We have arrived

We made it safe and sound to GC on the 11th and the last week has been a whirlwind with greeting old friends, stocking the kitchen and finding a water leak in the bathroom.  The bathroom now has a new sink, fawcett and under counter shutoffs which were all well past their prime.  While I am somewhat handy between Youtube and a very helpful lady at Lowes who had all the right answers to my questions I managed to fumble my way through this project.  When I produced pictures on my phone of the offending plumbing she plucked all the right connectors off the shelves and I was off to test my plumbing skills.  I didn't even have to phone my son who is a plumber by trade.   

We discovered a rather large rodent hole, also in the bathroom.  This was a bit of a disturbing surprise but desert rats are common in the area (I prefer to call them rodents as the term rats gives me the chills).  There was no evidence of any furry creatures inside and the hole is now boarded up inside and out with a liner of steel wool and rodent proof spray foam.  I have also placed a few large glue traps under the unit and may be phoning a pest control company to ensure we don't have any unwanted house guests.  Other than the layers of dust in the screen room everything else was in pretty good shape considering we were away for 20 months.

We did a little pruning of some unwanted shrubs which were blocking our view and have contacted park maintenance who will be taking out a couple of dead cactus and cutting down an overgrown tree from the unit next door.  Our neighbour moved out over a year ago due to failing health and while the unit was empty and up for sale he had a flood and it has been sitting vacant since.  We are hoping that either the owner gets the place sold or more likely the park takes it back, pulls it out and puts in a new unit.  It is becoming a bit of an eyesore and empty units can become a home to neighbours we don't want.  

I have started my delayed renovation project and are now awaiting delivery of the windows, door, siding and lumber to turn the screen room into a closed in Arizona room.  I am hoping to have it more or less done by Christmas however my projects are notorious for taking much longer than planned.  Already we have faced delays as delivery of my supplies won't happen till Dec 1 so in the meantime I will do what I can and we will start looking for furniture and flooring.  Sure would be nice to have my truck.  

2 years ago we attended a Home Show and came across a booth that specialized in refinishing countertops, bathtubs and showers.  Much cheaper than replacing and the results looked very nice.  We had an estimate done at that time and have contacted them again to see if we can get that project restarted.  

I am really hoping that once this year is done the projects will be done and we can reduce the cash outflow and just enjoy.  Although Lori keeps on noticing other little things that need tweaking.   

We have been doing a 6 KM walk each morning before it gets too hot and a few dinners out with friends.  I'm going to give Pickleball another shot this year and hope my wonky ankle holds up.  Lori even bought herself a paddle and is promising to be my training partner.  

JC (my photography buddy) and I made it out to the Salt River for a little scouting trip and what did we find.  About 30 wild horses just waiting for our return.  

More verbiage later but for now here are some pictures of our experiences so far.  

Taking out the screens and framing the existing support structure for windows.  Should leave us with a better view.  Main challenge is to find a way to screw the wood framing to the existing aluminum structure.   

The picture below show the shrubs that have grown blocking our view.  
They are  now gone and we await the removal of the tree
which will open up the view.  

Out with the old.  

The grey plumbing is called Butyl b and is a predecessor to the white pex.  
Some day all the butyl will have to be replaced but for now a couple
of the proper connectors and its as good as new.  

Now for the reason we are here.  Another beautiful hot day with no
snow in the forecast. 

The horses were pretty docile.  In the early spring they seem to be a
little more rambunctious.  

There has been a local debate abut how much water to let through the
dams into the salt river.  People with watercraft want a higher river
level but it appears that they lost this battle as the river is pretty low.  

I applied a couple of textures to this shot to create a different effect and
make the horse stand out from the background.  I am not very proficient
at this technique but will keep working at it.