Our Final Sunset in Blaine, WA

Well folks, it has been a while since our last blog update...and a lot of water has passed under the bridge!  Last week Rosie and I finally bid farewell to our Blaine, WA home and, more significantly, are once again down to owning a single home (at last!)....... it is in Borrego Springs, California.  

Final Sunset in Blaine....

Rosie and Judy ...nothing left in the house to sit on!



Our Blaine home had been on the market since last January.... though other parts of the country have enjoyed an improved home sales market, homes still weren't moving in our area and a sale this late in the year seemed very unlikely.  So, not wanting to leave the Blaine house empty again, we arranged to place "Ruby" back on the rental market, hired a property manager who initiated advertising, highlighting "a nice home on Drayton Harbor".   With the help of our long-time friends (Arne and Judy Jorgensen) we packed all of our belongings (go Penske!) and headed for the warmer weather we love in Borrego Springs.  Guess what....only two days after departing Blaine for California we received an offer to purchase our house...go figure???!!!

Our warm weather oasis in Borrego Springs!

Arne handled the 26' truck like a "long-hauler" on the 1,400 mile journey...



We enjoyed a great week in Borrego with our friends Arne and Judy..... checking out the many desert sculptures, hiking ...and, of course, also enjoying a bit of great food and drink!   

All of the sculptures here in Borrego are by Ricardo Breceda..the Accidental Artist!

Scratch a little lower please...

These guys actually roamed this area...Once upon a time...

Ending the day right!!  Very right!

 Morning temperatures in the 60's afforded us some great hiking weather....

Hiking into Palm Canyon...a view of the valley floor.

Because of the major rainfall/flooding in August the Ocotillo are in bloom again! 

Butterflies flock near the desert oasis in Palm Canyon.

A thick grove of Palms great you, high up the canyon.

 In late August, the Borrego Springs area was hit by a major storm system, dumping many inches of rain over a large area, in a very short time.  The desert washes filled rapidly and it is obvious when we arrived that a significant amount of water also ran overland, damaging many homes in Borrego, some near ours.  Power was out in the entire area for 2 days, roads were closed and some were washed out.  It was termed a 500+ year event for the desert.  Work is still underway removing tons of sand/silt that washed down from the mountains and was deposited in streets, homes and golf courses.  Luckily, our home was unscathed as we sit a little higher than most, but we are told that water was a couple feet deep on our road and several homes just across from us were heavily damaged, and many swimming pools were filled with mud.....

Typical scene in a lot of areas now ...... dried and checked silt. 

The mounds on the golf course wait to be removed...a thick silt layer covered this course in several areas.

 

Mother nature deals many "bad hands" around the world...but the sun still rises in the morning.