Get One Now Before They Are All Gone

Okay, perhaps that's overstating it a bit. We actually don't anticipate any of the frenzied lotteries that we have seen in the past to buy a home in Morrison Ranch, but the first houses available for sale in Lakeview Trails North will go on the market this weekend.

Ashton Woods will be selling their larger lots, starting tomorrow. If, like me, you notice that there is not so much as a sales trailer to be found at the site, you will want to know that they are selling from their models at Highland Groves. So for all those relatives from Wisconsin who came out for the Open or the football games in January and decided to move out here permanently, take them by the models and see what Ashton Woods has to offer.

Spring Plants

We've been doing some spring gardening at our office over the past few weeks. The early heat wave actually was helpful in many ways in establishing some of the plants.

The Water Expert and the fellow that is an expert on roses collaborated recently to help us understand which rose is which. Do you see the small sign in the lower right hand corner of this picture?




Here's a closeup; it's a "love" rose...



Each rose bush has a sign, and the names are all quite interesting; we have a Princess Diana of Wales as well as a Marilyn Monroe, among many others. I wonder what it takes to have a rose named after you?

Our other springtime change is that we took out the hibiscus that formerly lined our parking lot behind the office. Most of it just couldn't seem to survive; and the living ones looked out of place surrounded by the dead spots. So our new choice is this purple flowering bush:




And speaking of purple, I have previously shared pictures of the orchid tree that blooms outside of my office window. This is what it looks like at its best:



Unfortunately, this is what it looks like at its worst, after this year's freezes:



We've been waiting and hoping for some sign of life; I can't bear the thought of losing this tree. And at last there is a little hope, in a couple of places:



The Sixth Man pointed out that this new growth is from a place where the tree was severely pruned in the past. His assessment is that it will need another drastic cutback, but that it should survive. That is, of course, the nature of spring, full of new growth and hope.

See, I told you

Sure enough, our pecans are budding out. The ones in Higley Groves are our first, and doing the best. The rest are coming on strong. Remember, you can click on the picture to get a bigger view. So, next year, when someone tells you that the pecans are all dead, don't believe them!

High Power and High Heels

That's the title of a Wall Street Journal (subscription only) article this morning about women in corporate settings finding new ways of networking. This is how it starts:

No one thought it the least bit silly.

After all, networking over shoe shopping at a Manhattan boutique is no different for women than playing golf and sharing cigars after a steak dinner is for men. For the 53 shoppers who attended a "shoe event" sponsored by law firm Bryan Cave LLP on a recent Tuesday evening -- all of them female lawyers and their female corporate clients or friends -- getting to know one another while browsing designer shoes was a refreshing change from being the lone woman at a client dinner or sports event.

"The shoes were an icebreaker for starting conversations," says Elizabeth DaSilva, managing director, Global Trust Services, Americas at Bank of New York. She mulled a pair of high-heeled evening pumps but quickly turned her attention to the other shoppers. "It was the first opportunity I'd had to talk to lawyers my firm uses about something other than an immediate work assignment," adds Ms. DaSilva. She didn't buy any shoes but found the shopping and dinner after at a Turkish restaurant relaxing, and says she came away feeling more comfortable with attorneys from Bryan Cave and with names of other executives for her contact list.

Such women-only networking events are proliferating at law firms and an array of other companies, including Ernst & Young LLP, Merrill Lynch & Co. and General Electric Co. There are spa retreats, conferences at resorts, evenings at art galleries and cooking demonstrations, all organized by women who want to network and socialize with clients in their own way -- at least some of the time.

This stirred up my thinking about our office. The First Cousin and I are the two female representatives; perhaps there could be some distinctly feminine public relations ideas that we could plan in order to get to know the women with whom we are in contact. Let's see, now, The First Cousin is on the board of RWCD, a water conservation district. Oops, all her fellow board members are men, and probably not interested in a shoe-shopping spree. The First Cousin is also part of the team that presents our commercial centers at the conferences for retailers; hmm, that team is also completely male.

My duties often take me to our CPA's office to discuss accounting matters...where the CPA's I deal with are men. We do enjoy a spirited conversation about tax law now and again, but frankly, I can't envision any of them joining me for a spa day.

Well, it was a good thought. I guess The First Cousin and I will have to maintain the feminine PR together; I think checking out some of the newest Gilbert retail centers might be a nice start. Right after tax season.

Rain in the Ranch

Now I ask you: how is anyone supposed to work with a view like this one, even if they feel really far behind in this tax season? It's interesting that I find the rain views even more distracting than the sunny views!

I got the word from the Water Expert this morning:

Last night's rain accumulated to a total of .65 inches, and there's more on the way. Shut off those irrigation controllers!

Spring

Spring has returned to Grandma's house (our office). You could measure it by the orange blossoms, or if you were patient, by the budding of the pecan trees, but we use the first roses to flower. These are just about the first two, but they will be joined shortly by a bunch of others.

Highland Groves Will Host Arbor Day

Preparations are being made for our annual Arbor Day celebration, and this year's event will be held in Highland Groves. Bias For Action is the point man for the event, and he passes on some tree thoughts:

You will be hearing more about Arbor Day celebrations at Morrison Ranch at a later time, but for now please note that the date is set for Saturday April 29^th, 9-11 a.m. within the Highland Groves neighborhood.

Why do we celebrate Arbor Day? Yes, it is a bit antiquated and many people don’t know why or how it originated. We won’t bore you, but Nebraska started it decades ago to encourage people to plant trees (as wind breaks and for aesthetic purposes). WE celebrate it because we plant trees….and I mean, LOTS of trees.

We do a tree count every year prior to celebrating Arbor Day. Over this last year we planted over 2,000 additional trees. That brings our total at Morrison Ranch to over 8,000 trees! But wait, there’s more. That is just the count that is planted on community property. If you add in the average number of trees that homeowners plant on their own lot, there will be over 15,000 trees in the Ranch after Highland Groves is built out. When you do that math, 1500 homes will have been built. That is an average over all of Morrison Ranch (private and community property) of ten trees per resident!

Now THAT’s a good reason to celebrate Arbor Day.

Springing Out

The weather is back to a somewhat normal range, folks are outside everywhere you look, and the flowers are blooming beautiful. I should have a picture to share on the phenomenon, but it isn't really necessary if you just look outside. It is my favorite time in Arizona, smelling the orange blossoms outside and the printed pages of tax returns inside! Most of us have cut back the brown bushes left in the wake of the deep freezes, and mine are now budding out with some green leaves. The ficus and jacaranda trees are still looking sad, but even those have some growth at the bottom, so there is still hope.

The Mister and I purchased some cruising bikes - not the ones with the third wheel, which our son so helpfully suggested, but comfortable nonetheless - and between the beauty of Morrison Ranch and the trail systems of Gilbert, we hope to increase our exercise quotient.

It's a wonderful time to live in Arizona.

This is why we live here, right?

I just love it when we have green leaves on the trees, but the rye is still bright green, too. Don't you? A little warm weather can't spoil the beauty.

Get out of the Road!

OK, so it is my fault. This is a picture of the work going on at Higley and Warner. They are connecting the sewer line for Lakeview Trails North into the sewer line existing in that intersection. And, wouldn't you know, it is right in the middle. There is an existing drainage pipe, so they need to bore into it from the north. So there is a backhole to dig the hole and a boring machine to dig horizontally to the sewer line. They have been in the intersection for a while now, and we all look forward to it been completed. Right now the best estimate is next Wednesday, the 21st. In the meanwhile, drive careful out there, ya'hear?

Gilbert Goings-On

There are a couple of notable items about Gilbert culture this morning. The first, of course, has to do with the election for town council members. Both of the local papers have initial reports on the election. The AZ Republic's is here, and the East Valley Tribune article begins this way:

A former vice mayor and two incumbents won seats in Tuesday’s Gilbert Town Council primary election, unofficial results show.

Linda Abbott, a high school history teacher who served on the Town Council a dozen years ago as vice mayor, was the top vote-getter among the nine candidates vying for four seats. Current Vice Mayor Dave Crozier and Councilman Steve Urie also received more than 50 percent of ballots cast needed to secure a seat outright.

Results could change if enough provisional ballots yet to be counted push any of the three below the 50 percent mark. The number of uncounted ballots won’t be known until today, and final results won’t be released until Friday, Town Clerk Cathy Templeton said.

If the three maintain their edge and win seats in the primary, then one more seat will be left to decide in the May 15 runoff election. If that’s the case, the next two next two top vote-getters, Councilman Les Presmyk and challenger Dwayne Farnsworth, would battle for the last spot. Presmyk appears to, in preliminary results, have just missed enough votes to win a seat outright in the primary.

The rest of the ballots are supposed to be counted by Friday and so we will have definitive news then.

The other notable items, especially to Morrison Ranch residents, is the beginning of construction on a Polar Ice skating rink next to Crossroads Park:

One of two dog parks in Gilbert will be closed for four months to make way for infrastructure work on a new ice-skating facility.

The dog park at Crossroads Park, at Greenfield and Knox roads north of Loop 202, will be closed from March 26 until late July during construction of the 70,000-square-foot Polar Ice skating center.

During the closure, dog owners are being asked to use Cosmo Park near Loop 202 and Ray Road that opened last summer.

Polar Ice is expected to open in spring 2008.

And the Harkins movie theater at Williams Field and the loop 202 at the San Tan Village:

Harkins Theatres' 16-screen cinema will be the first tenant to open, on March 30.

Westcor on Tuesday announced more tenants for the center, including Anchor Blue, Claire's, Finish Line, Forever 21, Industrial Ride Shop, Johnny Rockets, Journeys, Sunglass Icon, Torrid, Wet Seal and Zumiez.

The mall's roughly 100 shops and restaurants will begin opening seven months later, and will be anchored by Dillard's and, mostly likely, Macy's.

Newland said Macy's will likely open at SanTan in 2008, making it the second department store there, although it is not formally listed as a tenant.

Some new options for Gilbert residents are seemingly right around the corner.

Same Old, Same Old

The East Valley Tribune has an article today about tomorrow's election. The headline? "Gilbert Fears Low Election Turnout." It's the same issue that has popped up every time there is a local election for as long as I can remember. There are some folks who work hard every time to encourage residents to vote, and for a good reason:

Bobbi Smith has been walking around her neighborhood in recent weeks to encourage residents and friends to vote in Tuesday’s Gilbert Town Council primary.

She’s among active residents who say they’re worried the town’s history of high voter registration but low voter turnout will allow a minority of residents to make a decision that could affect the town’s future.

That's really the point, isn't it? The national and state elections get the media blitz, the big money spent on the message or the candidate, the big buzz - and those elections are important. But in the elections that most affect our day to day lives? Folks don't seem to know, or even much care, at least not in the numbers that you might think.

This is not an attempt at brow-beating; rather, I'm just adding my voice to Bobbi Smith's, and urging you to go vote tomorrow. Please.

Williams Gateway Open House

You may remember that our family has quite an interest in aviation. Today's AZ Republic has an article about Saturday's open house at Williams Gateway:

Free Wi-Fi, roomy, but pricey, seats to Gary, Ind., $1 sodas and — hopefully soon — Chick-Fil-A are among the new features Mesa’s Williams Gateway Airport is touting.

While hundreds of Las Vegasand Chicago-bound passengers have been flying in and out of the East Valley terminal every week, local folks may not realize what Williams has to offer, said Brian Sexton, airport spokesman.

So airport officials are staging an open house Saturday with a dozen military aircraft to ogle, including an Apache helicopter and a Harrier, free hot-air balloon rides, a climbing rock wall, bouncy castle, clowns, contests and giveaways to entice East Valley residents to stop by and have a look.

The open house also will serve as the launch pad for the airport’s new marketing campaign, “Just Plane Easy,” which pitches the benefits of free front-door parking, short check-in lines, three-minute waits for checked baggage, acrossthe-street car rentals, and free Internet, Sexton said.

While passengers can show up 30 minutes before a scheduled flight without fear of missing it, the airport still recommends leaving an hour leeway, “in anticipation of increased service,” Sexton said. But even arriving an hour before takeoff usually leaves 45 minutes to kill, he said.

So the city anted up for free Wi-Fi, and “reasonably priced food options,” such as $1 for a 16-ounce soda in the vending machines, Sexton said. And Mesa is negotiating with Chick-Fil-A to add a fast-food concession to the terminal’s dining mix, he said.

Doesn't that sound like a pleasant flying experience? The options are limited right now, and as options increase, so will the hassle; but it is still much easier than the Sky Harbor scenario. The food is in fact tasty; we often go there as an office for lunch, and it isn't just to look and talk about airplanes and flying.

Just a thought to pass on if you're looking for a way to get outside this weekend. The beautiful weather is here.

Neighborhood Mentality

I should remind you that the elections for the Town of Gilbert are coming up; in fact, if you are voting early, the deadline for early ballots is Friday. I would love to see more participation in our local elections, as those folks make decisions that affect Gilbert residents on a daily basis.

Perhaps this reporter was looking for a new angle in covering the candidates, but the AZ Republic points out that all the candidates live in north Gilbert:

The nine candidates for Gilbert Town Council have at least one thing in common: None of them lives south of Warner Road.

Take a look at a town map and you would see that means nobody from the southern two-thirds of town entered Tuesday's primary election.

Gilbert council members are elected at large, which means they represent the town as a whole.

The article goes on to point out that the candidates are all long-term residents; so for those of us who have lived here a while, it makes sense that they would live in north Gilbert - there hasn't been a south Gilbert for very long. I don't really give a fig where they live, as long as it's in Gilbert, but the thing that's notable to me is their descriptions of WHY they live in their current neighborhoods:

Regardless of their ZIP codes, many of the candidates were thinking about much more than politics when they decided to make Gilbert their home.

Several said their decision to live in Gilbert was based on family, friends and finding a house that matched their needs.

Considering four candidates have lived in town for at least 20 years and that none of the nine candidates has called Gilbert home for less than a decade, it is to be expected that they live in older neighborhoods and share a sense of community pride.

Abbott, who has lived in Gilbert for 20 years, explained her favorite reasons for living in her community.

"The two things I enjoy most about my neighborhood are that we have great neighbors who are committed to the integrity of our HOA," she said. "My neighborhood is unique in that each home is different, the landscaping has mature pecan trees that are decades old, and the atmosphere is quiet and relaxing."

Cress-Sweet said her neighbors, who strike the perfect balance between "caring" and "non-intrusive," make her appreciate living in Gilbert.

Farnsworth said having neighbors he could count on makes his community special.

"I love living in my neighborhood because I have neighbors who are great friends," Farnsworth said. "They are always willing to help each other no matter what comes up."

I'm glad that community is a high priority to the folks interested in governing Gilbert, because it's a high priority to me.

Remember to vote.

It's Official, Finally!

You will see a sign similar to this one at Lakeview Village sometime soon; The Mister signed off on the agreement between Basha's and the group that purchased Albertson's yesterday. They think that they can get things reconfigured to their liking and open within 6 months, including the gas pumps.

Those folks who are interested in irony will appreciate the fact that Basha's was one of the grocers we strongly considered when we first built the center. In fact, the choice was between them and Albertson's. Our decision to go with the major grocer was based on the belief that they would be the most stable over the long haul. Obviously, we were incorrect, though well-intentioned.

And the two buildings south of the Oasis will begin construction in April; one will be occupied by a veterinarian, and the other doesn't yet have a tenant. Dust will be flying at Lakeview Village in the very near future!

Remember, those of you who live in Higley Groves West, the annual meeting for the HOA is tomorrow, March 6th, at 6:30 pm. It is held in the training room of the Farm Bureau building, pictured, just by the Town Center North lake. Please come, if you possibly can. We don't seem to have controversy, but we need a quorum to make the meeting official. See you there.

Back in The Rocker

You may have noticed that my chair on The Front Porch has been mostly empty the past few weeks. The Mister has been around to greet the visitors, but I have been engaged in one of the greatest privileges of community: pretty much daily visiting the front porch of a longtime (30 years, and I'm not that old!) friend as she finished up her battle with cancer, and then moving on to some involvement in her memorial service. The service was held on Saturday, and the 1,000 or so folks that were there were well-fed and heartily hugged. As a person of faith, sending my father-in-law and my dear friend - also folks who were intimately acquainted with God - off to the eternal chapters of their lives doesn't bother me; but the holes that remain due to their absence will take some getting used to.

I should be able to get back in the rocker on The Front Porch this week, though, and catch up on the Morrison Ranch goings-on. When I get the scoop, I'll pass it on.