June 2, 2021 (11:18 AM)
Well, how about that? I finished my blog writing yesterday to the tune of 1068 words. As I was making final edits…POOF!…it disappeared! Yep. Couldn’t undo, redo, find, locate or otherwise determine the location of said blog draft. Disappeared into the blogosphere. After numerous attempts to resurrect said writing, I gave up and went to bed knowing I could write it again anyway. So, here it is!
Can you believe another week has passed? A solid 7 days since my last posting. And, here we are in June, stepping into the driest month in Arizona and not a sprinkling in sight. Nary a drop to be seen anywhere. Zip. Zero. Nada. We could use a sprinkling. Sprinklings are rare in June. They are nice whenever we can get them. This is the desert, after all.
It’s been 7 days since my last blog post. Did you know that 7 days without writing makes one week? And, 7 days without riding makes one weak. So, yesterday I went riding at sunrise and was thinking of Barrow, Alaska. The sun rose on May 11 and will set on July 31. Imagine if your kid went out to play and you told him to “Be home by dark!”. You wouldn’t see him until some time in August. That’s crazy! Well, the sun certainly rises and sets each and every day in Sierra Vista. Yep! It’s true. Without fail. It gets dark every night. Well, sometimes it even gets dark in the daytime during Monsoons, which should arrive sometime in July or August, although last year they didn’t show up at all. They bring thunder, thunder in the mountains. And hopefully a sprinkling to Thunder Mountain.
Speaking of Thunder Mountain, more specifically Thunder Mountain Apartments, we have a sprinkler system ordered with a down payment of about 1/3 of the bid going out now. How exciting is that? We opted for the steel piping which will be exposed in the hallways. Don’t worry, we will paint it the same color as the ceilings so it will blend in nicely. You may not even notice it’s there. And, if you never visit the property you wouldn’t even know we installed them. Unless, of course, you are keeping tabs on this blog. Then you would know. The reason we went this route was twofold. One, the walls are block and the floors and ceilings are concrete, so it would be most efficient to run them down the hall and pop them through the walls of the units as they pass by. Also, steel is paintable so it will blend right in! Sprinkler systems are like insurance - you buy it with hopes to never need it! Well...it is current building code and who wants to fight city hall? As stated in an earlier post, we don’t. Now that I think of it I actually would LOVE to fight city hall. However, it wouldn’t be a benefit to the project to pick a fight with them. We would lose anyway. So, we will deliver what they need. No fighting.
This brings me to another thought. We are required to have a set number of handicap parking spaces. The good news is, we do. Know what’s nuts? There are curbs and no ramps nearby for the wheelchairs. A person would have to roll quite a ways from their car to get into the building. This needs to change. In the pic above I am gesturing to the person taking the pic where this ramp will go. This reminds me of an intersection right here in the north valley of Phoenix where there are curbs and ramps but they don’t go anywhere. That’s right. They are useless. In fact, there is a big drop-off at the edges right into rocks and dirt which is not conducive to wheelchairs. If you are in the vicinity of 16th Street and Carefree Highway, take a look yourself.
Here, instead of trying to visualize the intersection, let me share a pic for reference. See below:
On the east and west side of 16th Street and north side of Carefree Highway there is a curved curbing with ramps each with the bumps for the non-sighted to know and feel. I wonder how they would get there? It’s literally in the middle of nowhere. I suppose some of the people who live within 10 miles of this intersection wouldn’t say it’s in the middle of nowhere. But it is. On the south side of Carefree Highway there is curbing and ramps and they don’t connect to anything either. They too drop off to dirt with dips and large rocks. I suppose if you happened to be dropped off there or parachuted in you could use these ramps and curbs. In fact, you could go in circles with the timing of the walk signals. Which is another curiosity, they are set to “walk” yet the curbing is for those in wheelchairs. Ever wondered about that?
Anyway, we have that at Thunder Mountain Apartments. Actually, what we have is the complete opposite. We have a place to go with no ramps. Whereas, the intersection above has ramps and no where to go. Hopefully my non-example example clarifies things. Or not. It’s up to you. All of that notwithstanding, we will add a ramp. It’s what we do. We take care of the residents!
Which brings me to the next item. Windows. No, not the computer version, the physical version. Nate has negotiated such a good deal. Let me explain. the contractor doing the unit updates said they can include framing in the windows for no extra charge. Whereas, if we were to schedule them now, before permits, we would have to pay $600 per window. If we include it in the unit updates after permits, no charge. How cool is that? Also, when we got our bid for the smaller windows, which make sense and will look better, they came in at a 75% savings. Wow! Good job Nate.
The last item is the awning and the greenish metal around the entry lobby building. We will be applying for a permit to have it demoed. This was not in the original budget. However, anything over 2’ overhang requires sprinklers. Yep! Even outdoors. How will we pay for it? With the savings from the windows I just shared. AND, we would have been required to put outdoor sprinklers which would have been an added cost. With the removal? No added cost. Savings all around for everyone! This may be the first physical changes to the property. When we get done with the entry it will look more like an apartment to live in and less like a tired motel.
Now, I wonder where we are with electrical. I’m out of time and don’t have an update on it anyway. You will have to wait until I know before I share. Maybe next week. Or the next.
AND, next time I will share how we are combining units. Stay tuned!
And that is our project from my corner of the globe. ~Bruce
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