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An Interesting Place, The Desert

Lovin' this "low-maintenance" yard, or at least Tom is. LOL. Driving by a golf course the day before yesterday, (they are everywhere down here), we were talking about what it must cost for water here in the desert to keep these greens green. I can't even imagine. On this one course you could tell someone was trying to cut the bill because there were already a few brown spots.

For as much as I was freezing for awhile when we first got here, it's plenty warm now! We, My Friends, are having a "heat wave". Imagine that! They've been telling us for a week now it was going to be 105 degrees everyday for about a week. Now I guess the day has come and it will be 105 today and for all of next week. While I do have to admit I'm able to take the heat here better without the humidity (0), 105 is pretty darn hot! I am wishing I was nocturnal, or wondering how I could get that way. LOL. Yet for as hot as it gets here during the day, I get up in the middle of the night and go out on the patio, and the wind is blowing to the point one might need a sweater. It is the strangest thing. Then by the time I get up in the morning, about 4:30 or 5:00 am, the wind has already completely subsided and you would never even know it had been through there. It's probably the craziest thing I've ever experienced weather-wise.

I wonder who got the bright idea to just plop a house in the middle of the desert anyway? Obviously they must not have known about "Death Valley" or it would have given them pause, I would think. I have learned that the Ford Thunderbird was actually named after a failed dude ranch turned country club just outside of Palm Springs named Thunderbird Country Club, one of the oldest in the area.       

It's Mother's Day and Sunday today, and I still haven't totally decided on a church home yet. It's interesting as you drive down one of the main drags here, most of the churches are two totally different denominations sharing a parking lot. That seems so odd to me. You think each church is figuring on catching and converting the over flow of the other? I guess it could happen. "Oh Honey, our church is full, but since we're here I've never been to an Episcopalian Church before. Why don't we go see what it's all about?" LOL. Personally I will be skipping church today, sorry to say, as I want to get a couple of things done before it gets just way too hot. Luckily, just because I'm missing church doesn't mean I have to miss time with God.

Bear, the black cat is getting along pretty well here. I do have to worry about him also in the heat so when it gets to about 90, I lock him in. I still don't let him out at night or too early in the morning because now, instead of raccoons, according to an article in the paper, we have to worry about skunks.

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We Did It! From One End of the State To The Other...

If you had been following along before now, then you know we had to leave Capitola. I will tell you, I love mobile home living, but never again unless you own the land underneath it also. I owned that mobile since my late husband died in 1995 and in the end, it wasn't worth two cents. I don't mean the actual value, like a dollar price, (although it wasn't worth 2 cents that way either) but the way these lawyers are able to help park owners cheat people out of their homes is amazing. With the park owner of the Surf and Sand, because so many people in there are older and really low income, it seems impossible to stop him whether he does things legally or illegally. I can't tell you how much money was pooled together to try and stop him, how many of us begged the City for some kind of help, and all of it was to no avail.

But now, we have gone the complete opposite as far as scenery is concerned. Oh, we're once again living in a mobile/manufactured home, but the land is part of the deal, along with the Homeowner's Association. What I mean is the "culture shock" of going from living by the ocean, to living in the desert.

In one way when you drive through here, there is so much flat desert land and it seems so vast. No green. Then you go through another part and it's all beautiful, green golf courses, and homes like Beverly Hills. I look behind the homes across the street and see beautiful mountain tops with snow on them. The couple of plants we have in the rocks out in front of our house I wasn't even sure if I'm supposed to water or not. LOL.

And I can't believe I actually love it here! I don't know why. You spend time in the forest, you spend time near the ocean, and you just drink in the beauty. You can't help but love it. I drive by brown and sand, and more sand, and I have to look it up on "google" to find out what is to love here. LOL. For some reason I just do.

Besides feeling like a cat with 9 lives, I also feel like the Clampetts, who just picked up and moved everything to Beverly Hills (except they had money. LOL). I need to put a big "shout out" to my girlfriend Shirley in Capitola, and Tom's son Scott, who made it possible for us to do this. This is twice now Scott has been there for us when it came to moving from place to place. God Bless him. We owe you big time, Son. LOL. And Shirley, cocktail hour is definitely missing something here without you. Haven't even found a good bar yet.LOL. God Bless you Sweetheart.

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Leaving The Surf and Sand Mobile Home Park in Capitola

Looking Down to Capitola Village

It's no wonder people hate to leave here. This picture was taken New Year's Day. The sun is out. People are walking their dogs. The temp is almost 70. The water is like glass, disappointing only the surfers. I walk my mother in her wheelchair along the cliff to enjoy the sunshine and the scenery.  We like to sit out there and drink up the sunshine, watch the people from afar, and every once in awhile see a beautiful classic car go by.

Just a few days before Christmas, the scene we came home to was this-
The workers are stripping out the asbestos before getting ready to demolish the two mobile homes across the street. The blue one on the left should have been gone a long time ago. The one on the right affected me much more than I would have figured. The family there used to bring their little kids on holidays etc. and they would at times join my kids when they were little for fireworks in the middle of the street, etc. That mobile had been passed down in the family, and now all it is is an empty lot and a memory. Mr. Reed, the park owner, had taken that mobile home by a Warehouse Lien Sale after raising the rent there by 400%. He demolished 3 mobile homes in here that week. Can everyone say "Merry Christmas"?

Empty Lots and Their Idea of a Brillo Pad

Since we quit working on our place when we realized we wouldn't be able to stay here, I figure this will be the fate of our home also.

So now we are looking frantically for a place to go. Money is short due to having to pay the increased rent all these months so we could stay here as long as we have. I'm looking for other possibilities around this area, and then have also been looking in SoCal or Vegas. Once again I turn my attention to Craig's List. LOL. Brokers have all kinds of listings on there, but more importantly to me, there are people who are trying to sell their homes themselves who are a little more open to negotiations than a broker might be. After going through all we've been through over the last 2, going on 3 yrs., for the first time in my life I am looking for something secure. I have decided we are all too old to have to be doing major moves every year. I just don't have the energy anymore, and we don't travel as light as we did when we were in our 20's. LOL.

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