13-01 My New Digs

RANCHO DELUXE BIG BEND Persimmon Gap Apartments And here we are, at the bottom of the drive looking up at my new apartment. It's so nice to be able to back Annie right up to the door under the overhang so unloading on rainy days (yeah, when was that?) . . . okay, on very sunny days (that's better!) you don't have to worry about the sun beating right on your noggin. Notice the fenced-in back yard (jungle).

VIEW FROM THE DOOR This is what you see as you walk in the front door. Would you look at all that room! The gigantic space between the living room and the what-would-be-a-dining-room-but-is-now-a-study is perfect for flying helicopters.

THE LIVING ROOM All I can say is that TV looks awfully small in here, and it's a decent-sized 19" model. My sister, Lyn, has acquired a 32" model for me that ought to fit right in. Due to washout, you can't see my view out the windows to the right. I can fix that . . .

THE VIEW Normally, you can really see the Rosillos Mountains out there in the distance, but it's been hazy here the past few days, so visibility suffers. I can fix that, too . . .

ROSILLOS MOUNTAINS AT SUNRISE Now, this is a different angle -- and a different day -- but you get the idea now. How's that for a view? Pretty sweet!

THE LIVING ROOM, TAKE TWO Just a different angle to show off my cool tropical clock and my sister Lyn's painting she did of our grandparents' house. I love all this room -- and the ceiling fans!

THE WOULD-BE-DINING-ROOM-BUT-IS-NOW-A-STUDY And here is the nerve center of the place, the place where all great ideas (ahem!) . . . uh, get squashed. Not a bad little set-up, if I do say so myself.

APPROACHING THE KITCHEN I know you can figure all this out on your own, but it's the only job I have here, okay? Anyway, this is the kitchen. There! Notice the walk-in pantry behind the refrigerator (which has an ice maker with a dispenser in the door; the refrigerator, not the pantry).

THE COOKING AREA One of the things I came across on my search for my photos in storage is this really cool Route 66 clock. Notice the Star Wars lunchbox on the far right. I love that thing!

THE CLEAN-UP AREA And there are my two helicopters sitting in the pass-through window. It's so nice that they put that there, as it really helps light and open up the room. I hate not being able to see out while doing the dishes, and this fixes that nicely. I can look right out the front door.

MOVING ON Now we head down the hallway towards the bedrooms. The doorway on the immediate left leads into the utility room, where a washer and dryer will someday come to roost, hopefully. The doorway on the right is the front bathroom. Moving down the hall, the doorway on the left leads to the master bedroom and back bathroom. The doorway on the right is the mudroom and back door. And lastly, we're looking straight into the second bedroom, which I'm turning into a storage room for all my stuff in storage in Alpine, slowly but surely. Boy, somebody needs to clean this floor.

THE FRONT BATHROOM I guess you'd have to call this a showerroom, though, as there's no bathtub.

THE UTILITY ROOM Beyond the deepsink on the far right is where the washer and dryer will go, if my friend Romaldo can swing the deal for me. Otherwise, it'll probably look like this for a long time.

THE STORAGE ROOM Most of the stuff in the boxes will find homes eventually, but the containers that came from storage will most likely remain until I can find homes for their contents. There are plenty more to come.

THE BACK BATHROOM As you can see, this is my preferred bathroom. There is a towel rack in front of the toilet, but it's been pulled out of the wall by a previous tenant. I've got a work order in to have it fixed.

THE MASTER BEDROOM I just call it that because it's the one I use and I am the master of the house. Whoopee. Isn't that a cool old bed? The head and foot boards are made of iron, just like the ones our grandparents had. The box springs have seen better days, though, as you can notice the sagging mattress. This doesn't do my back any favors, but it hasn't done any real harm yet. (Yet.)

THE OTHER CORNER Showing off my closet and gun collection. I hope to replace the TV tray with an actual bedside table someday. And that concludes our tour. Thanks for joining in.