High, flat, smooth-looking clouds coat the morning sky. The sun tries to blast its way through the grey blanket, with only half-way luck. Doesn’t look like it’s gonna rain…but…what the heck, this IS what we have the Internet for, right? Look it up on Wunderground…
hmmm…. 80 degrees just now; 97 forecast. (WHAT are they smoking? It’s damp, cloudy, warm, and soggy out here on the back porch. And solidly socked-in overcast. Nine-seven degrees will turn this place into a bathtub!) Looks like temps will hover in the 90s and then the low 80s for the next couple days. Ugh….less than perfectly balmy.
A dove in the palm tree off the back porch holds forth monotonously: cuCOO cucooo…cuCOO cucooo…cuCOO cucooo… Aren’t you glad you’re not a bird?
Yeah, it would be grand to be able to soar through the air on feathery wings. But all the rest of it? Dodging cats and dogs, baking in the sun, soaking in the rain, chowing down on random seeds….naaaahhhhh! Not so great.
The dawg has gone back to bed. Feeling a little under the (heh!!) weather, I may follow her.
Contemplating…do I want to follow SDXB out to Sun City, after all?
Except for the blasting jets from Luke Air Force Base, it’s probably quieter and safer out there: fewer criminals, less ambulance noise, far less traffic…
But…but…GAWD, I hated living out there with my parents!
Now, obviously this time I would be free of the parental reins.
Back on the other hand, though: ugh.
- The noise from that air base(!!)
- The staggeringly incompetent medical care (with any luck, that has improved…I hope!)
- The mile on mile on mile of ticky-tacky look-alike cinderblock houses
- The hatred of anyone who doesn’t look like you…especially if their skin is darker than yours
- The paucity of decent grocery stores to shop in
- The endless drive to see your family in Phoenix — or for them to get to you
- The ease of break-ins: a tabby cat could burglarize your home, with no problem
One could go on and on…every which way you look, some drawback lurks. A big one, IMHO, is the relatively low sale value of the houses. When I finally croak over, my son will be able to sell my house here in middle-class North Phoenix and retire to Tahiti on the proceeds. If he inherited a Sun City house, the selling price would barely buy him a submarine sandwich.
This house, on the other hand, because of its central location AND because the city ran that crazy light-rail up our western border, makes it possible — easily possible — to live comfortably without a car. We have three major supermarkets within walking distance, plus two computer stores, a hair stylist’s, a veterinary hospital, a major drugstore/pharmacy, two huge regional hospitals staffed by highly trained and experienced medicos…on and on and on. Because of that central location and because of the neighborhood’s overall quality, if and when M’hijto inherits this house, he’s going to be set.
He either can move in and loaf his way through life the way I’m doing, or sell this place for damn near enough to retire on. Maybe, by then, for altogether enough to retire!
😀
Wouldn’t that be neat? What a great inheritance to leave for him!