Category: Miscellany

Yesterday afternoon, the south-side A/C died again. It was discovered too late in the day to get anything done with it. Fortunately, when the technician arrived this morning to look at it, we found the current problem had absolutely nothing to do with the failure experienced a week ago.

Today has been a total waste. We got the air conditioning working again, but it took all day and many, many phone calls to the builder to finally get things done. I finally made it to work just a couple of hours before quitting time and spent the entire time trying to “catch up” — I’ll finish in the morning.

Tuzigoot, the remains of an ancient pueblo or village built by a peoples known as the Sinagua around 1000 A.D., is located on a hill top just outside of Clarkdale, AZ.

In order to escape the heat building in the house, we decided to take a family outting to Tuzigoot. Rather than take the more direct route — I-17 North, then SR-260 West to Cottonwood, then SR-89A West toward Clarkdale — I inadvertantly exited I-17 at SR-69, driving through Prescott, through the mountains to Jerome, and then on to Clarkdale. Although this was a MUCH longer route, the scenery more than made up for it.

The house has been slowly getting uncomfortable all day, at least part of it has. I discovered late this afternoon that the air conditioning unit on the South side of the house — thankfully there is another one on the North end — had stopped working, although the blower continued to cycle the air. We’re still within our warranty period so I called and builder and (naturally) left a message. I doubt he’ll even hear it until Monday morning. In the meantime, I’ve nudged the other AC thermostat down several degrees and set both air-handlers to continuously cycle the air. Hopefully this will slowly transfer some of the cooler air from the North end of the house to the South end.

We finially got the final inspection from the Fire Marshal — we had fire sprinklers installed which required a couple additional inspections, so the Contractor can continue to finish the insides. While we were waiting for the Fire Marshal to come out for the last inspection, I wired the house w/cat-5. Also, as you can see from the picture, they’ve back-filled dirt around it so it doesn’t look so “jacked up” on the foundation, now it’s just sitting on a small hill.

Here’s a better view of the entry way. I love the front porch!

Here’s a picture of the back. I haven’t had a covered patio since I was a kid. I can’t wait until they finially finish and we can move in!

It’s only been a month since they started framing and it nearly looks finished! The stucco is on the outside and roof-tiles are layed out for installation. What you can’t see is that all the interior walls are still just open framework. The electrical, plumbing, and such still needs to be installed and at some point, I need to go in and wire the house for eithernet.

Another house picture.

It’s amazing how quickly it begins to take shape!

It’s starting to look like a house!

The contractors showed up on Easter Sunday and began framing up the walls.

Foundation
This is a picture of our new house. Well, the foundation anyway — It’s pretty exciting to finally see construction start on it. Due to an over-zealous county Flood Department, the foundation is just over four feet above grade — even though the “wash” they have on their maps has been completely blocked/diverted about a mile “up-stream” and hasn’t had anything more than a trickle of water run through it in the last 10 years.

Driveway

This is a pic of our driveway — approximately 400 feet long!

Cold-blooded Solutions to Warm-blooded Problems, an article by Douglas Fox, discusses how Scientists are hoping to preserve human organs by studying the Arctic Wood Frog’s ability to freeze solid and thaw back to life. This article was published by The Exploratorium as part of their Frogs exhibition: Originally February 13 through September 12, 1999, and extended through February 6, 2000.

Note: Although the exhibition is over, the article still seems to be available online.

The Long, Happy Life of Robin Stackpole, an excellent historical novel by Maynard Fox, depicts the kind of life my Grandfather experienced: growing up in rural farm communities, the Great Depression, raising crops for college tuition, and attending college mid-century … while wrestling with some of the same issues adolescents and young adults deal with today.

Rode in Mile High Madness at Payson. This was 30 miles of fire roads through cool pines and the high desert with a couple of river crossings thrown in. The first ten miles included a moderate climb and an excellent downhill run, dropping 1500 feet, from Marysvill Hill to Doll Baby Ranch at the bottom of the East Verde River Canyon. We paid for this fun during the next ten miles: rocky and semi-steep climbs, gaining 1200 feet, to Crackerjack Mine. The last leg of the ride included brief, but fun, downhill, dropping 200 feet, to the East Verde River Crossing and a moderate climb, regaining 500 feet.

In all, I didn’t ride any where near as good as I had hoped to, but much better than I thought I would. We were told the average rider would take five hours to complete the course. I came in at just over six. I definitely have a goal for next year!