November 21 -- A House and Termite Inspection, and A Talk On "Bird Brains" By A Professor Emeritus

These past 9 days spent here in Rodeo, New Mexico and Portal, Arizona have just been PACKED with activity -- and I still have the 600 mile-plus drive back to Overton, Nevada on Sunday...But despite the "death" of my truck, and dealing with the insurance, which overall has been a good, and educational, experience, things from where I stand now look great. In about 2 months' time I'll have a new house here int the fabulous Chiricahuas, a new truck, and a new home on wheels -- life will be good! And I'll head back on the road for further adventures...I met Helen Snyder, friend, overall guru and real estate agent extraordinaire for the Portal area, at the Portal cafe for breakfast where we discussed the upcoming housing inspection, my ideas for a new truck, and how to handle the closing of the house sale. We KNEW the house on Faranuf (pronounced "Far Enough") Trail was clean, pretty spotless, and efficient in its use of appliances, well and septic tank -- the septic had been checked and cleaned the day before -- so it was just a matter of having all of that written up in a report. Jerry, the inspector, and his wife showed up around 11am and I followed them around, asking questions and viewing their inspection methods. Their overall comment, repeated many times, was that the owner of the  house didn't "skimp" on anything, using the best materials, and things were still fairly new (the house was built in 2007) -- and looked almost as pristine as the day when the manufactured house was moved here. Jerry said it was brought to the location in 2 sections, and used an exterior construction material called Hardy board -- about the highest-quality material you can find in a manufactured home. The house is set on a concrete block, and when we opened the grate to check underneath the house, the crawl area was about as spotless as you can find, no evidence of any animals making their homes in there. There were also "tie downs" in the space, which are an additional feature so the house doesn't "fly away" in the event of, say, a hurricane. The garage was constructed separately from the house -- and Jerry was impressed by that, too, with its insulation and ventilation system that keeps the garage cool during the summer. Overall, Jerry said it was probably the best-constructed, best-looking, best -"kept-up" house that he's inspected for Helen. The only issues were a frozen well gauge, and a missing shingle on the roof, along with some nails on the roof of the back porch that were working their way out -- all minor, and that could be replaced or repaired. I told Jerry and his wife that they were invited to my housewarming party, to be held sometime after January 2016... :o) And Helen said we should have Thanksgiving there as there was so much space in the kitchen -- and the electric stove and oven was "to die for" (my words). At about the same time as Jerry and his wife were looking over the house, the termite guy came for an inside and around the house inspection, and found no evidence of termites -- but did find a few wasp nests (we knocked them down; the few wasps were pretty sluggish) and possible pack mice "burrows" in the garage area. But I decided my motto is "Live and Let Live" -- just as long as the critters stay outside, of course. If they make their way INside, they're dead meat... All told, it was a great report by both inspectors, but really only verified what we knew about the house and property. Helen and I went back to the Portal cafe for lunch (the only "game" in Portal, restaurant-wise) then I went to Animas, about 25 miles east of Portal, in New Mexico, to get gas for the rental car and pick up a filter at the office in town where "well maintenance" is handled. (Helen said to keep the local phone book in my vehicle at all times, so the important phone #s are always at hand.) By this time it was around 4:30pm, so I went back to my digs at The Cowboy Room in Rodeo, laid down for a rest -- not even a nap, just resting my eyes -- then headed back to Portal, where I met Helen to look at a neighbor's "desert garden" for possible ideas on landscaping around my house. After that, it was dinner, once again at the Portal Lodge, Store and cafe, where friends from around the area meet once a week, then it was off to a presentation at the Portal fire house by Dr. Howard Topoff, a Portal resident and Professor Emeritus of Biopsychology at the City University of New York. The subject of the talk was "Bird Brains: The Sensory Basis of Bird Behavior", and was a fascinating subject delivered with passion  for the subject and packed with information. Portal and much of the adjoining area have a high percentage of people with advanced degrees, as the Chiricahuas are a unique place with many "endemic" species of birds, insects and reptiles that scientists have been studying for years.  And there is Sky Village, down the Foothills Road, where astronomers live part- or full-time, with small observatories next to their houses. (The fellow I was sitting next to at dinner was an astronomer who specialized in eclipses, and his AZ license plate was a take on the spelling of eclipse.) And it's no coincidence that the American Museum of Natural History has its Desert Southwest Research Station here, just up the Portal road. So another exciting, informative, and pleasantly exhausting day here -- sorry, no photos for once -- and today (Saturday) a friend and I will spend the day birding the Chiricahuas, one last time for me before heading back to Overton, Nevada...