The lighter side of life – staying in touch with friends and family by celebrating the ordinary.
The elusive home
Meanwhile, we’re still slowly looking for that perfect home. We’ve not managed to get settled since moving back to New Mexico over 2 years ago.
The north valley, which is on the west side of Albuquerque, is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in all of New Mexico. It’s down along the river, and is irrigated, and has a lot more trees than the typical high desert of New Mexico.
The challenges are a real mix of houses, many old, run-down, and unconventional (crazy layouts, funny mix of styles, etc.). Also there are million dollar homes next to junkyards. Like, literal junkyards with chained pit bulls.
Some of the older houses have irrigation wells in addition to city water. I have a self-sufficiency streak and would love to have both a producing garden when I retire. I would probably also want to install solar panels, which we spend an enormous amount of money installing on the Placitas house during the brief period when we thought we would stay there. Argh.
Most of these homes are more expensive than we’d actually be comfortable spending. But it was a beautiful fall day. Enjoy the pics!
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