About 2017

2017 was a big year for the Pandemonium Family. After 19 years in Illinois, we said goodbye to the Heartland and hello to the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona, following my job to Tucson.

January was consumed by trying find a suitable house to move our crew into, poring over a seemingly endless list of homes for sale. Nothing seemed to fit the bill.

Andrea and I traveled to Tucson in February to look at a final few places, but still couldn't find what we were looking for. Instead, we decided to try a new construction with a plan that seemed promising in a development on the east edge of town - an area that we had liked from the start for its quiet, rural feel. We were assured that the house should be finished by the beginning of August.

We worked on getting our house in Illinois ready to sell in March and Andrea worked on getting an overwhelming pile of accumulated stuff sorted and pared down to a manageable amount in preparation for a June move date.  Anthony finished 8th grade wrestling and both Kenrick and Anthony started track.

We sold our house in April after 12 days on the market. We continued to work on getting rid of a few more things that we wouldn't be needing in Arizona. Like lawnmowers. Sadly, our friends in Tucson reported only limited progress on our new construction - just a bit of dirt moved around.

We finally got some pictures of form work and plumbing in May with foundation slab planned for the end of the month. Our last track season at Monticello concluded with no small amount of sadness and we said goodbye to a nice little group of kids and parents. Our friends in Decatur hosted a surprise going-away potluck in the park. We feel very blessed to have such a special family of friends.

The movers came during the last week of May to pack everything in boxes and load the semi trailer from top to bottom, stem to stern. 27,000 pounds. We should have gotten rid of more stuff.

In June, we became officially homeless. We packed the van and truck and car with everything we thought we'd need over the summer and headed west. The kids experienced their first amusement park with real roller coasters at Silver Dollar City in Missouri. Anya loved the rides. Paxton didn't. We saw the Hot Rod Hall of Fame in Kansas and jumped in the Blue Hole in New Mexico before pulling into Tucson. After a few days in a hotel, we left our extra stuff with some friends and looped back north into Colorado for Hotchkiss convention and then on to Idaho for Parma convention. Both are special places and we got a much needed boost to soul and spirit from our time there.

We returned to Tucson in the middle of the three hottest consecutive days on record and worked on getting moved in to our rental house. We retreated to the mountains on the weekends to avoid melting. We also learned about cactus thorns and repairing bike tires. The framing work on our new house was almost done by the end of June, but it's pretty obvious that we wouldn't be moving in by August.

The kids started school again in July - a modified year-round schedule made the summer break pretty short. The high school is huge but Kenrick and Anthony dug in and learned how to negotiate the new environment. They both joined Marching Band, so that helped with the transition. Paxton and Anya started in the same grade school for the first time.

We had to find a storage unit for our household goods in August because our relocation storage benefits expired. The movers unloaded the truck into a 15' by 40' unit and I wasn't look forward to moving it all again.

Work was going fine. Same job, different office. I traveled back to Illinois and Wisconsin for some meetings with collegues there. It seemed odd to be traveling west to go back home.

We moved into a different rental house in September. This one was in a much better location and had better space, but the kids were still sharing bedrooms. The new house was progressing nicely now, but we still didn't have a solid completion date. Some of our old friends from Illinois came to visit and we introduced them to some of our new friends. We took them to check out the Desert Museum.

October was a month of much anticipation as the house was finally getting its finishing touches. Last decisions were being made and almost daily inspections on my part were probably doing more harm than good. We got a closing date for the end of the month. Now to round up some moving help.

Official move-in date was November 4.  I'm very grateful for the help of our small moving crew with a couple extra pickups and a trailer to supplement my rented U-Haul. We managed to transfer the bulk of the storage unit to the house in four trips, but it was well into evening by the time we unloaded the last box. Thanks again to Mark, Barry, Andrew, Jacob, Barbara, and Laurel. The new house looked great, but was plugged to the rafters with boxes. We definitely have too much stuff.

Our first Thanksgiving in Tucson was a quiet affair. Andrea had worked hard to unpack most of the boxes and to arrange the bedrooms and living room and kitchen into workable spaces and we were slowly getting a better idea of what needs to be done to make everything fit right. The weather didn't feel like it should be fall just yet. There's no indication of the change in seasons in the desert except that the temperatures become quite pleasant and the neighbors start putting up Christmas lights.

I can't say that we're really settled in yet, but by December we're at least starting to feel like it's possible. The temperature dipped below freezing for a few nights in a row and the mountains got a dusting of snow so we're not entirely deprived of a little winter weather. We headed back up to Idaho for Christmas to see our families and the fewer miles and dryer roads were a welcome change. Now, at the end of a very busy 2017, we're looking forward to heading back down south, into the desert, to our new home and whatever new adventures that 2018 may bring.

Finally Finished

The wait is over. Welcome home.

Mt Lemmon

We met Jeffery and Steph and Jeff and Brian up on Mt Lemmon on Labor Day for a little hike. It was a beautiful day.

The crew

The view

Time for a break

A few of us opted for the longer loop on the path less traveled.

The trail: stunning. The legs and lungs: stunned.

(360)

Big Spidey

We saw our first tarantula today!

(video)

Mud

The stucco's been stuck...

And drywall mudded!

Next up: texture, paint, and doors.

Hair Raising Imagination

Yesterday in the car Paxton was being his usual goofy self. "What if your hair had little feet?" he said, "and was able to walk really slowly around your head? Really slow, like a kilometer of an inch!"
After everyone stopped laughing, it was quiet for a bit. Then: "If I ever went bald, I think I would want to have remote controlled hair!"

Phamily Photo

Checking out progress at the new address!

(click the picture below, then again in Google Photos to spin)

Sunsets

Andrea has contracted a minor obsession with desert sunsets. Here's a sampler:

Scenics

The boys and I are starting to get more used to desert riding. First lesson: Stay on the trail.

 The flowers are pretty, but the company they keep is a bit prickly.

We drove up Mt Hopkins to the Whipple Observatory gate and found a nice looking rattlesnake. Kenrick takes a pic from a safe distance.

 Looking east towards Mt Wrightson and the rising moon from the back side of the Whipple road.

Looking for Jellybeans

A couple of Saturdays ago we took a hike up to Josephine Saddle from Madera Canyon.

Paxton and Anya started dragging their feet about halfway up, so I stole an idea from our friend Troy B in Indiana and told them I would award jellybeans for anything odd or unusual or cool that they spotted along the trail. It's amazing how many interesting things suddenly appear when there's some sweet motivation! And lots of not so interesting things; "Dad look! A tree! Is that worth a jellybean?" "No Anya, it's just a tree."

Here's some of the things that did merit a treat. Clockwise from the top left: A green beetle, a pretty flower, woodpecker holes, strange burn patterns, a big beetle (dead), an odd growth on the end of a twig, and a brown lizard (the first of many)

Also, a very twisted tree

And a burned out trunk

And Mt. Wrightson in the clouds

After a while, all the jellybeans in the world just won't make your legs go. Come on Anya, just a little ways further!

Everyone did a fine job. We're going to make hikers out of this crew yet!

Progress

Roof is covered and windows are set, plumbing and electrical is almost done, HVAC ducts are run: it's starting to look like a real house!

Downpour in the Desert

When it rains, it pours.

I've thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the monsoon season for the first time - watching the thunderstorms dancing on the mountaintops, seeing the dry washes awash with flood water, and smelling the desert as it turns green with the rain.

First Day of School 2017

Paxton and Anya are in the same school for the first time! First day jitters quickly give way to excitement and anticipation of what's ahead. The date came a little early this year as we get started on a modified year-round schedule. Probably okay, as these two were definitely not handling being cooped up in the rental house and were starting to drive their mother crazy.

Looks like it will be a great year.

Transition Part 2

Week three of our adventure, still living out of suitcases...

I checked in at the new office after we arrived in Tucson and worked a couple of days, but then we hit the road again and headed north for a couple weeks of vacation.

Tuesday night, on our way to Flagstaff.

Wednesday morning, somewhere in north eastern Arizona, near the Four Corners.

Colorado!

And Hotchkiss Convention, our home for the next four days.

It was a very special four days.

Next stop, Idaho Falls. It's always great to stay with Grandpa and Grandma, sorry we couldn't stay longer.

Parma Convention next, where we pitched our tents under the shade trees next to my brother and his family.

Sunday afternoon and week five of our journey means it's time to head back south. It's hard to say 'home' just yet because we're feeling a little disconnected at the moment.

We took some time to see Andrea's bother in Oregon (state number nine: check!) and then stayed a couple nights with her brother in Boise. It was good to see both of them and their families.

Tuesday morning early found us on the road again.

By mid afternoon we'd made our way into Nevada and smack into a heat wave of epic proportions. 117 degrees in Las Vegas!

We managed to get all the way to Tucson that night, but it wasn't much cooler there. By Thursday the National Weather Service had recorded the three hottest consecutive days ever - 115, 116, and 115 degrees. Hot! (It has cooled down some since then, but today was the first day since we returned that the temperature didn't hit triple digits.)

Final tally since leaving Monticello: 10 states, over 4,300 miles!

Anyway, I went to work on Wednesday and Andrea started moving in to the rental house.

Good enough for the first day!

We also returned to some promising progress on the house. It's really good to see wood in the air.

The last couple of weeks have alternated between boring and busy. It's been too hot to do much outside during the day, but we did get up in the mountains one Saturday for a short hike and a break from oven in the valley.

We went out to the local golf course on the night before the 4th of July to watch the fireworks. It was a very pleasant evening.

This is my wife, who I love very much and who has made this whole adventure possible. You are beautiful Andrea, in more ways than one!

...and the rockets red glaaare, the bombs bursting in aaair...

Still a ways to go on the house yet, but trusses and roof got finished last week and I think plumbing and air start this week, so we are getting excited. I think we're going to like it.

Also last week was the start of marching band for Kenrick and Anthony with band camp continuing this week, so that's a big transition as well.

We heard today in gospel meeting that we tend to seek out familiar things for assurance and security. There haven't been very many familiar things in our experience these last seven weeks or so, but we're very, very glad for a familiar Spirit in our new Sunday morning and Wednesday night meetings and for a familiar love among our friends - things that have been an anchor to us in the past and that continue to comfort and encourage in our ongoing transition to the Southwest.