I have been writing mostly about the house in AZ, but the real selling point for this property was the location and yard. The typical retirement home in this area is close to a golf course and has an artificial looking stripped out yard. Probably b/c everyone is afraid of snakes and tarantulas lurking behind the bushes. This property has wonderful native plants, mountain views all around and is a close ride to the National Forest. Our friend that lives down the hill has already scoped out an old abandoned trail that leads to our neighborhood.
At some point, we hope to put a patio area in our courtyard. It currently has a brick path and dried out grass, which I do not want to waste precious water by watering. We placed plastic over the grass in hopes of killing it for good. I guess we will have to transplant natives into courtyard too, as the roses and grapes may be dead by January. Our friend has been helping us by clearing walkways in the yard. The plants out there can be quite abrasive if they take over. Cholla thorns are actually barbed. If you get stabbed with them, they stay with you for months. Yes, everything out there has an attitude!
Back to the house: Art is now starting our kitchen cabinets. He is purchasing pre-fab, fold down style, so they will fit in a pod. He showed me how they work and they are awesome! CNC Face frames, doors, drawers and hardware are all separate and will fit into a pod once finished. Art plans to do our finishing. It saves $$, and gets him what he wants. I told him he should do his distressing with a bike chain.
Racing: I ended up not racing Whirlybird. I have been tired and still struggling with my back a bit. It's nothing major, but it was enough for me to decide to do an easy mountain bike ride instead of a muddy cross race. Once again I'm on the fence for HPCX this weekend. I will probably opt for 1 day of racing and see how I feel. I don't seem to be feeling the race thing now, but I think I secretly hope if I go I may prove to myself otherwise. It is more important for me to like riding my bike than proving anything to myself racing right now. Racing will always be there, when and if I want it. This may seem weird, but racing is sorta habit. With so many other things changing right now, it may be a good time to break some habits and try new.