A big (((THANK YOU))) to my readers

Well, I've enjoyed reading all your comments.

I think we'll stay in our home.  We've been here 40 years and we are comfortable with its location (2 blocks from Whole Foods) and I LOVE my view of Toro Peak and our local mountains!  And, we LOVE our independence!  This might be an option if just one of us were living.  I don't think either of us would want to maintain the house and yard by himself or herself...And I have my birds, my cats, and yes, my dog with us here at home.  And, it IS our home.  It's our private world.  We both escape from our jobs to our HOME.

Anyway, I really did like reading your thoughts and comments.  Sometimes it is good to get advice from others!  :-)

 Dark skies a couple of weeks ago.  MORE rain is forecast for this Friday!   :-)

I need some advice!

So, our daughter and SIL looked at some model homes in Phase II of their development and found one with a "granny apartment".  Apparently it is a bedroom, bath, a small bar, refrigerator, and microwave next to the main house.  The main house would have 4 bedrooms, which they will need if they wish to expand their family.  They are still debating that situation.

For $800 a month, we could live there. That's the difference between their current mortgage and the one at the new house, with the "granny" pad.  They've offered the granny pad to us.  That, is, IF they sell their current house and order one of the Phase II ones, AND we decide to do this with them.  Oh, and I believe it would also have a pool.

 I like this (above photo)

                                                    I REALLY don't like this attitude!!!  REAL tears were coming out yesterday after breakfast.

This would be a couple of years away, as the houses aren't even built yet.  However, they want us to let them know if we want to do this.

Hmmmm....has anyone out there done this with your kids?

I worry that it MIGHT be too close and too much "togetherness".  We LIKE our independence.  However, it would save us about $1200 a month (mortgage, taxes, insurance).  And, we would be close to our daughter and her family.

HOWEVER, I would have to retire by then and be the live-in babysitter. I'm planning to retire in June of 2016 anyway.  I'm not too keen on being a full-time, live in babysitter.  I LIKE my independence.  Our dream has been to retire and live some place where there are mountains and TREES, not the desert.  We've lived in the desert for...let's see...me for 40 years and hubby for 55.  We would NOT be able to bring our dog, who is currently 8 years old, and certainly not our cat, Abby, since daughter is allergic to EVERYTHING with 4 legs!  I'm NOT giving up my dog!

BUT, as you know, we aren't getting any younger.  It would be nice to have family nearby (they already live about 12 miles away).  Company would be nice, too, since hubby and I mostly spend our time here at home in our own offices on our laptops!  We wouldn't have a yard to maintain and ALL of our appliances are 15 years old and will probably konk out in the next year or so.  AND, our air conditioner will konk out one shortly.  The inside part is 17 years old and the outside compressor is 12...sigh...and that would be a HUGE expense for us!  We would have to downsize A LOT and we would get rid of one car and probably get something smaller.  We would NOT have to deal with trees and dead lawns and yard maintenance, which would be a good thing, since it's up to me anyway and I'm too old and sore and crabby to deal with most of the yard anyway...

Has anyone done this?  What are the pros and cons?  I would LOVE to hear your ideas and thoughts about this.

Snow!!!

I stopped and took this photo with my Samsung Galaxy yesterday morning.  You can see where it is snowing in our local mountains.  Toro Peak has a very nice dusting of snow, too.  This is from the Toro Peak webcam, courtesy of UC San Diego:

Isn't the snow lovely?  I can see it from my window in my office!  I look right up at Toro Peak every day!

RAIN on the way!!!

I know some of you live east of the Rockies and you guys have rain and snow, but here in California we are in the middle of the worst drought I've ever seen!  We have mandatory water cutbacks and cities aren't allowed to waste water.

We do have a late storm heading our way, however, and we're hoping for snow up in our local mountains and maybe even some RAIN down here in the desert!  Wouldn't that be great?

Actually, we don't rely on rain for our water source.  Under Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, there is a huge aquifer.  When the snow arrives on our local mountains (5,000 to 8,000 to 10,000 feet high), it melts.  And, when it melts, it goes down into the aquifer.  It takes 8 years for that water to get there and to be used again (I learned this from a field trip to our local water district).  We haven't had much snow in the last several years, however, so even our aquifer is drying out and the water districts, which already have wells down to 1,500 feet, may have to drill down further.

So, we are looking forward to the rain and mountain snow today!   :-)  It's too early to actually see much this morning, but this is the view from the Toro Peak webcam, looking east.  It is at 8,717 feet.

My sunflowers~Good Fences~050715

Now that the pesky rat is gone who was eating my sunflowers out front, they are thriving and blooming.  And, one is about 8' tall! The fence is 6' and, as you can see, one of them towers over the fence! I see birds on them almost every morning now, too, and I enjoy that.  I planted these along our fence with the neighbor to the west, so they get full sunlight almost all day.  Good Fences for May 7, 2015.  To visit Good Fences, please go to:    http://run-a-roundranch.blogspot.com/

Cloudy skies and cooler temps!

We had cloudy skies yesterday and this morning I already see clouds overhead.  Our temps have dropped from 102 to 99, to 97, and down to 88 yesterday!  THANK GOODNESS!  Nobody was ready for triple digit heat!  (at least not me!)  And, temps will move down to the higher 70's in the next day or so.  It will be a nice weekend to visit the horses (IF I have the energy!).

I pulled over after our visit to COSTCO last night.  Hubby wanted to replace our 10 year old TV in the bedroom, so we bought one at COSTCO, took it home, plugged it in, and watched another episode of "Turn:  Washington's Spy Ring" on AMC.  Hubby leaned out the window and snapped this photo for me.  I love the orange on the clouds, don't you?  That's Mt. San Jacinto, above Palm Springs, in the photo.

Great-grandparents...some thoughts

Spare Parts did a beautiful blog post about his own grandmother blowing bubbles with his granddaughter.  You can visit it here:

http://sparepartsandpics.blogspot.com/2015/05/never-too-old.html

My grandchildren will never see their great-grandparents.  All 4 of them (on my side) are gone.  My mom died in 2000 and my dad in 2001.  My husband's parents went after that.

Fortunately, we have a close relationship with each of our kids.  Our daughter has 2 girl, who just turned 2, and our son has a 6 year old boy and a 5 month old girl.  AND, bonus, bonus*** we live just 10-12 miles away from both families!   :-)   And, I get to babysit at least once a week!   :-)  I can't WAIT to retire!

Here are two of the little munchkins: