Tempe Marketplace

A great discovery for me yesterday is the Tempe Marketplace! There is a great many places to eat and shop wherever you go in the expansive complex! And as you can see in the pictures they have the heat relief going on big time! Misting from almost everywhere! Except the parking lots! Doug and I had a bite to eat at SAN FELIPES CANTINA! The food and service was great! Sarah took good care of us and suggested the Mahi Mahi and chicken nachos to go with our margaritas! The nachos were good and the fish was the best I have had in a long time and it was the best Mahi Mahi I have ever had! Then it was on to see the new Harry Potter movie! Barb was flying in in a few hours so we took the chance that we would have enough time to see it before she arrived! Well the first half of the movie was incredible! And then Barb's flight arrived and we went to pick her up! So I will see the movie again soon! It was like a really long preview! Very Cool! Stay Cool!! Jon

Mesa sunrise.

Sunrise this morning was the perfect end to a restless nights sleep! And the perfect start to a beautiful day! It was fiery enough to send me scrambling for my shorts and camera and a visit to the street where the power lines are not as noticeable in a picture!
Still, the power lines did not ruin the experience of the morning sky!

The subject has come up in the search for a house to buy about location verses most house for the money and esthetics! I am seriously wondering which thinking to subscribe to!

I for one am very particularly picky! Or picky picky! And with only so much money to work with I am leaning towards the most house for the money! Location will suffer in this case! I have, another realtor looking in the more desirable locations for me in the Mesa , Apache Junction area's! I have my fingers crossed so to speak but I am not going to hold my breath either! The mystery continues in the hunt for a house and home here in Arizona!

Doug's back! For now anyway!

Wow! , What a stormy monsoon night we had last night!! The wind blew and the lightning flashed and around 3 am the thunder boomed and the rain started to fall! And it poured down rain and cracked and boomed for 5 hours most of the time! Cool!!! And when I got up it was a cool 77 degrees outside! And to make the day special ,at around 9am I got a text from Doug saying that they were leaving San Jose and would be in around 11:15 ! I managed to be right on time to pick them(Doug & Barb) from the airport! And with a stop at In & Out Burgers for lunch we were on the way back to their house's in my little toaster (Element). Barb wasted no time getting back to work and flew out on a turn around flight getting in at about 11pm tonight(she in a flight attendant!) They will probably fly back out for Whidbey at the end of the week! Nice to have them here! Doug is trying to talk me into finding a home in Mesa and wants me too forget houses in Maricopa all together! He says it is way too far from where they live! 50 minutes! That is not that far considering all the home prices out in Maricopa!! My brother is having a birthday today! Happy B-Day Jim!! Thanks for your interest! Hope your day is great! Jon

A Mesa weekend in July.

A July weekend in Mesa can be a hot one! This one was no exception! But as I tell people that ask me, The bite of the winter cold makes you (me) tense up and shiver while the breath of the summer heat makes your body relax as it touches you! Then the fact that there is still electricity to be had and air conditioning everywhere you go! Well, I am liking this place so far! The storms build all day and swoop in on parts of the city in the evening. Friday night it hit the town of Maricopa! So when I went to look at houses in Maricopa on Saturday there was still the haze of dust in the air and the evidence of wind from all the blown down trees! Three of the six houses I looked at are possibilities for purchase in the future! Three were a little scary! The realtor I was with wouldn't even go in one of them because of the smell! It was BAD!!!! And the overall condition was bad too! There are so many empty houses out there that you can expect to find about three choices that would fit the bill on any given day in Maricopa! That has been my experience for the three times I have gone out there and actively looked at houses with an agent!

Just remember ,Long sentences are my forte! Its a bad habit I have been aware of but never corrected!

Saturday I went up to Scottsdale and visited a new friend, Dan Laurie, He was watching Doug's place and doing some grounds work for Doug and Doug was helping him out with a place to stay before I arrived! So we had coffee at Starbucks in far north Scottsdale, and I drove back with the storm lighting the sky around me as I went! Sunday I mostly relaxed and reflected on the week! And there was a Starbucks visit and a trip to Costco (out of turtle food) and milk for mocha's and bananas for protein shakes! Then, back at the guest house I noticed that my Mom had gotten signed up with skype so I called her from my computer and we video phone talked for free across the miles! It was nice!! Hope your weekend was at least as good! Jon

Here are the pictures I promised!

Scottsdale, AZ. exploring.....

Well, today was another day in AZ. I got a few things done early! Fill 3 containers with yard waste and move to the curb! Go and buy pool chemicals and adjust the pool's water chemistry! Go and talk to bank finance officer about a line of credit so I can put offers in on home deals! After this was done it was off to explore somewhere new to me!

Scottsdale! Ya! North of Mesa! So off I went! North on the 101 loop! It wasn't long and I was ready to stop and get some Starbucks triple grande mocha! And while enjoying my mocha in Scottsdale I decided to call my Mom and update her on what I have been doing with myself lately! And while talking to her my sister called and with my trusty iphone I added her to the conversation! (I love my iphone!) We must have talked for over an hour! After that I decided to go north on 101 until it turned west and then return! It can be a little hairy driving the Arizona freeways! I was driving at 5 mph over the speed limit down the freeway today and everyone (mostly) was passing me on both sides! And I had to laugh! I am an Arizona pookie! Thats the nice word that I call slow drivers! Yep thats me! LOL!!! So back down the freeway to the 202 loop (my favorite) and off at Dobson rd and into the Bass Pro Shop store! Wow what a sporting goods store! I spent some time there! I will post a few pic's after I post this as I don't yet know how to space words and photo's in an order that I like while composing these posts! Thanks for your interest! Jon

Queen Creek, AZ I found it!

Well now I thought I was in Queen Creek yesterday and I went exploring even further south today! I was only partially inside Queen Creek yesterday, and I found a real Starbucks in the Walmart shopping complex! One of the nicer ones I've been in too! So there are 2 Starbucks in this area that I have found! Yes I have found intelligent life forms in Queen Creek! Then there is a subdivision called San Tan Heights ! It is beautiful! Nestled up against the mountainous foothills of whatever the mountains there are called! They have lots of green grassy areas and it seems to be very clean! It is a 50 minute drive to get there from Doug's house! That is what I have to look forward to in buying a house on the fringes! Great prices but if you work in town it will take 30 - 60 minutes to drive one way each work day! I miss my dogs!!!!! I even went and looked at puppies today and lucky for me no schnauzers in the bunch, or I might be taking care of a puppy! That is all I need! So, Queen Creek is in the running for places to live! And I haven't counted out the Bahamas yet either!

07/15/09 My first entry! Welcome to my Blog!

Hello and Welcome to my blog and my first blog entry! I am new to blogging so bear with me as I learn this fine art form! Thanks.

I now live in Arizona, and at this time I am staying at my friend's guest house in Mesa. My friend's name is Doug Clausen and he has been my friend on this journey since I was 12 years old ! I am blessed to be in such good company! I don't see Doug very much as he is the busiest person I know!

I am in the process of deciding where I want to live and then finding a place for all my stuff! I have a lot of stuff! More guitars than I have limbs! Good stuff too! Enough about stuff! I am excited to find that the economy here in Arizona is as bad or worse than where I moved from! The possibility of finding a good house to buy is a real possibility and for less than fair pricing as the market has many homes and many foreclosures! People are just walking away from their homes as they loose their work and their mortgages adjust to a higher rate etc. There is a buying frenzy going on daily down here! A house comes on the market and the next day an investor has a new property! Me, I just want to get a place to put my things and have a place to enjoy them! If you have things you might as well enjoy them! So after I have my equity money from the old place in Washington then I will take the steps to qualify to put in offers on houses as they come on the market! I asked a man for directions yesterday and in our conversation he told me that a friend of his moved here a month ago and bought a 3 year old one story house for 40,000 dollars! I see this kind of desperation in all the outlying areas around the greater Phoenix area! What ever I do I realize that I need to get an address and get one soon!