them going for the past year, is out of town and can't see their debut. But we are thankful.

And one more thing on lights. We tease The Water Expert about his passion for perfection (all the while appreciating the positive benefits to our community), which is perfectly encapsulated by the lights on his house. Look at these perfect, not a single one burned out, red little soldiers all standing at attention along his roofline:



Don't you love this time of year?

Happy Days

I hope that your holiday weekend was as pleasant as mine; the most pleasant part, of course, is being with my kids (minus one). We had great times with extended family, feasting and chatting. We put up our Christmas decorations -early for me - and we laughed quite a lot.

I celebrate my birthday over Thanksgiving every year, and this year my sister encouraged my celebrating by hiring a company that puts up lawn signs in the middle of the night. So on my special day, I woke up to this:




My neighbor was a little puzzled; he thought perhaps it was for my son's sake. Nope, it means that I am the star of the show and I'm watching football! And I did. I think I got even more full of football watching (probably because I did a poor job of picking the winners) than turkey.

I hope your time was just what you were hoping for, as well.

Let The Cooking Begin

Is there any holiday besides Thanksgiving that centers on food, and not just food, but a very particular menu? There's an article in the paper today indicating that many families are moving to different menus. Some families may be able to do that, but if I tried to change the courses, there would be such an uprising in my household that there would be little thanks given. Ironic, isn't it, that I am married to a change-agent, but my offspring are inextricably tied to tradition?

This will be the first time ever that we will be without one daughter at the table; our eldest in Seattle will be spending her travel time and money on a trip home for Christmas, and so cooking her own Thanksgiving feast in her apartment with new friends. But we will be linked in spirit, though not in presence, as she emailed me for the recipe for my granny's rolls. My girls have asked me for years to write down all the recipes that for us have become "traditional" and I have laughingly pointed to the spattered, tiny pieces of paper that line my recipe box (why on earth did I write down the ingredients to key recipes on those small scraps of paper, not even as big as a recipe card? I have no idea.). I dug out a little blue slip of paper last night and asked The Mister if I should scan it and send it on to her, but he said it would be mean. So I sat down and wrote an email containing "the most detailed version ever" of the recipe that for years has yielded the slightly sweet, fluffy rolls and evoked many murmurs of satisfaction. May this tradition continue.

And today I will don my chef's pants and top (a much-valued Christmas present from years past; I like to pretend to be a chef, but nobody else is around to pretend to be the sous-chef or the dishwashers, unfortunately - except The Mister, who has gamely taken on several soapy sinks) and make some pies and rolls, and get ready for the Feast. The goal is to intersperse as much football watching with eating as possible, with as little actual cooking on Thursday as possible.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. See you on Monday.

Can I Get a Little Light on the Situation?

I have two sagas of lighting issues, and both of them could be titled Are You Joking?

The first has to do with the lights on the grain tanks. You may remember that Bias For Action has been leading the charge on this. If not, you can start at the beginning here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. After our last great news about something actually happening before anticipated, it seems that we are back to ops normal, as The Mister would say. Bias For Action graciously replied to my query for an update:

Meter man came out last Tuesday and found some labeling not to his liking. Promises made to get it fixed didn’t help. Meter man had to be re-scheduled. I was told it might have been last Friday. Apparently not. I have a call in to find out when. “If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.”

Ain't that the truth?!

But wait! Out of the blue comes the call that if The Mister flips the switch, we might just have light after all. And so he did. And so we do. Or at least partially. Here's a picture he took at about 7 pm last night:



I really can't believe what I'm seeing! It actually might be possible to see all four of them lit by Christmas, and maybe even, gasp! by Thanksgiving...

My second saga has to do with the street lights in front of our house. I posted on this in February; these lights had been out since about Thanksgiving. I had made the online request to get them fixed, and we had some contact with the fellows who fixed them, changing the wiring. But the lights are out again. I've been meaning to go get the number off the poles to call or file an online report with the Town of Gilbert (remember that any resident can do this; also remember that the HOA is not responsible, but the Town of Gilbert is), and once again I've been thinking it won't feel so dark when everyone gets their Christmas lights up, anyway.

So when The Mister received a call this morning, we were both nonplussed. He took a call from SRP saying that fixing the poles in front of our house was not their responsibility, but the HOA's and that's who we should have contacted. The Mister assured him that it was most definitely NOT the HOA's fix - he's on the HOA board - but he didn't know that I had not contacted SRP; my complaint was with the Town of Gilbert about a year ago! How SRP ended up with our complaint nearly a year later, I'll never know. But the gentleman promised to forward the info to the Town of Gilbert, so maybe those lights will get fixed anyway.

Thoughts on Thankful

In case you haven't noticed, there are Christmas commercials on TV already; and Christmas music playing in the mall; and Christmas decorations available in Target. This used to bother me, starting Christmas well before Thanksgiving (and in some cases, before Halloween). For some reason, this year it isn't annoying, but welcome. Maybe I've been worn down and it no longer surprises me.

However, there should be a few articles/commercials/public mentions of Thanksgiving over the next few days, and I want to start it off. How about a quote from 19th century writer E.P. Powell:

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.

It seems like the holiday of Thanksgiving leans toward family, nuclear and extended, in today's culture. We want to be together with each other, to feast and to play and to hang out and to say, implicitly or explicitly, that we care for each other. I won't get too philosophical about our individualist American society and how it compares to other cultures that place a greater emphasis on extended family and community; but I will say that this is the one holiday that emphasizes that gathering of family above all else. Our family is no exception, and we probably have more of it (family, I mean) located locally, than most; so The Mister and I typically try to celebrate with everyone (and I still try to get some football watched, as well). For that, I am thankful.

And, of course, we eat. One of my favorite quotes from our own celebrity, Erma Bombeck:

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?

And for me, once again, the concept of community looms large in the picture. I've been having some email conversations with a resident of Higley Estates on this topic. She moved to Morrison Ranch with her family, if I correctly remember, after driving by and liking what she saw, and then finding a house available in Higley Estates - in the middle of the lottery process! - and taking the opportunity. The family has been in their home for a while now, and I was curious about how she feels about living in Morrison Ranch now, some months later. This is her reply:

I must say I truly enjoy living in this community. I jokingly refer to it to my friends as 'my little piece of Mayberry'. And I'm not being cynical at all when I say that - it's actually a term of real affection. Last year, when we first moved here, I loved the mornings when I walked my daughter to the school bus (dragging my then 2-year old son and my rather ancient dog along with me). I love playing soccer with my kids in the front yard, which is strange because our home is on one of the large lots with a big backyard, but we are more inclined to play in the front yard than in the back - go figure. My kids do like the tot-lot when we get there - now that the weather is finally nice again, we will take advantage of it!

I love the openness of everything - being able to look down the streets and see the horizon in the distance, and of course the green - tons of green. I'm an Arizona native and grew up in the Willo district in Phoenix where all of the homes were built in the 1930s and 40s, and some elements of that childhood I see here - the young families, the sidewalks that are built away from the street, the grass lawns.

We have met some of our neighbors and this past Halloween, we met a number more. But I keep on wanting to do more to really get to know the folks around me. I saw that the city of Gilbert was sponsering a block party kit back in October and had all good intentions but, once again, time flew by just too quickly.

I get a sense that most people who have moved here are wanting that same type of experience - knowing their neighbor, making friends along the street - but we all have been so socially isolated over the past few decades that we focus on just getting home, closing the garage door and cocooning ourselves into our homes, that I think a lot of people (myself included) aren't sure where to start. Yeah, I could go knock on the neighbor's doors, but people might think I'm crazy, or worse - selling something!

So I've been mulling around in my head on ways to make a community somewhat closer...

And she has come up with some great ideas, some of which we hope to implement and some of which we hope to help her implement; but may I just say how thankful I am for her. This is precisely the kind of thinking we hope for throughout Morrison Ranch, along with the willingness to start the ball rolling. We work, in our own imperfect way, to foster the atmosphere, but it's really the residents that will make it happen.

We hope you enjoy your family connections this week. Our lists of things we are thankful for are long and detailed, and I suspect yours are as well.

As a football junkie, I must leave you with my favorite Erma Bombeck quote:

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.

Pecan Festival 2006

The Mister and I were very sorry to have missed this year's Pecan Festival. But I got a few pictures from a couple different places, and good reports, so I'll share what I know.

The MC was a neighbor of mine, Jim Hurley:



The Mad Science booth was one of the kids' favorites this year:


There were, of course, several sponsors, and booths offering treats and things. In The Raw and My Girlfriend's Kitchen were just a couple:














The sack race and the Tug O'War were well attended...





What's a day in the park without popcorn and sno-cones and clowns?


















It looks like the Bike Parade had a Monster Bike entry:




Of course, the Bouncy Toys are always a hit with the youngest generation. Here's a wider view:




I've made some of the pictures smaller to fit, but you can click on them to enlarge. I'm very grateful for all the hard work that the volunteers and the businesses did to pull the event off. The work is not unnoticed.

More on the Housing Market

We get together with our residential broker every month or so to assess the current market and our plans. I posted about our last conversation as well as a WSJ article here. We had another lunch and chat yesterday, and I thought I'd share my takeaway from the conversation.

Our broker said before that things are going to look worse than they are for a while, and he has proved to be prophetic. The main problem is that the large, national homebuilders insist on shooting themselves in both feet. It is a complex situation that I don't pretend to understand, even as a CPA, but in large part, the publicly traded homebuilders must estimate their sales volume and then try like the dickens to meet those numbers. Most of us business owners look to the long-term in our planning, and most of us are willing to bear some economic pain to ensure the health of the company. But if a company is trying to maximize its volume quarter by quarter rather than adjusting to the market as it is and taking a hit in the early going in hope of better profitability later, then things begin to look screwy. I'm not implying that they are doing anything illegal, but I am bluntly saying that they are making stupid decisions, like trying to dump subdivisions at below the cost of development - except that nobody's buying, because they are doing the same thing. Or they are drastically cutting prices of houses in order to keep their volume of sales up, while infuriating the residents who purchased mere months earlier at the higher price. All this to please Wall Street, which is working, because their stock prices are going up. I don't know what they are privately thinking for the long term - perhaps that the market will turn up again soon and that will overcome the short-term knucklehead decisions?

This is not a crash, like the RTC years back in the late 80's. During that housing crash, the overall economy was down, there was no cash, no consumer confidence, and no demand. Today, Wall Street is setting new records, the Fed is making noises like inflation is not going to be a problem, and there is plenty of cash. The thing we are lacking today are the gray-haired folks that have ridden through a housing downturn. It leads to a lot of knee-jerk reactions.

So while the home-builders are chasing their tails and biting each other, what does that mean to Morrison Ranch? Very little, actually, other than timing. Lakeview Trails North is proceeding with construction more rapidly than ever before. We had three crews putting in the wet utilities, and it was done within the construction schedule; last year, we would have had one crew working. Morrison Ranch continues to be an "A" property, which means very desirable, in laymen's terms. We are a Master Planned Community with sewer and all the infrastructure, and now are considered to be infill rather than on the outskirts. So when they are ready to build again, Morrison Ranch will be one of the first places they will look. We are under no pressure to sell.

Besides, there are other fish to fry; we've heard some renewed whispers about some options for the Albertson's building - sorry, nothing concrete enough to share with you, but the fact there is whispering is very encouraging. Our industrial site's zoning is on the Mesa town council's docket for Monday night, so we can spend some time concentrating on industrial users.

Who knows? Maybe I'll even have time to finish the conversion to paperless.

That's Twice, Now

She's made my day twice; the UPS gal, a Higley Groves resident, brought some cookies to the office yesterday and we chatted briefly. Thanks! It was nice to meet you, and the cookies were delicious.

You Go, Girl

I couldn't resist passing on this article about a woman that is an amazing woman. Yes, she's a relative by marriage: her brother married The Mister's grandmother's sister. We chatted with her last year at the award ceremony when Morrison Ranch won the beautification award, and she is sharp as a tack at the age of 97. Here's the article from the Republic about Elizabeth Heagren:

After resigning a 27-year volunteer post as treasurer for the Gilbert Historical Museum, you might expect Elizabeth Heagren to take it easy for a while.

But the 97-year-old bookkeeper believes keeping busy with work that interests you is vital to a long, healthy life.

So on Tuesdays, just as she has done since 1979, she will drive herself to an afternoon shift to staff the museum's front desk and welcome visitors wanting to learn about Gilbert's history.

"You need something to keep your body and mind occupied - that part is a must," Heagren said. "That's the main problem (for) the people who don't last long after their mates pass away."

Heagren said she forced herself to stay active when her husband died shortly after the couple retired in Mesa, in 1972. They had returned to be closer to her brother and longtime Gilbert resident John Sawyer. Sawyer was president of the Gilbert Historical Society and asked his sister to join in his effort to preserve Gilbert's history.

Heagren's grade-school attendance in the building that now houses the museum has provided her the unique experience of helping to preserve a piece of her own history, which includes being born and raised in Gilbert to a family of farmers.

Heagren is proud to document the roots of people like her father, Hubert Sawyer, a Gilbert farmer and teacher who worked hard to ensure his hometown would prosper.

Though Heagren is passing on budgeting responsibilities for the museum, she is happy to offer her support to new treasurer Wally Delecki, 59.

Given Heagren's experience as a mathematician - she retired as an accountant - and her years as treasurer, Delecki said he was curious to hear her formula for a successful tenure.

Heagren said her No. 1 piece of advice was pretty straightforward: "I used the simplest accounting system there is - cash in/cash out - I made the deposit and wrote checks for the bills right away. No delays."

Delecki, former Gilbert Public Schools superintendent, realizes he has big shoes to fill.

"She is a wonderful human being that has survived in a small town as it grew up around her. She is part of the heritage of this community," Delecki said. "I hope I am blessed with the good health and happiness to also serve 28 years (as treasurer)."

Though Delecki commended Heagren for her strict work ethic, he said he most admired her ability to delight in life. She is still involved with her church, weekly bowling and loves to read whodunit mysteries, he added.

"She's models (the idea) if you stay useful, you stay youthful," Delecki said. "She gives you a perspective that many of the younger folks do not realize - your roots are in people, not in places and things."

She chooses not to drive at night, and she only drives locally, but she remembers things better than I do, and has rather a quick wit. I can't think of a better greeter at the Historical Museum. If you haven't been there yet, it's a great place to get a sense of the history of Gilbert. Just ask Elizabeth; she lived it.

Unbelievable

I am enamored with words, for various reasons. Some words are just fun to say, like discombobulate. Some words fit the situation so perfectly, like when I used to tell my kids that they were being pugnacious. And it's always a thrill to find the perfect word to communicate an exact idea. Most folks think that I must be a math whiz since I'm an accountant, and therefore numbers would be more interesting to me; that would be incorrect, as my second daughter (who majored in math) will testify. But numbers do come in handy when making some comparisons.

For example, The Mister grew up in a Gilbert town of 2,000, and the population remained pretty much the same for his entire life. He went to Tucson for his college education, came back here to farm, and during the first year of our marriage in 1980, Gilbert's population jumped to 5,000. Somewhere between our third and fourth child, the number hit 20,000, and you know the story of the exponential growth from there, up to about 184,000 at last count. It's the number 20,000 that I'm focusing on; it seems like it took a while for Gilbert to hit that number: all of his life, and up through 8 or 9 years of marriage.

Now switch the topic a bit; sometime today, the 20,000th visitor will read this post.

I find this unbelievable. When I started The Front Porch almost 2 years ago, my intention was twofold: first to introduce the family to this community, and also to provide some news about the neighborhoods along the way. The Mister sometimes bemoans the fact that we will see something interesting as we are driving - "gee, why is there yellow police tape around that building?" or "I didn't know this street was going to be closed for a day; I wonder why?" or "there's a helicopter hovering, is that good or bad news?" - and have no way of answering our curious questions. So I figured there were folks living in Morrison Ranch who might have the same sorts of questions - "I heard there was a drugstore going in on the corner" or "did you know there's a dollar store going into the Albertson's building?" - with no discernable place to go for answers. Some persistent souls will call our office (which we welcome), but I think many more folks just wonder amongst themselves. I've tried to anticipate those curious questions, and dispel those rumors that start flying, and actually answer the questions that I do receive via email. If I've accomplished my second objective of providing news about the community as it builds, that task is far from complete, since things keep building and there continue to be questions and points of interest.

Introducing the family to the Morrison Ranch residents has been a bit more sporadic, and I suppose that new readers are not so inclined to go back through the archives to find family history; yet, I don't want to retell the same old stories over and over again. I try to give links when the old stories seem appropriate to revisit, but I honestly haven't quite figured out how to keep imparting the same history to a changing audience of readers.

The reason why it feels important that you know the family that I've married into is more than just historical. To be very frank, when we went through the zoning process for Morrison Ranch back in the mid 90's, I heard and read some amazingly hurtful things about the Morrison family, and my desire to set the record straight began to grow. You know how we talk about big companies as nameless, faceless robots - Big Oil, Tobacco, even The Government? We can be brutal in our assessments because there is no one person's face that comes to mind (okay, except for Bill Gates, who is reviled by computer users across the world at various times). To actually meet a person, though, and say to oneself, "well, she's not the ogre I'd been led to believe" - now THAT seems more productive. That's why I've been willing to offer a peek inside our office, and to introduce various family members in various ways. I hope to provide context, to put a face (or several faces) to the name. This is also an ongoing process.

My self-examination on the blogging process after two years and 20,000 readers leads me to a few disjointed conclusions:

My Front Porch visitors circle has grown from family and friends (who may not be nearby and just like to keep up on what's happening here) to more residents of Morrison Ranch, for whom the blog is intended.

I don't get as many emails as I'd anticipated, but the number does continue to grow.

I receive the most comments and emails when I share a personal viewpoint or story, even though this is supposed to be about Morrison Ranch itself. The Mister says that it's because folks can identify with the Diamondbacks or birds or cars or whatever, but the details about soil amendment or the like is all new information, and so comments are not to be expected. Which doesn't make the information invalid, necessarily.

Blogging is more difficult than I thought it would be; but many times when I've grown a little weary of doing it, I'll get a lift from someone who emails me out of the blue saying that they are reading it in anticipation of moving here from another state, or that they drove through the area and loved our community and could I please tell them about the schools, or something like that.

So I guess I'll keep posting for a while longer; thanks for joining me. Probably the most encouraging comment I've heard was one that happened several months ago, maybe even a year ago. The Mister was in the UPS store at Lakeview Village, and he was joking around with the guys in there, who called him Mr. Morrison, and a gal in the store said to him, "Are you The Mister? I read your wife's blog all the time and I feel like I know you!" It still makes me smile.

Nos Volvimos

Yes, we're back, after a very rewarding trip to Rocky Point. After all the sore muscles and blood blisters and just being bone-tired, this is the image that makes it worth it all:



These are the new residents standing next to their still-damp stuccoed house; they were a great family to build for, and with; Dad is a taxi driver and was able to help with the building for part of Saturday and on Sunday, and our group fell in love with the whole family.

For our group, the toughest part of the weekend was getting home. For three and a half hours, this was what we looked at as we waited to cross the border:



In 2007, U.S. citizens will be required to have their passports to cross the border. I shudder to think how long it would take to get across if they look at everyone's passport.

Holiday Weekend

I won't be posting tomorrow as we are heading to Rocky Point for our annual house-building trip. I posted extensively on this last year, and so I won't do that again. But it is still something we feel very worthy of our time and effort, so off we go. We are sad to miss the Pecan Festival; perhaps you could go in our stead!

See you Monday.

Electrifying

I try not to ask Bias For Action about any news on the lights on the tanks, because it frustrates all of us, but I got this unsolicited email last week:

Sometimes you just want to pull your hair out (if I had any left)…

The panel has received its “green tag”, according to our contractor. Of course, SRP doesn’t have notice of that, so that is a loose end that needs follow up.

We had to set up an account (probably actually re-establish an old account).

SRP needed to know the loads on the upgraded service for the proper meter, something no one had provided SRP. (Their construction group was quite kind and called our contractor for the information.)

The request for a meter goes to their Design group which sends it along to the inspection group. This takes 7-10 business days in the southeast valley these days due to the backlog of new construction.

Once the order is put in, it takes up to 48 hours for someone to be scheduled for an inspection. If the inspection matches up with what the Town of Gilbert says is installed then their recommendation is put into the system. It takes at least 24 hours for the paperwork to get processed.

Then someone actually does the work that we are requesting…putting on a meter and connecting the wires. Voila! Just like clockwork!

The bottom line is it is going to take a minimum of 3 weeks before we get power. AHHHHHH!

We've had lots of experience with this process; in fact, this is the detailed explanation of what happened at Highland Groves with our meters to run the irrigation to water the sod. It makes sense that folks would be super careful with electricity; it isn't something to mess around with. But the process just feels so excruciating.

You'll never believe what happened. Somehow we lucked out. Somehow the system worked uncommonly fast for us, and the inspector came and signed off on the box yesterday. The next step, installing the meter, is supposed to happen next Monday or Tuesday... It's amazing!

Is there actually hope for lights on the tanks by Thanksgiving?!! Stay tuned...

Oh, Grow Up!

I had never heard of Enrico Fermi until I married The Mister; for those folks like me that suspect quantum theory is figuring out how to triple a recipe, he was a brilliant Italian physicist. Apparently folks in the hard sciences think he was quite a guy, and there are lots of questions he posed to hapless students such as myself, known as "Fermi Problems." One of the problems he asked was "How much does a fully loaded cement truck weigh?" That's an easy one, as long as you have a high speed internet connection. Depending on the number of axles, and the state law, the truck can weigh between 60,000 and 80,000 pounds. Take that, Mr. Fermi.

This question came up because of our after-lunch field trip yesterday to peruse the sod-laying at Highland Groves. As we drove along several curbs, I saw something like this:



And more along the corners:




And I wondered if the drivers that were blithely destroying the sod knew how much their trucks weighed, and how it wasn't a fair fight between a cement truck and new grass... I know that they presume it will get fixed - because it will - and why should they care because they don't live there anyway; but it still bothers me that they would be careless. But my irritation turned to outright anger when we drove by the park and saw this:



These tracks, of course, were made by a vehicle much lighter than a cement truck, and not just to cut a corner in a hurry; most of the contractors blame these types of incidents on "youth" out messing around, and generally they are perpetrated by a resident. What ever happened to the relatively harmless mischief of TP'ing houses or dumping trash cans? I remember when Higley Groves was being built, someone drove down the middle of park lane and took out about ten of the baby trees, and I felt very similar. Destruction of property isn't my idea of Saturday night fun; these folks were definitely "youthful" in their world view, no matter their physical age.

How about this for a Fermi problem: how many dollars of destruction does it take to move a youth to maturity?

Unofficial Election Results

I neither stayed up to watch, nor have I spoken with my brother-in-law this morning; but according to the Maricopa County unofficial election results, he came in 6th in a race for five seats. It's disappointing for the family, as we can't think of anyone more qualified for the position, but I suppose every candidate feels that way. We offer our best wishes to the new board of (all!) women as they offer input on the precious asset of water in Arizona.

Get There Any Way You Can

Whether by bike or on foot, plan on making it to the 3rd Annual Pecal Festival in Higley Groves West. It's this Saturday in Windmill Park North from 2 to 5 pm. It's a great place to hang out with your neighbors, win some prizes, play with your kids, and just plain relax on a Saturday afternoon. The bike parade will be at 3:30 (the picture above is from last year's bike parade), and it seemed to be one of the best-loved features of the kids, along with the bouncy toy, of course.

Bring canned goods for donations, and bring a buck for the Leukemia Society Raffle (but you must be present to win), and above all, bring the kids!

The Signs Will Come Down

The election signs, that is; in case you haven't been answering your phone, reading your mail, or driving along the roads, TODAY is the day to cast your vote at the polls. The Mister and I mailed our ballots in a couple of weeks ago, so we'll miss that excitement.

I'm looking forward to seeing street corners again.

A Great Choir

I was reading this article about the Highland High School choir going to Carnegie Hall, and I just had to comment:

Highland High's choir is among four across the country selected for the National High School Choral Festival, which culminates in a Carnegie Hall concert on March 19.

The singers will rehearse a choral masterpiece with conductor Craig Jessop, music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The Gilbert choir will perform repertoire on Carnegie Hall's stage under its own conductors, Rita Scholz and Frank Sargent.

"These will be extended, difficult works that most colleges wouldn't do," said Scholz, the Highland choir director, who has taught for 24 years.

I have no doubt that's true; our eldest had the distinct privilege of singing for Ms. Scholz throughout her high school years (and I had the privilege, though perhaps not pleasure, of being the choir treasurer for 2 years, but that's another story), and the vocal training she received was far superior to the experience offered to the normal high school student. A Scholz choir can provoke an array of emotional responses, from tears to chills to outbursts of laughter. No disrespect to NAU, but the concerts we heard by that collegial choir as our daughter began her major in music were no better than the Highland High performances. I wish them well at Carnegie; it couldn't happen to a better choir.

Maybe He's Telling the Truth

One of the sad things about the political scene is that we get the sense that all politicians are crooks, liars, and self-serving. There is no doubt that the prestige and power involved in political success might draw the self-serving person to run, or corrupt the well-intentioned once he gets elected. Lost in this perception, however, are the many dedicated folks who give up their time with families and jobs to serve the community; there truly are "public servants" out there, though it must be tough to be branded and labeled as a dirty politician.

So there's an article in the Republic today about two of the fellows running for CAWCD - one of whom, you will remember, is my brother-in-law:

It is an elected body that few have heard of and even fewer follow. Still, two men are spending thousands of their own money to become an elected member of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District board.

It is a job that comes with no pay and little power. The 15 members meet once a month for a few hours. The agendas are dense. The minutes would make great bedtime reading.

The board controls the water that runs through the Central Arizona Project canal. About one-third of the Phoenix area's water supply comes from the CAP.

But despite the fact the board deals with the vital issue of water, its actions don't receive much notice. Neither do the board members.

That's reflected in the campaigns. Most of the 12 candidates running for the five open seats are spending less than $500 on their races.

Which makes it odd that Sam George, a political consultant from Scottsdale, would sink $35,000 of his own money into the race.

And even odder that Richard Morrison, a Gilbert attorney and rancher, would spend $46,000 of his own fortune.

"I wish I didn't have to spend that much money," Morrison said, "but I had some investments pay off, and I can afford to do it."

Morrison said he has long been interested in water issues, and the cost is worth having a say over public policy, even if it is a small say.

Morrison said he was asked to run by "East Valley voices." He wants to ensure that growing cities like Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert get their fair share of Central Arizona Project water.

Morrison is running ads in community newspapers and on cable television.

"Obviously you don't do it because it leads to another office or anything like that," he said. "You do it because you have a passion for the purpose that it serves. I have loved water issues all my life."

If you think this is just a political sound-bite, then I would venture to say you don't know my brother-in-law. He really is passionate about water law, and if you think that's a boring topic to be passionate about, you'll get no sympathy from me, the one who is passionate about tax law and spreadsheets. The fact is that Richard possesses a deeply ingrained sense of duty - to family, and also to his community. And so he is willing to use his talent and his intelligence (which he has in abundance) to truly be a public servant. Refreshing, isn't it?

And I think even the reporter had to come to that conclusion:

It's hard to believe that these two would spend so much for seemingly so little. The cynic in me tried looking for the angle. But couldn't find one.

After all, if these guys were in the pockets of real estate developers or land speculators, they wouldn't need to use their own money. Donations would be pouring in.

Maybe it's worth getting these guys on the board. It's the only sure way of finding out what they're up to.

It's a rather cynical statement of affirmation, but because I have the inside track, I know that Richard is telling the truth. Please vote for him tomorrow.

Lakeview Trails North Complete

In the builders category, at least. The home-builders are Ashton Woods, Morrison Homes, Greystone, U.S. Home, and our deal with David Weekley was finalized on November 1. If you're unfamiliar with the background, I mentioned back in August that we were entering a contract with David Weekley Homes, a builder from Texas that is entering the Arizona market. If you go to their website and click on the Phoenix links, you'll find some information about Estrella Ranch, which is their first project in Arizona, but nothing yet on Morrison Ranch, of course. We are excited to work with them, and offer some new looks and options in Morrison Ranch. They should have their models up next year, along with the other builders.

On a related matter, you will notice that the sewer installation along Higley Road is now underway, in full swing, in fact. They should be finished within a couple of weeks.

As to the housing market in Phoenix, I'll pass on to you The Mister's understanding of the situation for your perusal in layman's terms (terms that I understand). He thinks that the housing decline has bottomed out; builders are seeing fewer cancellations on new homes, and the sales numbers are holding steady or increasing. As for the market of lots on which to build, there is more depression in the near future. It depends on the builder, and how big the corporate machine is, and how seasoned the management (some of the managers have never experienced a downturn in the market because the upswing in Phoenix has lasted longer than normal), but some builders are already "dumping" their lots in inventory - selling them to other builders for at or below cost. The Mister thinks that there will be an increase in dumping over the next few months, to satisfy corporate headquarters and to reduce their inventories. So be prepared for some more of the gloom and doom stories in the paper, because each time a builder sells off a large chunk of lots at a loss, the pundits will be very gloomy about the housing market in Phoenix. These juicy deals won't last too long, though, because as the number of homes sold starts to go back up, the builders will change their forecasts about how many lots they need in inventory, and they will again be buying or at least holding on to what they have. This should happen at the beginning of next year.

So, as they say, the darkest hour is just before the dawn; The Mister thinks that darkest hour is right around the corner (in the builder's market, not in the housing market, per se), with the dawn right behind.

Drives Like a Dream

Because it is... One of our neighbors asked the Mister, "Did The Missus get her dream car?" And that is the exact description; it's a car I fell in love with in college, but even when we could afford one, it seemed just too extravagant. This year, however, The Mister was insistent (he loves to make me happy), and about a month ago, Ruby came to live in our garage:



I just returned this morning from spending the night in Tucson with our Wildcat daughter; after dropping off some things, I went over to have lunch with our newlywed daughter and my son-in-law at Grand Canyon University. The goal is being with my kids; getting there in the comfort of a Mercedes is entirely incidental.

Birding

I have a good friend who lived in Kenya for 14 years, and while she was there she started birding. Africa has so many species of really fascinating birds to spot and identify. I'd never paid much attention to birds one way or the other, but my friend pointed out how many varieties of humming birds we have in Arizona, and so I've started to notice birds, on occasion. The fountains in our back yard are a big draw for the humming birds, and it's pleasant to glance out the window and watch them flitter and sip from the fountains.

Imagine our surprise when our out-of-town guests over the weekend casually asked if it was indeed a falcon quenching his thirst in our back yard? The Mister snapped a photo through the window, but you need to click on the picture to get a better look:



We watched him for five minutes or so, and then as I snuck quietly out the door to try to get a closeup picture, he decided I was too dangerous and left.

We have also seen an osprey a couple of times, but haven't been able to get a picture. I suppose we get an occasional stray visitor from the Riparian Preserve right around the corner. That's the place to go if you are a true birder. It was fun, though, to have a gander (pun fully intended) at an interesting bird right in our back yard, coffee cup in hand.