Desert Life.

Our Jenn-Air cooktop is served by a 30 amp circuit. The range requires a 45 amp circuit, but we confirmed the circuit breaker is rated for 30 amps and the wiring that runs under the kitchen marble tile and through the foundation pad is rated at 30 amps. Whatever cooktop resides in our current configuration will have 30 amps.

Chris decided to invest in a new cooktop and went with a glass topped induction cooktop by Frigidaire. It’s part of their Gallery collection. Chris and Mike installed it over the weekend. As an induction cooktop it doesn’t draw as much power so we can use more than one or two burners at any given time without fear of burning the house down. The Jenn-Air cooktop was 45-inches, but they’re not in style or not really available anymore, so the new cooktop is a 36-inch model. Chris fashioned a work area cutting board/utensils rest area for one side, stained it to match the cabinets, and installed it with great success.

I’ll have to share a picture later in the week.

These flowers along our driveway always make me smile. I don’t need “signs of spring” to bring me out of a funk these days; the lack of snow from living in the desert achieves that for me naturally.

The previous owners of our home did quite well with the landscaping. We’ve had to make a couple of changes due to the intensity of last year’s monsoon but for the most part the landscaping company keeps our grounds looking lively and lovely.

I was out for my morning walk when I came across a neighborhood visitor. They were out enjoying the heat of the asphalt. I didn’t get close enough to get a rattle from our visitor; I kept my distance and walked the other way around the loop. By the time I got back to this spot, they had moved on to their next adventure.

We spruced up some of the ambiance in the great room. The previous owner of the house had a large tapestry hanging on the wall and was kind enough to leave the rod and hangers behind when we bought the house.

Earl and I spotted this blanket when we were visiting the Grand Canyon a few weeks ago and thought it work well in that spot. Earl found some karate belts that matched the color of the blanket and Chris was able to cut and affix them to the top to serve as hangers. They look like the belong there.

We all like the way the blanket looks and find it works well in the room. We’ve been slowly making improvements to the house since moving in just over a year ago. We’re still wrangling with the home insurance company over the damage from last year’s monsoon. You can see a piece of the missing ceiling in the vestibule on the right. Hopefully all of that will be cleared up soon as well.

Mother Nature is regaling us with cooler temperatures and a sprinkle or two for the introduction of spring to 2022. Seasons are seemingly a little irrelevant here in the desert, if our first year in Tucson is any indication, we basically have “very hot” and “not as hot”, with a few thunderstorms sprinkled in during the Monsoon to keep things interesting.

I’m loving every moment.

The storms have been moving around us today. My lightning detection apps have been indicating lightning nearby, but we haven’t seen or heard anything here at the Desert Compound.

I’m always impressed by weather, no matter what it is and no matter where it is. Even though today is not one of the sunny days we’re known for, it’s a beautiful day.

During our weekend adventures we stopped in Tempe for a quick bite to eat. These flowers near the freeway caught my attention because I found their color quite enjoyable.

We are going to be sprucing up the landscaping around the front of the house later this spring. I need to convince the rest of the family that plants like this need to be included in front of my office window.

I love this whole flowers in the winter thing we have going on here.

We had a crowd for Sunday brunch today.

We have two areas of the house where we can walk out on the roof. These areas were advertised as balconies but they’re really not balconies. The roof would need some work to make them real balconies.

Each side of the house has this area and in each of these areas there’s a storage closet and a utility closet, but only accessible from the roof area. The previous owner put inside doors of low quality on these closets and the did not survive last year’s Monsoon.

We had a couple of estimates from local contractors to replace the doors and it was surprisingly expensive. Chris and Mike decided they could build high quality doors for half the price, including buying the tools necessary that we’d have forever. So, they built the doors and they look great.

The doors above are on the East End of the house before replacement. The doors on the West End were in worse shape. The doors below are the replacements built by Chris and Mike.

We are very grateful to have such talent in our home here in the desert. The new doors look great and the guys saved us a bunch of money.

We have a family of Javelinas that enjoy our neighborhood. They move from one part of the neighborhood to another on a regular basis. Occasionally they stop by the rub their bodies on a cactus on our property or they check out the patio.

I usually just give them their space and let them do what they want to do. They’re not hurting anything and frankly they were here first.

We should live in harmony with our environment and neighbors.

Folks back east ask why we moved to the Desert Southwest. There are many reasons for our move. We are quite happy with living in Tucson and desert living is all that we thought it would be.

Being able to drive on Interstate 10 with the windows down, Yacht Rock Radio cranked, after sunset while it’s 85ºF in late October is one of the reasons we live here.

I worry I’m going to find 70ºF chilly this winter.