The Chocolate "Carmel" House

Ready To Go.

2011-08-06T23:28:00.003-05:00

We are almost ready for our return drive to Wisconsin. The landscaping is complete and Sandy has been doing some of the room decorating, we have completed everything we intended to do plus more during the past month. We have also been getting to know some of the people living in the community; we have attended a couple “puppy pool parties” with the group from the dog park and Sandy was invited to the ladies luncheon by a couple of our neighbors. We have also gotten to know a few people who are regulars at the lap pool and workout room; when we return in October more organized activities will start as people arrive for the winter.

Before the curbing people returned, the landscapers removed the first curbing, dug down to the proper grade and clearly marked what they wanted.

The new curbing went in pretty fast.

A little hand work was needed to finish the job.

The next day the artificial grass arrived. They started with some fine stone, wet it, and compacted it.

The pieces of artificial grass were sewn together.

After some TLC the end product looks great.

KoKo approved but still insists on her trips to the dog park.

While the pet grass was going in out back, cabinets were being installed in the garage. This is Andy, his real job is teaching history to 10th and 11th graders, it was hot and he said he would rather be in school.

The finished product looks good, John says he has seen RVs with less room inside than this cabinet.

John also got new cabinets for the small workshop area.

Sandy has made a few trips to The Home Store with one of her new friends to start decorating the house. This was something we thought could wait until fall but we had the time to get started. John has been busy this week putting up wall hangings and helping arrange the other items on the cabinets and floor, the results are a definite improvement.

Outside, the walls have been painted to match the house so the landscaping process (and dust), is complete.

The wall hangings are actually the same size, the wide angle lens distorts the image a little. The area rug adds some color to the room.

The kitchen may need another item or two.

A centerpiece for the table and a large piece for the corner add to this area.

A large mirror for the foyer.

Another area rug, a basket and vase for the floor, some wall hangings from the old house and a new wall hanging make the den cozy but we need another chair.

A leather covered bench (under the window), the chairs (remembrances from Sandy’s mother and father), …

and some new wall hangings add to the master bedroom.

We have enjoyed the past month here but it will be nice to get back to the mothership and close out the summer at Rainbows End. There are some appointments we have to make and friends to call so we will be busy but will enjoy seeing everyone again. While we are gone a neighbor will be watching the house until we return.

Try Again

2011-07-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

The paver crew was at it bright and early today and they brought a working concrete saw with them so they were able to finish up by early afternoon. The softscape crew was right behind them and they were able to finish grade the east side between the house and walkway along with the front yard. Another load of granite was delivered and they spread that in the front and the east side, after a little cleanup they were off to another job.

The job supervisor stopped to see the progress and to inform us that the formed curb around the dog grass area was going to be removed and the crew would redo that job. We had not talked to him about the curbing but he said that it turned out so badly that they didn’t want their company name associated with it. The picture we posted last night made it look much better than it was, the crew free handed it and the curve was very asymmetrical with the deepest portion of the grass offset way to the right of center. We were not going to argue his offer to remove it even though it will set the finish date back a day or two.

This slip form curb will be removed and they will try again. The pet grass was scheduled to be installed on Monday but this will delay that for a day or two or three…

No such problem with the paver crew, their work looks great. The walkway runs from the rear patio to the front.

The walkway and garbage can parking spot look great, they brought up the grade between the house and walkway and finished the drainage system for that area.

The walkway ties into the front patio.

They did a great job with the patio, and…

extending the paver theme down to the end of the driveway.

Pet Grass? Why do we need Pet Grass? I enjoy it when my limo takes me to the dog park three times each day!

Working on our list

2011-07-28T21:55:00.000-05:00

We have been checking items off of our to do list while the landscaper has also made a lot of progress. We stopped at the RV storage lot here at the Ranch to get some information for this fall, at this time there are plenty of open spots so we will call them in September to reserve a spot for the mothership; covered storage is not available yet but the lot looks pretty secure.

The landscaping is moving along, we still hope they will be done by early next week. Yesterday the walls went up and the paver crew got started today, they also spread our first load of granite in the backyard. With any luck the pavers will be in tomorrow and they can do the final grading, spread granite in the front yard and paint the walls to match the house.

Yesterday started with the wall footings and...

concrete block dust.

That meant the walls were going up.

The wall in front is for the front patio, the small one on the side hides the garbage can and helps hide the satellite dish.

After the block was up the stucco went on.

This morning started with the formed cement border for KoKo’s pet grass being installed, it looks alright but it’s not done according to plan so we may have to discuss this with the supervisor.

The paver crew started working on the front patio.

The first load of granite arrived.

The granite covered the back and west side of the yard,…

it really makes a difference.

The paver crew was preparing the base for the walkway.

There will be pavers along the edge of the driveway.

By the end of the day the patio was looking good, they may have finished it but their concrete saw wouldn’t start after lunch.

They did get a good start on the walkway.

This side of the driveway is complete and the granite is in place.

Birthday #3

2011-07-26T21:54:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we celebrated our little buddy’s 3rd birthday, KoKo had a pretty good day that included some extra play time and a few more treats than normal. KoKo is adjusting to the new home but she seems to be more territorial about the house than she is about the mothership. The crowd at the dog park is a little hard on her, she is not out-going with the other dogs but if they don’t crowd around her she relaxes a little and does her business. KoKo has been a part of our life for three years now and we pray for many more.

Hey people, this is KoKo’s day! Let’s play ball!

Cool, the treats start early! What’s with the “Wait” command?

Alright, Thank You!

We have been taking advantage of the facilities here at the ranch, we swim laps one day and work out on the machines in the fitness center the next. After our workout we shower in the locker room before heading back to the house, it’s a tuff life here but we seem to be adjusting; when we come back in fall the hot tub and steam rooms may seem more appealing. We are settling in very nice but we know we will be leaving in another week so we are talking about the other activities we will take part in when we return for the winter.

The landscaping is progressing a little slower than we thought it should so Sandy had a heart to heart with the supervisor about the time line we were promised, the plan is coming to life and we have been assured we will see the finished product next week. The plants were put in today and they look good; the City Inspector approved the wall footings this morning so they should go up this week.

You call that a footing? Nothing like they need up north.

Gravel, sand, pavers and block for the walls were delivered yesterday.

The crew was here today to put in our plants. This is the backyard, the centerpiece is a Palo Verde tree backed up by two Golden Barrel Cactus and two Mexican Orange Honeysuckle bushes.

After the plants were in they staked the Palo Verde and put the finishing touches on the irrigation system.

Also in the back is an Ocotillo flanked by two dwarf Red Oleander and two Trailing Lantanas (lavender), in front is a Gold Lantana.

The Mexican Fence Post.

Out front on the right side of the driveway there are two Texas Sage plants we hope will help hide the utility boxes, a Bunny Ears Cactus and an Orange Honeysuckle.

There will be a small walled patio in front of the house; the plants include another Ocotillo, Bunny Ears, Red Fairy Dusters (2), a Desert Spoon, two Gold Lantanas, another Orange Honeysuckle and a Parry’s Agave. Should have plenty of color here.

An overview of the backyard, there are three Texas Sage plants between the mound in the foreground and the Fence Post cactus.

Repaired and Ready

2011-07-22T21:53:00.000-05:00

We are cooking (on our own stove), again and ready to start enjoying the community. We have been up early the last couple mornings so workers could solve our electrical problem, the good news is the electrician found the problem and corrected it. The issue turned out to be an errant screw that pierced the electrical cable for the range, the bad news was that he had to cut several holes in the wall to replace the bad section of wire. It didn’t take long for the drywall to be repaired and the painter was here this morning to make it all look new again.

The electrician had good current to the point where the wire ran down behind the kitchen wall so he cut some holes to remove the bad section and replace it with new cable.

We wound up with three good sized holes.

This is where the range should be, the problem was that one of the screws used on the wooden support strip for the granite countertop behind the range pierced the electric cable.

The cable and offending screw, you can see the hole through the red wire and the broken ground wire in front of it.

The drywall was being repaired before the electrician had made the final connection in the attic.

This morning the painter put a couple coats on the patch and we are good as new.

The landscapers have made good progress during the past few days. We thought we may get plants today but they apparently will be here next week as we hadn’t finalized the plantings until Wednesday. We did change a few plants because one of the bushes that was in our plan has become a favorite meal for the local rabbit population; we took a ride with the supervisor and picked out some substitutions and added a Mexican Fence Post cactus to the list. There are two walls in the plan that require footings, the prep for the footings must be inspected and approved by the city so they will work on that next week as the city inspector doesn't work on Friday.

This is the east side of the house, they are installing drain pipe that will carry water from the back of the home and from the downspouts.

They had to use a jackhammer to dig the holes for the plants.

Marking the location for dirt mounds and plants.

Dirt mounds in the backyard, holes have been dug for plants.

Dirt mound in the front yard, water tubes for the irrigation system are also visible; John’s brother Jim calls them “irritation systems” as they can be troublesome.

For the most part John has caught up on his “Honey Do List” so we met with the Home Owners Association person this morning to take care of that requirement; we received windshield decals for the car and motor home as well as some valuable information. While we were in the area we stopped at the recreation building and took care of some required business there and received our homeowner bracelets that we will wear when using the facility. After lunch we went back to the recreation building and spent some time on the machines in the fitness center and then swam some laps in the indoor lap pool; the workout sure showed John he has a way to go if he wants to get back into shape.

We have been enjoying the house and now some of the facilities available to us here in the community, during our golf car ride home we both had to admit that it will be hard to leave here in a couple of weeks!

John is done with the lights and fans.

The weather has been hot with some humidity (but nothing like the humidity in Wisconsin), we have adapted by staying out of the sun as much as possible, staying in the shade when there is a slight breeze makes it livable and almost comfortable. The afternoon wind brought a little dust on a few days.

Unpacking

2011-07-19T21:52:00.000-05:00

We continue to make progress turning our house into a home. Sandy unpacked her last box of goods today and she continues to organize rooms and closets which makes it feel much more homey here. John has been hanging lights and fans while he has made a little progress organizing the garage; the big problem out there is that we have an abundance of cardboard and rubbish from storage and items that we purchased for the house, we are awaiting delivery of a garbage can from the city of Eloy so we can start cleaning some of that out.

This hutch and many of the items inside are a remembrance of Sandy’s mother, it all survived two years of storage and the ride down here.

John has been working on fans and lights.

This one is in the great room, not easy working with the high ceiling.

Last night the light above the table went up.

Today we added lights above the kitchen island and some organizers in the island cabinet.

The weather (heat), has been bearable so far, this is the monsoon season which means humidity and rain along with dust storms, we had both yesterday. The wind kicked up in the early afternoon which carried some dust in, it blew a few loose items around but nothing serious. The rain came later, it poured for a short time and then it was done.

The rain flooded the empty lots behind us.

The downspouts had all they could handle.

The water drained to the street.

The GE repairman visited us today and after a short period of testing declared that the range is fine but the proper voltage isn’t coming from the outlet. This is what we told our warranty person yesterday but he was sure it was in the range because they tested the wiring. We couldn’t reach the warranty person today so we called our construction superintendent and an electrician was at the door within ten minutes, the warranty person was going to send one yesterday to verify that the wiring was OK but that didn’t happen either. Well the electrician started at the kitchen outlet and was testing inside and outside for a while before he started making phone calls, as time went by we assumed this was not going to be an easy fix. Eventually the electrician informed us that there is a problem with the wire from the service box to the range, he tested the breakers and the plug which were fine. Within the next few days they will try to locate the bad spot in the wire but this may involve “removing” some sections of drywall to run a new piece of cable.

Well we have confidence that if holes appear in our new house they will repair it as good as new, so far the only disappointment has been that an electrician could have verified this problem 24 hours earlier but it wasn’t done because the warranty person was sure the problem was in the range, not in the house.

The landscaper showed up today and told us his crew would start tomorrow but they also showed up this afternoon and got in a couple of hours of work. We will document the plan as it takes shape over the next week or two.

The yard is pretty basic right now, we will follow the landscaping progress.

The crew used a jack hammer to break up the ground, hey, where were they when we dug the 2 foot deep hole for the satellite dish mount.

They got started on the drainage system that will run down this side of the house.

Several people wanted to see a picture of the golf car so we dusted it off and backed it out of the garage for a quick photo. Actually it has been making regular trips to the dog park for KoKo, we thought it would be a nice, handy item and so far it has been.

Starting to look like home

2011-07-17T21:50:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a blur of activity as televisions and furniture were delivered and Direct TV sent in the A Team to get the satellite system installed. It started early when Best Buy dropped off the TVs we had ordered by internet, the guys even open them and set them up for us. As the Best Buy truck was leaving the Ashley Furniture truck parked in their spot to drop off the furniture we bought here last March, those two guys had a hard job unloading and assembling most of it outside and then moving everything inside; they are big guys and we did our best to keep them hydrated.

The Ashley Furniture truck had just pulled away when the doorbell rang, we thought they had forgot something but it was Direct TV. Instead of sending back the guy who was focused on sitting in his van, smoking a cigarette and telling John why he couldn’t do anything, Direct sent two guys in a pickup truck who were ready to work, formulated a plan and then split up and worked independently. One person worked outside cementing the dish mounting pole into the “pre-dug” hole (Sandy and John dug it the evening before), while the other made the connections inside. When the dish was mounted on the pole the connections were made inside and we had television.

Sandy and John spent the rest of the day assembling the Select Comfort bed and unpacking, we even found time to do some shopping before we were done for the day. It was starting to feel comfortable here so we picked up our property at the rental house and spent our first night at home.

The couch and chairs were packaged in bags when they came through the door.

Someone made them self at home on the recliner…

the chair…

the couch…

and the bed.

When the day was done the little dog moved over for John (the big dog???).

Today we continued working on several projects.

The guest quarters are shaping up.

The master bedroom is comfortable.

The great room is also looking good.

There are a few pieces of furniture we would like to purchase and then we will work on wall decorations. We are happy with what we have and relieved that we did a lot of shopping last spring while we were here, it would have been a real pile trying to do all the shopping while moving in at the same time.

The only major set back we had was our oven and range did not work when Sandy was ready to make supper last night. We checked what we could but it appears to be a low voltage issue as the clock and controls light up but there was no heat in the oven or from the cook top. We sent an email to our warranty person and we hope it’s just a wire that didn’t get connected rather than a problem with the range itself; Sandy wasn’t real sad that she didn’t have to cook but we hope it’s a quick fix on Monday.

Moving In

2011-07-15T21:49:00.000-05:00

We closed on the winter home Thursday and we worked late that night and tonight moving in. Robson wasted no time attending to the minor blemishes we found during our walkthrough, workers were on site before our walkthrough was finished touching up paint; a kitchen backsplash tile that was blemished was replaced by the time closing was finished and was grouted early this morning. We were very pleased with the craftsmanship that is evident in the home and we know we will enjoy our time here.

We worked late last night unloading the rental truck but didn’t quite finish the job so we were back at it this morning and had everything we could move off before the shutters and blind arrived along with the person to install the water softener. Those guys got right to work and were easy to deal with, then the Direct TV guy showed up and immediately had several reasons why he couldn’t do anything, John walked away and vented to Sandy and she was able to reschedule their work for Saturday afternoon (after our TVs are delivered and we have dug a hole for the pole mount of our satellite dish).

These are some “before the shutters” photos of the house, this is the patio door and dining room window.

The great room window.

The master bedroom.

The shutter frame before being mounted around the window.

The frames are nailed in place before the shutters are hung.

The master bedroom after the job was finished, the shutters are split so the top and bottom can be opened independently.

This is the den shutter, John apparently was testing to see if the electricity is turned on for the fan, no sparks means it’s off!.

The shutters in the great room.

The dining room shutters and the patio door blind in place.

By early afternoon the shutters were up along with the blind for the patio door; the water softener was also working for us. John drove the truck to the golf car store and they unloaded the golf car that we had bought. Golf Car!, didn’t we mention the Golf Car?, guess we didn’t. We were thinking about buying one to use as a 2nd vehicle here in the community and we found a nice one in Reedsville so we purchased it; yes it is evident that John is working on officially being certified as an “old fart” but he still needs white shoes and white hair.

We have been staying in a house about two blocks from ours, Robson uses these homes as a sales tool so we were able to rent one for three days while we prepare our house. Tomorrow our furniture will be delivered along with the TVs so if all goes well we could spend our first night there or come back to the rental, stay tuned!

We have arrived

2011-07-13T21:47:00.000-05:00

We actually arrived in Casa Grande last night but after driving the last 700 miles of our 2,100 mile trip, moving into the hotel room and eating we were just to tired to blog. Yesterday’s trip went very well, the truck ran well and the heaviest traffic in Tucson didn’t slow us down at all. We were in bed early (thanks to gaining another hour), and up early this morning.

Yesterday we continued west on I-40 toward Albuquerque.

That’s where we found the interchange for I-25.

We headed south on I-25, we could see the Rio Grande.

KoKo was doing OK until the wind started buffeting the truck, she then dove under the seat for the rest of the trip.

I-25 took us to I-10 which got us back to Arizona.

We breezed through Tucson on our way to Casa Grande.

This morning we moved some items that had been packed in the CRV into the truck and unloaded the CRV from the trailer, we then dropped off the trailer at the Penske Rental Outlet here in Casa Grande. Without the trailer the truck was a little easier to maneuver so we went to Wal Mart to do some shopping and pick up some items that we purchased through the Site To Store service.
We then drove out to Robson Ranch to drop off the truck in the overflow parking area, Adela had that arranged for us and the truck is now parked close to the house. Adela then surprised us when she offered us the key to our house, we didn’t expect to see it until tomorrow’s walk-thru. Sandy, John and KoKo drove over to the house and spent a couple of hours getting to know the place; we found a few small blemishes to talk to them about but otherwise the house looks and feels perfect for us, just what we expected from the people at Robson.
We will sleep at the hotel tonight and complete our orientation at the home tomorrow morning followed by the official closing. We will then move into a rental house inside the community for a few days while we start moving into our home, this is another way of saying the real work starts after they hand us the keys, we can’t wait!

This looks like the place!

The photos do not do the colors justice, it is nice.

Guest accommodations appear adequate.

The shower in the master suite is larger than the bathroom in the mothership.

The color of the granite in the master and guest bath, some of the “Chocolate” theme is visible in this image but this photo doesn’t do it justice, it is more evident in to guest bath image.

KoKo seems OK with her winter home.

KoKo explains the water heater for John.

Another Update

2011-06-11T17:51:00.005-05:00

We can offer an update on our progress here in Wisconsin and the progress of the house in Arizona. Sandy and John have been busy visiting with family and campground friends while attending to the many administrative details related to completing the house and our journey to Arizona for closing.

Sandy’s sister Shirley and her husband Alan are in Wisconsin for a visit so the family and sisters have gotten together over the past couple of days. The weather has been cool and wet but it has been nice to see that the family is well and to catch up on their news from the past months. We have also been visiting with friends here at the campground although the weather has kept a few of them away this weekend.

Sandy and John have been completing a number of details related to the house. The water and electric utilities have been contacted and we will call the natural gas utility when the Construction Superintendent gives us the go ahead. We have selected an Insurance Agent in Arizona and have completed the necessary paperwork to start a homeowner policy on July 14th.

We have also been doing some shopping to purchase cloths, towels and all the other things we will need at the house. Earlier in the week we drove to Manitowoc to shop and a weather front moved through with rain and strong winds; traffic came to a halt on I-43 and we could see a semi was on it’s side in the other lane, when the truck in front of us moved aside we saw another semi on it’s side across our lanes, the driver was out and there were no emergency vehicles on scene yet so we were able to sneak through on the shoulder.

The following night another storm warning for Reedsville caused us to close up the slides on the mothership and head out with the CRV. We tend to split up our assets when there is a localized T-storm or tornado warning for the campground, abandoning the mothership and driving out of the path of the storm with the CRV so we know that one of our vehicles will not be damaged should the worst occur.

The house is really coming together and we were able to get some more photos of the progress today. The plumbing, electrical and tile work have been completed along with the exterior cement work so we can finally see what the basics look like and visualize the final product. The appliances that we bargained for will be installed next week and it appears that some paint and touchup work need to be completed but the house is almost complete. We have included some of the photos we received from Adela today.

The driveway and walkway to the front entrance are in, the doors will be painted to match the house trim.

Looking in the front door at the foyer and great room.

We can finally see how all the colors come together in the kitchen.

A detail look at the cabinets, countertops and backsplash tile.

The floor tile has been completed, we like the last minute change of tile that we had to make.

This is the dinning area.

The master bath.

A closer look at the shower tile.

Installation of the washer and dryer will complete the laundry.

The powder room.

This is the guest bathroom.

A closer look at the tub-surround in the guest bath, some of their closet is visible at right.

Sandy has also been working on a blog for the house so we can stay in touch and update everyone about our activities while we are at home in Eloy. John likes what she has done so we will try to have that up and running while we are there this summer. We have been busy but still enjoying our summer and are anxious to completed the house and start moving in.

Another Winter Home Update

2011-05-14T23:10:00.000-05:00

The house is moving along with the completion date still estimated for the end of June/beginning of July. The exterior stucco and drywall are complete and the interior trim including doors are in place along with the garage doors. The exterior and interior have also been painted, the garage doors and front door will be painted soon. The design theme for the house is “The Chocolate House”, the theme is beginning to be evident and will become more obvious when the cupboards and tile are installed.
Kitchen cupboards are next on the schedule followed by completion of the electrical system and installation of the roof tile. Again we say thank you to Adela and Todd for the constant updates, it is also encouraging that the house is still on schedule or even ahead of the completion date we were originally given. Below are some of the photos Adela sent today.

The wall and trim color are correct, the garage doors will be painted the color of the trim.

The front foyer.

Standing in the dinning area looking at the great room, the kitchen is to the right.

Opposite view from the last image, this is from the great room looking at kitchen to the left and dinning area to the right.

The master bedroom.

The guest suite, standing in the bedroom looking at the entrance door on the right and the bathroom on the left. The tub is covered but visible inside the bathroom. The closet door is also visible to the right inside the bathroom.

Winter home update

2011-04-21T17:16:00.000-05:00

We drove down to Casa Grande today to do our pre-drywall tour of our future winter home at Robson Ranch. It was a two and one half hour drive but we arrived early enough to stop at the dog park to let KoKo run for a bit but she was still wired during our tour.
We met the construction superintendent at the house and he spent an hour or so showing us around and explaining the work that has been completed, verifying that the options we want were roughed in and answering our questions. Todd (the construction super), is a long time employee at Robson and he put our minds at ease knowing he is watching over the project by showing us the quality he expects to deliver when the house is finished.

The windows are in and the exterior is being prepped for the stucco finish.

The tile is on the roof but not installed yet. This window is in the guest room, the front entrance is to the right of the ladder.

The back of the house and our patio.

These windows are for the master bedroom.

Standing in the garage looking at the entrance into the laundry room, Sandy was recording video while John took the stills.

From the laundry room this looks down the hall into the master bedroom. The first room on the right is the den, the great-room is to the left.

The den.

Inside the master bedroom, Sandy is in the master bath. All of the electrical and plumbing has been roughed in.

Looking from the great-room, this is the front foyer; the entrance into the guest area is to the right and a powder room is on the left.

Standing inside the guest room looking into the guest bathroom, the tub is in place.

The foyer is to the left and the kitchen is to the right of the foyer, the kitchen island is roughed in. The dinning room area is to the right in this image.

Standing in the kitchen looking at the great-room, the master suite is in the background.

The furnace and ductwork are in the attic.

These green and blue tubes are in the base of the exterior walls they are part of a system that will spray pest control substances inside the walls.

We stopped at the sales office to speak with Adela (our sales person), and she made herself available to answer our questions so it was a very productive day for us. The estimated completion date has moved up to the end of June so we are looking at our schedule for June and July to see when we can get down here to close and move some things in; Sandy’s father will celebrate his 89th birthday early in July so we will be in Wisconsin for that. It is exciting to see this all coming together so it’s a little disappointing that we won’t see it again until it is finished.

Winter home update

2011-04-02T17:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we received an update about our winter home construction, seems they are about a week ahead of schedule already. We will drive back to do a walk through inspection after they rough in the plumbing and electric but before the dry wall goes on; that should be around April 20th. We had our sales person take some photos for us.

The roof trusses are up and some of the roof is on now. This is the west wall, the large window is for the den and the small high one is the master bathroom.

The garage faces north, the door in the rear of the garage enters the laundry room.

From left: the window looks into the guest suite, the front door looking through the great room to the back of the house, the small garage door is for a golf cart.

The east wall; the small high window is the guest bathroom and the large window near the back of the house is the dining area.

Inside the great room, the arched doorway to the right is the front entryway. To the left (behind the sheet of plywood), is the master walk-in closet, at extreme left part of the master bath window is visible and to the right of the plywood is the den, it’s window is visible.

The rear patio with a patio door into the dining area of the great room and a window that also looks into the great room. The roof appears to be well underway.

A busy two weeks

2011-03-28T17:22:00.000-05:00

Today we were back on the road after a couple of very busy weeks in the Casa Grande area. We visited Casa Grande because there were a few “active adult communities” that we wanted to look at. Part of our personal full-timing mission was to find a community that we would enjoy living in; we have been reading about communities and felt that an active adult community in Arizona was worth considering as we have enjoyed our visits here.

Our long range plan was to travel for about three years and then get serious about our search for a new home. We had looked at a community in San Antonio and liked what we saw but wanted to look at other communities in Arizona and Nevada. We checked two communities near Tucson but they didn’t appeal to us so we continued on to Casa Grande.

We visited three communities and liked each of them but narrowed the list to two possibilities. We had agreed that the deciding factor in choosing the community we wanted to live in would be the quality of the house, after looking at both communities the construction methods of one of them were clearly better but we doubted that the price would be within our budget. The community we wanted to visit in Nevada used the same construction methods as the one we had just eliminated so we scrapped that trip.

Well we asked for a price and of course the price was high so we passed. The sales person called back a couple of days later and asked us to pay another visit; after a few more rounds of negotiations we had an agreeable offer; we talked about our original full-time plan and felt that purchasing a home to use as a comfortable winter base and doing extended traveling during the rest of the year really appealed to us so we purchased our new home in Robson Ranch near Eloy.

Our house was designed as a spec home but the construction had not progressed beyond the concrete slab so we were able to meet with the designers to change a few things and add some options that we wanted. After the design process was complete we ordered window treatments and some furniture which made for a busy week of shopping. Construction is scheduled to be completed in July so we will drive down here from Wisconsin for closing and to move in. We intend to take our east coast tour in fall but instead of spending the winter in Florida we will travel back to our new winter home in Arizona.

When we purchased the house the tensioning cable and rebar were in place.

After the slab was poured Sandy and KoKo checked out the rear patio, the block is in the background.

By last Saturday block walls were going up.

The view of the rear patio and the partially completed walls.