What did I learn today?

I'm at a friend's house here in Truckee to oversee the fixing of a leak in their washing machine. Good thing I've built a few homes in my day. 

1) Discovered the door was installed around the washer and dryer. The door jam had to be removed to get the units out. The young one suggested ripping out the dry wall in the next room but I vetoed that idea. I said take the door jam trim off, with the door closed whatever damage done you wouldn't see. We'll deal with it later. 

2) The air vent was never attached - that was scary. 

3) The water pressure was way too high (92 psi now and it should be 75 psi) and living at the bottom of the hill makes it even worse, especially at night.

4) Cheap plastic hoses where installed and could have blown at any time - having high water pressure didn't help either. Always use metal hoses. 

The things you should know when buying a house in the hills.

1) South facing deck is good.

2) Having a level driveway is a very good thing

3) Always have a sewer line that goes down hill.

Things that go bump all day long

The house I'm staying here in Incline Village is by a golf course, all of the homes in this neighborhood run along the golf course. Since it snow most of the time, it's not a really busy golf course for most of the year. 

The house is set back (sort of behind two other homes) and has a grove of pine trees between it and course. I'm not really sure how anyone could get their golf ball this far. The way the course is laid out, it would be pretty hard to get it this far. They should be putting at the spot. 

 I'm still getting use to the random pinecone hitting the roof or the squirrels having a dance party so when I heard this golf ball hit the house I just thought it was a weird pinecone. Now I understand why there's a big basket of golf balls by the front door and why you can't walk along the course during the day! 

Rare Snow Plant

Went on my evening walk tonight and saw this plant which wasn't there last night. Did a quick Google search to find out what it was. 

It's called a Snow Plant and considered rare. It's also a protected plant that can't survive being transplant so no touching. 

It was such a surprise to see such a bright pop of color in a field of green. 

In Search of a deep pocket vest!

Not sure why my photos of the card I made aren't loading up to my computer but I'll post as soon as it happens. Incline Village is a very small town so when I went to the post office, I stopped by the thrift store. As I said before the thrift stores here are $$$ but with the population full time residents being so small, they don't get a lot of good stuff. If I see something I think I can flip, I just have to wait for it to go on sale. Everything in the photo came to $7.00. The teapot ($8.00) and candle sticks ($10.00) were 75% off and the pour over cone ($5.00) was 50%. I'm really in search of a vest with deep pockets to hold my cell phone when I'm out hiking.  I was surprised there weren't any vests on the racks at all. I think I will make the drive and check out Carson City to see what their thrift stores are like!

Morning Hike 2022

I'm still working on getting my lungs up to snuff so I can do the longer hikes and not get winded or a headache. I have to work on slowing down my pace, as I'm a fast walker by nature. So I decided I would play Pokemon and stop when I was trying to catch a character. 

This morning I went out and walked along the cart path to the golf course which is right next door. I didn't think anyone would be golfing as it's getting ready to rain but I was wrong.  Going to stay inside and get some crafting projects done and maybe later today visit the thrift store to check out the artwork. 

Small town issue

My number one goal was finding a place I feel safe living as an older single woman. Incline Village pretty much has it's own private police force, not that it really needs that type of protection. I've seen more patrol cars in this tiny town than the whole year I lived in Alameda. The down side to living in a small town is that there's not a lot of choices where you can shop for anything without having to drive 30 - 45 minutes to the next biggest town. Going to be ordering online a lot more than I have in the past! 

I did bring up some art projects to work on while I was here and I forgot to pack some brushes. I have a bin full of brushes in my short term storage so I didn't want to make that long drive to a craft store for just one thing. I found these cheap brushes at the only grocery store in town and I will make them work.  Another thing I noticed where I'm staying is that it's so quiet I had to ask if Amazon delivers here. I have yet to see a FedEx or UPS truck drive by. I know most of the homes here are vacation homes that never rent out so I'm sure that's the reason. 

First official hike 2022

I haven't had these hiking boots on for almost 2 years. During the last year of Annie's life we didn't do a lot of hiking as it was very uncomfortable for her to walk for long periods of time. True to her nature, she would have done it if I wanted her to but I knew better.

 Then I moved to Alameda right after her passing and it was just not safe to do any walking alone around town. It's even not safe now to hike any of the trials in the state parks that were close by to the city. Mountain bikers are getting mugged on the trial for their bikes!

So my boots stayed in their box until I arrived in Tahoe. I went 

on a short hike this morning along the lake after a few hours of trying to get some very complicated paper done. I still don't know the area well or where the best hiking trail parking is but I'll figure it out. It's so nice to be outside, hike and feel safe in just walking around. Having some pretty great sunny weather and I know to enjoy it before the snow starts. :) 

Hitting the wall

I finally hit the wall last night. Fell asleep at 5:00 pm and really didn't wake up until 7:30 am this morning. I'm sure not getting woken up by a crying baby,  garbage trucks making their early morning rounds, cars drag racing in the middle of the night or the random fireworks (gun shots) going off at night is part of it too. There is the random pinecone hitting the roof or loud squirrels running across the roof but overall it's very quiet here. 

Made a pan of country hash browns because it's what I have in the house. Being so far away from grocery stores, you really have to plan out your meals. No more quick trips to the store to pick up whatever you forgot. I'm also very lucky that my cousin-in-laws like to cook so the kitchen has everything I need. Would be super if I could stay in this neighborhood but it's way out of my price range. So I'll enjoy it while I can as I look for something more long term. 

Morning view to start my day

Starting to tackle my major frogs today. The mountain of paperwork I've been ignoring for months are now spread out on the dining room table. My reward will be going into town to get eggs and a quick stop into the thrift stores, yes the simple life.  :) 

I'm still working on getting my lungs use to this high altitude so I  can do some of the longer hikes, the weather is beautiful here today so I'm looking forward to getting outside. The house has a lot of windows so even if I have to stay inside all day, it still very nice!

Time to catch my breath and form a plan.

The beautiful view from where I'm sitting here in Tahoe!   The change is so different from when I lived in Alameda. Of course this is temporary but it's giving my time to set course on where my life will be going.

Adventure is in my soul.

Today is the first day I have all to myself and not have to be responsible for a baby. It's been a very stressful and exhausting month dealing with packing up everything I own and also being in charge of a baby.  

To get to know Incline Village before I make the decision to move here, I checked out the three thrift stores here in town. The prices at the stores are too high to flip for a profit, so you have to wait for when things go on sale. Also there isn't a great selection of things to buy. I'm sure since Tahoe is more a vacation home place, there aren't a lot of people having a house full of treasures to get rid of.

I didn't buy the artwork "adventure is in my soul" but it is sort of fitting for what my life is like right now. I'm very fortunate to have cousins letting me stay at their home here in Tahoe while they're boating around the east coast. So far I love the peace and  quiet (when the grandsons aren't here) and all the trees everywhere. Yesterday it snowed and today it's bright and sunny. I'm still not sure I can handle the big snow fall when it hits but so far it's been what I've been looking for. Being able to go outside and feel safe in whatever I'm doing. 

I did pick up a few things at the Hospice thrift shop which is a very small store. And yes, I would so redo their racks and make it at least look a little better.  I have to gather enough stuff to make it worth shipping down to Campbell or making the 5 hour drive down. I think it's going to take me while!  

Another Pick here in Tahoe

I stopped by what was billed as a rummage sale but it really was a tiny garage sale. It was a property manager who was selling what was left in I wasn't going to stop but saw this XL mirror and knowing these thing sell well decided to check it out. I already have someone in mind to buy it here in Tahoe so I'm just waiting before I transfer it down to Campbell if that falls through. I've only been to one thrift  store so far but I plan to check them out as soon as they open this week.