Pimping My House

This is the entrance to my house in Cave Creek, AZ. It is for sale because I am relocating to be near my daughter and granddaughter. The property has been on the market for some time now. Several offers have been tendered and I have declined them for various reasons. A friend of my daughter, reading my nostalgic descriptions of the property, caused me to think about this journal as a means of communicating with potential buyers. The reality is this site is a long message to my granddaughter (who cannot yet read) with a very limited (but truly welcome) readership and so it is not feasible to promote the property in this manner. But the comment helped me to focus on my purpose in waxing poignant about something that is gradually becoming a part of my past. So for clarification to current and future readers, I intend to tell Weezie and those who wish to know more about the Sonoran Desert and my small piece of it, why I care about it.

This is the entry to the house. It is an old house and needs some work (paint job and landscaping for starters) although it is basically sound (roof doesn't leak, everything works okay). Since this is not a promo of the property, I will say that it is not the house I value, it is the land and the solitude, the dark skies, the peaceful pace of the two small towns here, the beauty of the lush (even in drought) vegetation and abundant, varied wildlife that populate the area. Of course there are things about the house I like, but always it is the land that holds me. It sounds treacly, and maybe I can find a better way to say it, but this place was my solace when my marriage dissolved. It sustained me, it preserved my mental health. It was and is so beautiful and calm and enduring.

And I should say up front that I want the property to go to someone who understands and cares about the desert. Or at least someone who is willing to learn about why it is a very special place, and why changes should be made slowly and thoughtfully. People who come here from somewhere else mean well, but they make a lot of mistakes in the way they treat the desert. This is a problem because it takes a long time for the land to recover from those mistakes. Meanwhile, more damage can occur; an example is that of people who grade their land to build across an eroded area. They are likely to experience flooding at the next heavy rainfall (and yes, it rains heavily in the desert, at least twice a year, heavy enough to take a trestle out from under a train, uproot 100 year-old trees and float huge boulders.)

One other thing you should know before you read more of these essays: I am told that whoever buys the property is likely to have some money and probably intends to revamp both the house and the land. That puts my place into the category of a "scraper." I hope this helps to explain some of my angst over what may happen to the property, especially the land, when it changes hands. Thanks for reading this far.