Acclimating...

 

verb

 North American

gerund or present participle: acclimating

become accustomed to a new climate or to new conditions.

"it will take a few days to get acclimated to the altitude"

 

It was 43º when I got up this morning at 7:00 (ish).  If we were still in the Tropical Tip, 43º would seem unusually frigid.  There have been quite a few mornings in the 40s since we've been here... and there will be more to come before it gets warmer again.

 

Based on the definition above, we are acclimating, both to the new climate and new conditions.  Climate: yeah, it is less humid here.  Significantly.  Because, it is the desert.  I was concerned about the guitars being out in the music room, but the room has stayed pretty consistently around 40% humidity... without the humidifier running.  I'm using Vaseline Intensive Care to keep from having snake skin; but, less of it than I thought, based on staying here in the winter months in our motorhome.

 

Now, to be fair, no RV is insulated as well as this house.  At 43º in the motorhome, we'd be running some heat and have the electric blanket turned on.  In the house, we've generally been leaving the windows open until we go to bed, and have no need to run the furnace.  It's been very comfortable in the house when we get up in the morning.

 

I mentioned "the light breeze" in a previous post (about the patio umbrella) - it is definitely less windy here compared to living on the Gulf Coast.  The weasels were calling it "breezy" today; the wind was 9 mph out of the ENE this morning when I went out to the hot tub.

 

Oh, and the hot tub: I really like this Eco-Spa.  I have been using it almost every day; sometimes in the morning, more often in the evening.  How does that compare to the indoor jetted tub you had in Texas?  Thanks for asking - both are a great experience; I like having jets.  The tub in the house in Texas meant you could use it the way God intended, anytime, day or night.  It would take about 10 minutes to fill it.  This Eco-Spa is ready to go at any time.  Our yard is pretty secluded, but (butt?) some decorum is in order in the daylight.  TMI?  It's what I do.  The Eco-Spa needs a bit of chemicals (doesn't smell like chlorine or salt, happily), but all that, including cleaning the filters (you hose 'em out), takes about 10 minutes total per week.  It has been easy, so far.

The new "situation"?  We really appreciate living next door to Steph and Dan.  For those who thought it might be "too much togetherness," that hasn't been the case so far.  We have been able to do things for each other (I'll feed their cats when they have evening plans, they've picked up stuff at the store for us).  Life in the "big city" is different.  It is 2 to 3 miles to get to everyday shopping (Fry's, Walmart, etc) and restaurants, sometimes further depending on what you need.  But, anything you might need is available somewhere in this mass of humanity.  And Amazon - we can get stuff in a day, or even the same day at times.  That "2 day Prime delivery" to our island in Texas generally was more like 4 or 5 days.

In the grande scheme of things, our housing development is not in the middle of everything.  Stand on your tiptoes and look over the concrete wall around us, and you will see a couple small farms.  We hear roosters, goats, and a donkey (that Stephanie has named Joey - no idea what its name really is), occasionally when we're outside.

Speaking of outside: I am loving our yard (courtyard) situation.  The landscaper did a great job with the pavers, turf, and gravel placement.  As I am writing this, Joan is outside transferring some cacti and other plants we bought the other day into other planters.  She even bought two bags of potting soil... never had a need for potting soil before.  Joan thinks she may want to set up a workbench in the shed for doing this kind of stuff.  No idea how much planting she intends to do.

I am appreciating our garage.  I wish our side had a 2-car garage, but it's a single.  We've done a lot to build storage into the garage and still be able to get the bikes or the car in there.  We did not have a garage in Texas - most of those lots there would accommodate a cottage home, but not a garage.  But, we did have storage under the house in Texas, and it held a lot.  We've moved on from needing a place to put kayaks, a dinghy, a stand-up paddleboard, and the like.

How am I adjusting to not having water right off our deck?  I loved our water view and access on the island.  This is very different from that, but I have come to appreciate the views of South Mountain and the Estrella Mountains from our courtyard.  I thought I would never appreciate having gravel as part of the landscaping, but I am coming around on that, too.  I always enjoyed seeing ships, barges, and boats moving around, whether we were in our boat, sitting on the deck, or going across the bridge to/from the island.  I do not miss having to wait for the bridge, due to boat traffic... and that had increased significantly when they started bring in fuel barges to the small port in Port Isabel (that was less than a half mile from our house).

Here at the new house, there is an airpark a few miles from us - we see small planes come and go from the pattern around that private air strip.  I still enjoy seeing that, even though I am no longer an active pilot.

If you saw the post about the Billy Joel/Stevie Nicks concert we went to on Friday night, you are aware of the entertainment opportunities like that in the big city.  We have a couple concerts that we'll be going to at MIM with Mark and Cindy next month; a smaller venue, for sure, but always excellent musicians.

So, after getting through the moving and settling in process, I would say things are positive.  I may not have felt like that early on, as it has been a lot of work.  But now, we are getting to where we can enjoy the fruits of those labors.

 

-------

 

A couple photos of Joan's replanting efforts...

 

 This one is my favorite...

Joan got another "Afternoon In The Courtyard Concert" today.  I played my little guy, the X7; fun guitar.  And for some happy reason, my fingers were working pretty good today.

And now, we're off to Steph and Dan's for another pizza date with Dan and his new pizza oven.