Author: Kristina

Plants are more complicated than we think

I read an interesting article in Discover magazine.  We all know that plants can grow toward the sunlight, which doesn’t seem that surprising that the cells in the leaves can sense sunlight.  But they did a study where they trained plants to associate a fan with subsequent sunlight, and the plants grew toward the fan.  Just in case you’re thinking, “Yeah, well, maybe a breeze stimulates growth.” (which is what I was thinking), they trained a different set of plants to grow AWAY from the fan.  So plants can learn to use stimuli other than sunshine, to figure out where the sunshine is going to be in the future.  Wow!

Here’s the article.  http://discovermagazine.com/2017/may-2017/smarty-plants

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Remodel Woes

 

Here’s our house on Homesteads Road

John purchased this house 20 years ago, long before we met.  He lived in it happily for 10 years, but since we got together 10 years ago, it has sat neglected.  Sometimes it’s been a rental, and sometimes it’s been empty.  It has currently been empty for 2 years since the last tenants moved out.  It was on the market for 9 months during 2015-2016, but there were no offers.

Up on top of a hill, this house has absolutely amazing views, but it gets hit hard by the frequent winds in New Mexico.

The interior is dated, which I don’t mind, but I don’t like the chopped-up layout.  The kitchen is tiny.  There is a small living room, and in a different part of the house a very small family room.  I would have much preferred a single, open living space.

All the bedrooms are on the second floor.  This is fine for us now, but may become an issue as we age.  And it definitely affects our ability to sell the house, since this is a retirement area and buyers are looking for 1-story homes.

Also, indoor-outdoor living is very important to John and I.  We like to eat outside, and I often work outside.  However, in this intense desert climate, being comfortable outside requires shade and wind-blocking courtyard walls.  So we’d also want to build a courtyard and covered patio.

We spent several months working hard with an architect to design plans to open up the interior, and add an addition.  Last month we gave the plans to a couple of builders for bids.  On Tuesday our first bid came in, at $431,800!!  What a disappointment.  We are not intending to spend anything resembling that amount of money on a remodel.  In this area, we can buy a very nice, new house for that amount of money!

So now it’s back to the drawing board.  Or actually, I’m not going back to the architect for more drawings.  I’ll just talk to a couple of contractors about a much smaller remodel that doesn’t require architectural plans.   The windows are failing and need replaced.  We can upgrade some of the flooring.  We can build a pergola outside and even put up a small courtyard wall.  We can also spruce up the kitchen (new countertops, paint the cabinets), but I don’t see an easy way to expand the kitchen without getting into an expensive, domino affect.

It’s a disappointment, but the views are still as amazing as ever, and we are looking forward to completing the new, much smaller remodel.