The Empty Cabinets of my Mind

Land Rich and Cash Poor

Real Property Management

I don't pretend to or even aspire to be rich, but from the moment I escaped the womb, my mantra must have been "Land, Gimme Land."  In fact, I think Cole Porter's Don't Fence Me In must have been playing in the background when I popped out.  So while some people were saving their pennies for trips to Europe, nice clothes, or fancy cars, I was putting them aside for a deposit on some real property.

So now I am faced with having to find somebody to help me manage one or more properties which are in locations that are currently hard for me to get to. 

A company from Ft. Thomas, Kentucky caught my eye because they are realistic enough about today's economy to advocate the use of Lease/Purchase arrangements.  I have long considered Lease/Purchase to be the best situation for both sellers and buyers, yet many people, even real estate agents seem to be unaware that such an option even exists.  

They have a nice write-up on the advantanges of Lease/Purchase here:

More from Real Property Management

This company, which belongs to the National Association of Residential Property Managers, is full-service, whether you have just one house to rent or a hundred units.  They have been featured in the Bizjournal in Ohio and received a "Franchise of the Year Honorable Mention" award and recently signed an exclusive agreement with Freddie Mac. 

Sadly, although they manage over 20,000 units nationwide, what they don't have is any offices in my area.  Maybe you will be luckier.

Millenicom

I've been traveling so much, and so spontaneously, lately that I finally had to break down and get a wireless service that we could take with us.   After a lot of research, mostly reading comments by truckers in the forums they use to fill each other in, I concluded that Millencom was the best one to try.  Although it didn't work at all in Kingman, Arizona, most of the places we've hit throughout California have good coverage.

I like the little white USB "dongle" thingee which blinks blue when the signal is there, but has sort of a rainbow color that flashes when the signal is really really good.  It is fast down here in the Inland Empire. 

I bought the thingee because the whole trip about having to return it intact if discontinuing the service was too scary.  It cost half as much to buy as to lose.  I lose things.  Then when I find them later, which is inevitable, it is too late.  Like my 2nd to last TracFone, for instance.  You all know I use a Helio (now Virgin) Ocean Smart Phone for just about everything, but they say in their ad not to call it a phone, and although the signal and voice quality are really good, in truth, for yacking on the phone, I'd rather have my sleek little Motorola flip phone in my pocket than the beloved but clunky Ocean.  It feels more like a phone.  It doesn't take as good pictures, but my camera of choice is still the Canon Powershot Digital Elph.  So I lost the TracFone and bought a replacement and then came down here and guess what?  No signal. 

I Love Hot Weather

Arizona relocation services

OK, I really do, but it is not so good for hubby. So we migrate. Arizona for Christmas and New Years and on through the damp of February and the winds of March. Then we go back to California. Our favorite Arizona community is directly across the Colorado River from Laughlin, Nevada, a resort town that used to have all you can eat Sirloin Steak full buffets for $1.95 at dinnertime.

When we used to visit there for just a few days, we frequented those buffets, but when we got our own place and started staying several months at a time, it is amazing how we started staying on the Arizona side of the river and eating at home.

When you live in the Laughlin area, it is important to take insulated coolers in the car when going grocery shopping, because this area has the hottest recorded temperatures of the whole United States. Don't stand next to your car bare legged when the motor is running, either, because the AC exhaust coming out from under your car will scorch your legs. Take water everywhere (I freeze mine overnight and then drink it as it thaws down) and wear thick soled shoes in order not to get leather feet. Not all of Arizona is that hot, of course, but that is the drill where we like to hang out.

This area used to be affordable, but since it has been "discovered" now the homes are getting fancier, the prices are going up on everything, and it is not the same as it used to be. Hey, if I wanted to live in a luxury home, I would have moved to Scottsdale!

If you are interested in moving to Scottsdale, by the way, with the economy as it is, this is a good time to look at repo properties. BTW, the yellow tab at the lower left lets you search the MLS:    Foreclosures

Tap, Tap, Tap...

This morning there was a little tap, tap, tap on my front door, and when I went to see who was there, a new neighbor handed me a bag of farm fresh locally grown veggies.  Wow!  Tender young summer squash, zucchinis, and a couple of sumptuous tomatoes.  I love this neighborhood.  It has to have the nicest people in the world. 

Yesterday I found a dollar store and snagged the perfect colander (pictured above), as I am a total vegaphreak and knew I'd be shopping for fresh produce soon.  Ah, but it was like that saying "When the student is ready the teacher will appear"--only my version is "When the colander is ready, the produce will appear."  That was probably a sign that it is time to set up my first Southern California AeroGarden! 

Less is Better with Furniture

rustic furniture

My personal taste in furniture runs to the ultra modern, with round plastic or metal supports and a lot of glass.   I usually shop tirelessly until I find just the right build-your-own pieces and put them together myself.  I do like natural wood, however, and love to shop for the kind of furniture that looks great in other people's homes, but wouldn't work in mine.

Scenic Furniture is a family-owned business. One of their featured items is their Rustic Log Bed, and I have to admit that I like the way it looks in their ad:

Rustic Log Bed

The cabinets they show are too busy for my taste.  I think the red overwhelms in this situation.  I can see them elsewhere, though, as that truly is a lovely rich rubescent color.  For the bedroom, though, I'd prefer their Northern White Cedar over the Eastern Red. 

Actually, we are just moving into a new vacation place and haven't bought any furniture yet, except for this "bar stool" which I snagged at the local WalMart and put together just to have something to sit on until we figure out what we want to do here.   It is not the most comfortable chair in the universe, but it is serviceable and doesn't clash with anything. 

The seat is padded with a velvety looking beige fabric that adds a bit of warmth and texture to an otherwise flat room.   

Speaking of seats, the aforementioned Scenic Furniture has a 6-ft sofa where they list one of the fabric choices as Jacaranda.  Since my previous post is about the Jacaranda trees we have down here, I was curious to know what that fabric looks like.  They picture the fabric swatches at the bottom of the page, but here is a shortcut:  Fabric Swatches

Mystery Trees

Anybody know what kind of trees these are?  I had never seen them before having taken a recent trip to Hemet, CA, but they are everywhere down here:

The pods are interesting!  Well, they are Jacarandas and this blogger has a nice introduction to them:

I would hug these trees too!

Wikipedia also has a nice write-up on them, and I put more Jacaranda photos on my Gardening Blog.

To Delete or Not to Delete

I occasionally talk about how much I like a Paid to Write program called Triond, which pays US writers monthly royalties for minimum earnings as low as fifty cents.  Once I decided that if I were to submit an article once a month every month for 5 years, I'd end up with enough articles to buy a pretty nice lunch. 

Once an online search came up with an article criticizing Triond and it contained some wrong information.  That is how I learned about Associated Content.  I signed up to write an article praising Triond and rebutting some wrong information that had been published there.  Several people agreed with me so I decided maybe Associated Content wasn't such a bad place after.  Recently they have made some improvements to their site that make it easier to use, so I try to write something over there from time to time as well.  Like Triond they have a very low (if any) automatic minimum.  I like programs that pay the residuals automatically.  Associated Content pays a bit more for page views than Triond.  Neither program will make you rich without any effort, but I enjoy being part of the online writing community.  Here is my latest, a response to the fact that a recent post on this blog got a couple of spam comments:

About Comment Spam

Triond was a bit easier to learn how to use at the beginning, but their rules are a little tougher.  I don't mind rules.  People who use PTW programs do need to read and follow the rules, though. 

Yardwork

 

  It was a glorious day so hubby and I went outdoors to trim the bushes at our new place.  A neighbor advised that if they get too tall while we are away for the summer, they could damage our awnings when the monsoons come. 

Since I mentioned the pods in a previous post, maybe you would like to see them up close:

Neat Stuff from around the World

A web site called Cultural Home Decor caught my attention because of their light diffusing lamps made from fossilized cocoa leaves, wrought iron, and bamboo.  I like the bold colors on this one:

A Neat Lamp

I like the orange one, too.  I can imagine putting a box of chocolates out on the table next to either of those lamps.

Here is their home page:

Indian Home Decor

They do not just have Indian art, but also carry authentic products from other parts of the world.  The cocoa leaf lamps come from Southeast Asia. 

Never Cry UNKL

We have a shop in town called UNKL Al's Mobility Center.  It was kind of hard to find online because of the unusual spelling.  But it is an unusual place...so unusual that they probably get enough business just by word of mouth.   In case they don't, check out this article:

Be sure to check out the part about walking on water

After doing a bit of shopping down at the Mobility Center and meeting Bonnie and Al and a couple of their kids,  I'm starting to think they do walk on water.   Check this out.  Before Bonnie let me buy a set of lightweight aluminum ramps, she carried them out to our car and watched to see if I was going to be able to lift them OK.  For her, enabling isn't just a word.  She doesn't want her customers to just buy something and go out the door and be forgotten.  She wants them happy and able to use the equipment safely and to grow beyond it.  What a concept. 

In our community many people cruise around in what we call golf carts (Al calls them "neighborhood electric vehicles") so we often think it would be fun to get one.  If we do, we know where to buy it. 

It would be fun to ride around taking pictures of everybody's spring flowers.  We wouldn't have far to go to snap these, though, as they grow in our own yard.  

They are called Yellow Bird of Paradise, and the leaves look like those of that lentil bean I planted a while back.  After the flowers wilt and fall off, pods appear that look just like peas.  These seeds are quite poisonous, however.