April 15

Wow! Had no idea how much we'd come to love living in Arizona. Two "kids" from the Midwest - heat, humidity, snow, distinct seasons. This is lots different.

After 25+ years in Montana, we decided to give SW living a try. We moved in late December 2010 to Green Valley, south of Tucson, and can't quite believe how you can live in a vacation spot all the time!

Top 10 things I love about living here:

The weather - it's been so lovely since we've been here. The wind blows at times, it rains almost never, but like all arid climates, it's cool in the shade when it's hot in the sun. Of course, we haven't lived through a summer here yet. But I'd like to . . .

The birds - I'm amazed every day by waking to the sounds of so many wonderful birds: Gambel quail, several varieties of hummingbirds, cardinals, hooded orioles, curvebill thrashers, cactus wrens, roadrunners, mockingbirds, Gila woodpeckers, lots of LBB's - little brown birds - and yes, even the silly mourning doves. And lots more. It's amazing!!!

The people - First and foremost, we are close to brother and sis-in-law Lloyd and Barbara. That's been a true blessing. We had great times together and now we're able to help them while Lloyd recovers from back surgery. And we have wonderful neighbors. Everyone is from someplace else, so creating community is important to everyone. And they're happy. We rarely hear complaints, mostly comments like "isn't it beautiful today?" People you meet in passing are so easy to talk to and want to help and share a laugh.

The food - Sonoran Mexican food is delicious! It's not Tex-Mex. It's so tasty without the heat. You'll just have to trust me on this until you come and try it!

The visitors - We love to have friends and family come visit. We've had several visitors already and some locals have told us that happens frequently the first year or two, then slows down. I hope that's not true. We love company!

Quilting - I've joined the local quilt guild, something I've never done before. Seems pretty easy to be as active as you do or don't want. I'm in a small "round robin" group. Each person created a quilt block and then monthly it gets passed to another person who adds something on to it. You aren't allowed to see your own block until all the months have passed and you get it back with all the additions! It's been fun. And I worked the local quilt show and was so impressed with the quality of the quilting here. I have lots to learn from these ladies!!! I'm looking forward to getting my quilt room put together. Dean is building a Murphy Bed (off-the-wall bed) for the guest room which will leave me lots of room for my sewing stuff.

Nest-building - We've done a lot of projects in our house to put our stamp on it. We've added a solar tube to the guest room to allow lots of light for sewing. We've remodeled a bit by having a wall changed from a former sliding door between our bedroom and an add-on room with an arched opening, having some popcorn taken off ceilings, adding lighting in better places for us, and painting. We've changed a few appliances to more efficient ones and planted a few things to make our yard fit us. And we have the most gorgeous view of the mountains! Again, you must come see . . .

Solar - just today, a solar company out of the Phoenix area finished putting solar panels on our roof that will generate about 98% of our electrical power needs. It's exciting! Our house has a flat roof that has a direct southern exposure to the rear. They put 20 panels on the roof and if you stand in just the right place across the street, you can see the corner of one. Dean will have to add more details about it, but needless to say, it's going to be awesome to see the meter turn backwards!

The desert - it's starting to bloom! I had no idea how gorgeous cactus flowers are, but they are truly something to see! We had some doubts about a few plants - ocotillo to name one, but they sure do look pretty with their bright red and orange plumes on the tips!

Citrus - even though our lemon tree took a near fatal blow during the record-breaking freeze in February, it has a bit of green on it. Whether or not it stays in our back yard is yet to be determined. But we plan to plant an orange tree soon and depending on space, maybe others.

More another time . . .