The Tucson Lifestyle

2006-09-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Back To Blogging Again

2006-08-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

After a long break, we are going to crank up our Blog again. We don't have a good reason for stopping in the first place. I guess I could say we were very busy getting our real estate business going. Actually that is true, but it still sounds like a lame excuse.

Actually the real estate market is slow right now. Lots of listings but not many buyers. I think that will change in the fall.

Meanwhile we get to watch the monsoons here this summer...they can be spectacular. I have not seen it ever rain this hard before.

Well, its good to be back blogging. Time to go watch the rain!

Tucson Restaurants

2005-11-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

For some reason we have been eating out all the time lately. We always eat out a fair amountbut this has been ridiculous.

We have lived in SaddleBrooke for almost 2 years. For a metropolitan area this small (1 million in greater Tucson area) there are many good restaurants. Lots of variety in types of food and price range.

Here are some highlights and lowlights:

Tavolino's-- Small and family owned. White table cloths...must have a reservation. Everything is good, from the pasta dishes to veal, fish or chicken. You can't go wrong. An added bonus is that my favorite author, Larry McMurtry, (you know, Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, etc...)eats thereabout 4 times a week.

Wildflower-- Continental cuisine. Again, everything we have ever had here has been just great. Love to dine outside, even in the winter---they have space heaters.

Hacienda Del Sol-- Sunday Brunch to die for! This is old Tucson as it once was. Formerly a "boys ranch". You can still stay there. In the 30's and 40's this was a favorite retreat for Spencer Tracy, Bogart and Hepburn, etc... It is in immaculate condition. Food is unbelievable and includes unlimited mimosos.

El Charro-- Obviously there are many good Mexican restaurants in this area! This is one of our favorites. It is the oldest in Tucson. They still dry the beef (carne seca) on their roof as they have for over 100 years. This place is in the center of downtown Tucson. Worth the trip!

I was going to list a few that are not so good...why bother. We haven't found that many anyway.

Big Paper Day

2005-10-04T04:56:00.000-07:00

For almost 2 years we were actually retired. We moved from Cleveland to this beautiful desert with the idea of staying retired.

It didn't work out that way..we got tired of playing golf, hiking, reading and basically relaxing. I know it sounds a little crazy, but we just wanted to get back to some work!

Real estate has been wonderful...we love it.

Back to my first point about when we were "retired". One of the things that began to drive me nuts was that every day of the week seemed like Saturday. It was fun and games every day...no diffentiation.

There was one day that was different. We called it "big paper day". Sundays never lost their identity. NFL football on the tube. We would get all fired up about the Browns, look forward to the game, then watch them lose. Ah yes, some things never change.

Now that we are working again, every day has the same feel again. Of course when you are in the real estate business, weekends are busy. Especially "big paper day".

Sun Glasses

2005-09-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

I got to thinking the other day that being in the sunglasses business in Tucson must be lucrative. I mean the sun is always out! I love it when the local weatherpersons (must be gender neutral) call for partly cloudy.

What that actually means is if you look real hard toward any one of the beautiful distant mountain ranges that surround Tucson, you might see an occasional white puffy cloud.

I swear there is so much sun that your sunglasses wear out. I don't even have time to lose them. I think they just give up. They work so hard every day trying to keep the eyes protected, never a break...no clouds, no off days. They're tired.

You can tell when the end is coming...the pigment in the glass starts to lighten. The hinges holding the glasses together start to loosen, and those "nose braces", I guess that's what you call them, that allow the glasses to rest comfortably on the nose, they get crooked. Its all over.

Its really the luck of the draw. Some sunglasses get shipped to Buffalo,Cleveland, or Seattle instead of Tucson. They're the lucky ones. Get to stay in a drawer most of the time, work a few days in July. Life is good.

But Its A Dry Heat

2005-08-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Today the high will be 104F. It is still officially monsoon season although we are getting near the end. There is no rain predicted for the next 7 days. That will take us past Labor Day.

Yesterday it was 104F and the humidity was about 20%. That is actually a little bit high for Arizona at that temperature. The reason is "monsoon season". Other times of the year we can expect about 10-12%.

However, since we practice "full disclosure" on this blog site, during monsoon, it is actually a little "muggy" at times. The humidity level can get to 50-60%.

Because we are in the realty business, we talk with folks all the time who are relocating from the Midwest. They cannot believe how much more comfortable it is when you experience these low humidity levels.

People back in Cleveland who have never been here (or have never really spent much time here) just don't believe it! Here is an example summarizing the basic comments we would get:

"Hey Bob and Karen, great to see you. How's Arizona? I saw in the paper yesterday it has been over 100 for 25 days in a row. Of course its a dry heat! (laughter).

All we can say is, if you really want to be uncomfortable, try July in Ohio. 85 degrees with 80% humidity. Ah... wonderful. I must have gone thru 3 shirts and 4 pairs of underwear per day.

If your shirt and underwear costs are soaring, Karen and I will find you a great house in dry, sunny Arizona. Just log on to http://petrou.yourkwagent.com.

Freeways And Lack Thereof

2005-08-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

We drove to the Desert Museum yesterday. What a place that is...but more on that another time.

You must use the one and only Tucson Freeway (Interstate 10) to get to the Desert Museum from the Oro Valley area. Tucsonians do not believe in having freeways. Everywhere you go is almost always via surface streets. Lots of stoplights. You never feel like your getting anywhere very fast. The better description is "steady".

When we first arrived in Tucson we thought it was pretty stupid to have only one freeway (I-10 which runs North and South). Furthermore, there were no plans to even build another one! In fact there were no plans to even have this issue on the ballot.

After all, we were from the Cleveland area and like most major cities there were freeways everywhere. Everyone driving around 80mph,constant merging, slow left lane drivers, traffic jams, orange construction barrels (the Ohio state bird), weather delays...well you got the picture.

Yesterday we encountered deja vu all over again on Tucson's only freeway. All it needed was snow and I would have sworn I was back in Cleveland.

As of this morning we are now convinced that Tucsonians are very wise people. Slow and steady on the surface streets makes a lot of sense.

If you love Arizona and freeways, I suggest Phoenix.

Patio "Misters"

2005-08-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to me how us humans have the ability to adapt to our environment. We are not only able to adapt, but actually invent ways of coping with it. I remember when we lived in Minnesota, during the Winter, when it was not uncommon to have 10-20 days in a row where the temperature never reached 0 degrees F, someone had invented "the bolt heater" for your car. This device allowed you to "plug it in" while in your garage for the night. In the morning, not only did your car start, it actually was warm immediately! If you were lucky, when you got to work that morning, your company might have have provided an option of "plug in" parking, in which case a nice toasty car greeted you at the end of your work day. This certainly made living in Minnesota more tolerable.

Arizona has invented their version of the bolt heater. They are called "misters". Put these babies up along the top edge of your patio roof line (on the inside) and you are ready for a Tucson Summer---bring it on. Hell, I never want to leave the patio! I swear this invention lowers the temperature 15 degrees. As long as they are at least 8-9 feet above you will never get wet.

One thing I know for sure, the inventor of "misters" once lived in Minnesota.

A Desert Blooming

2005-08-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

The Sonoran Desert captured my heart and soul several years ago when we made our first trip to Tucson. In my uninspired mind, the desert was a place of sand and dust, tumbleweeds and scrub. MY, was I wrong!!!!

The Sonoran Desert is a lush beauty rich with growth. Abundant cacti of incredible varities like prickly pear,cholla, hedgehog, barrel and spoon cactus actually crowd the desert. And trees - yes trees grow here as well- can you imagine shade in the desert? Palo Verde with it's green bark and delicate feathery leaves is my favorite but the mesquite are beautiful as well. The Mexican Willow and Mexican oak are tall and graceful and in the raparian areas of Sabino Canyon, Cottonwoods drink from the river. And not to be forgotten are the Saguaro Forests that rise up unexpectedly their ancient structures as tall as an oak tree in Ohio

Our first spring here astonded us with its beauty. Wild flowers burst their blooms all over the place in a riot of color followed by blooming cactus. The stately Saguaro lost some of its grandeure as it wore red and white flowers atop its head like a silly spring hat. And the mountains were cloaked in a shawl of green as the grasses grew tall.

When the heat of summer came the wildflowers died out and the cactus flowers faded. The Mexican Bird of Paradise with its bright orange flowers endures the heat of summer keeping color in desert landscape. But thanks to the fabulous monsoon rains we are blooming in full once again - a surprise to us new desert dwellers. The mountains are green again, the desert floor rich with verdant growth and blooming cactus. And in our yard, bushes are bursting forth with purple blooms. The desert is rich and lush again.

There is something so surprising, sacred almost about rain falling in the desert. And comforting too. It restores and nourishes not just the landscape, but my heart and soul as well.

Stupid Motorist Law

2005-08-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

Karen and I were in downtown Tucson yesterday afternoon. Just before we got there it had rained really hard. Since this is our first summer in Tucson, we had never before actually been caught driving flooded streets after a summer monsoon. We had to turn around and find new routes several times.

You see, they don't do sewers in the desert. The water just runs where it damn well wants to. If you are unlucky enough to be coming up on a low enough area in the road, you better turn around and find another way.

Now a lot of drivers just do not want to take the time to turn around, so everyday, during this time of year we read in the paper about stranded motorists that had to be rescued. They were in a big hurry.

If you are stupid enough to do this, well, you've just entered the world of the "stupid motorist law". This law was passed by the Arizona legislature a couple of years ago. Basically, it just says that if you drive your car into high water and have to be rescued, it will cost you about $2000...no exceptions.

Its a great law.

Official Rainfall--Say What?

2005-08-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

Its early AM. Sitting on the back patio reading Tucson's daily paper. It rained again yesterday real hard and then a gentle rain during the night. We've got to get it now, because come September the "monsoons" are over. After that, we Tucsonians will just have to live with about 300 straight days of sunshine, no humidity and no bugs. Of course we do have snakes, scorpions, coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, hawks, eagles, and javelinas(look like a pig but are actually in the rodent family). Ah...paradise.

The paper says the "official" rainfall(measured only at the airport) so far in this "monsoon" season is below normal. Yet many areas around Tucson have received 8-11 inches of rain thus far.

It got me to wondering why cities only measure their rainfall at the local airports. Wouldn't it be far more accurate to have measurements at 4 locations? The local meteorologist would just have to learn how to add them together and divide by 4.

Anyone else bothered by this or do I just have way to much free time on my hands?

Let This Blog Begin

2005-08-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

Up early as usual. Sun comes up so early here. Never any daylight savings, so we're not "springing" forward or "falling" back, like in Cleveland.

Out on the patio, it is quiet and I'm dividing my time between reading the paper and staring at the Catalina Mountains. They are so close. Karen and I both agree--we will never get tired of looking at them.

Its actually cloudy this morning. Rained again last night. It is what they call monsoon season out here. It is our first summer. All I can say is the name is accurate. Most afternoons the clouds begin to build, usually over the Catalinas to our east. Then the rain. Usually its a downpour with strong winds, lightning...reminds me of summer storms back in Cleveland.

Sometimes at night, we can sit on our patio and watch the storms form over the nearby mountains. Its like July 4th. Lightning, thunder, but no rain. The storms will never reach us. Instead they run right down the mountain range to the Oro Valley or even to downtown Tucson, 23 miles to the south. We love the storms.

Better go walk our dog Sophy. She's staring at me with this pained look and her legs crossed.