Mulch, and Home Management!

Several folks have commented on using mulch around the base of trees and bushes....  And we like and use mulch as much as anyone back in the Midwest....  I trucked 12 bags of the stuff to our house in KC just to fill in the planting beds in front of the house...

But the soil down here in Arizona isn't black humus soil....  It's basically a form of powdered sand...  And with a little water on it, it becomes just like concrete....  Remember what an inch of rain did in our back yard??

The water doesn't soak into the ground, it just stands on top  of the sandy soil...


And then remember the wind that brings the dust storms?  On this afternoon the winds were in excess of 60 miles per hour...







This is all to explain that if we used mulch around the bases of the bushes and trees, at first it would blow all over the yard as the wind blows in.   Then the rain would fill the back yard with water and float the rest of the ground up wooden mulch all over where you wouldn't want it...

Loyce and I talked this over several years ago and realized that RV parks don't have any mulch landscaping down here as well.  And out here in the new housing sub division you can't find anywhere that mulch is used.....  And the lumber yards don't carry it much as well...  Maybe 10 bags in a small pile, but not the huge pallets that are stocked back in Kansas...

Also, most of the plants that you see in the medians of the road ways and also that we used in our back yard are desert plants... They grow naturally in the wild...  They are direct sunlight plants that are not effected by the heat of the sun on the ground around them...  So landscapers here don't do mulch....


Today's project was to meet with our Home Management Service folks here in our home at 11 AM..  They are a nice couple that make a business out of taking care of absentee homeowners properties.  They are also realtors as well, and the man is an agent for the home owner to hire maintenance people.....

Let's say they find your water heater has sprung that proverbial leak and it is filling up your garage or crawl space.....  They take pictures and send them with their Android phones...  Along with the email about what they have done to secure the situation.  That's in writing, so you can't say they didn't get a hold of you...

So at your request they have trusted workers that are in the business of what you need, like in this case a plumber...  So they would get a bid and come over and let the guy in to fix the problem....  Of course this is for their fee....

If you send your long lost great cousin to stay at your place, they will meet him and let him into the property.....  But more importantly, they will come and secure the place.. (Inspect) when your friends are gone.  And make sure it is locked back up and the security system is set.  No need to tell uncle Louie your code, or give him a permanent key....

But most importantly, you have an agent that is here in town to come over and handle things for you when you are elsewhere..  We arranged to have a walk thru every 2 weeks, to flush the toilets and run water in the traps of the sinks...  They also pick up the door hangers so you aren't advertising your absence.

Since there are a lot of vacant homes here in the summer, it is not uncommon to find where people have popped the lock on the back of your house, and just move in for several months...  Perhaps the gardener, or the landscaper employees that know you won't be back for weeks on end....

Also, these management folks are on the call list when someone trips the security system, and at times have arrived ahead of the police on emergency call outs...

Since Loyce had the place all spiffed up for our company to come over, I took the opportunity to take a couple of pictures inside....

We have mostly worked on finishing up this main room.  Installing blinds on all the windows and a nice ceiling fan and then those big book shelves.

The Kitchen and our dining set is all complete and we even have that black fridge.

In the bedroom we have a nice king sized bed, and the new bed spread.  Biscuit sleeps on the floor, when  she isn't in bed with us....  Perhaps we can find a bedroom set this fall....

The master bath is now complete, as we have cabinet pulls on the cabinets, and towel bars... Notice I hid around the corner so as not to be taking a picture of myself.... LOL

And no headboard on the guest bedroom bed yet either, but hey you got a night stand and a dresser....

The hall is long to the front door, but the guest bedroom is the hall to the right just inside the door...  Visitors only have to load their things into the door and right into the front bedroom...  The bath is behind the wall where it says retired rod on the picture..

We have a long way to go in decorating this place, but will have all winter to get that job done...   And it is much bigger than the motorhome..

And Loyce has her prized possession!

She just hates having to go to the RV laundry to do the wash... She is a nurse and thinks that the public machines are never as clean as she wants...  These things seem to run almost every day....  But I'm not running them so I have no comment!

Retired Rod