Oro Valley Real Estate

It is a rare occasion when I post about the same subject twice in such a short period of time. When I wrote the first piece of mistletoe it was because I had just found out about a home owners association in Tucson requiring it to be removed from a property we have listed.

Mistletoe like boiling the frog

I’ve seen these apparent bird nests in trees for some time. Now I see them everywhere. It is one of those things you drive by over and over again and don’t even notice. Mistletoe as a parasite is deceptively slow in how it works and spreads. The berries are sticky and the birds eat those berries then fly to another tree and scrape their beaks on the branch to remove the sticky residue. In the process they deposit seeds onto the branch of a new tree (host).

In the past week my eyes have been opened to the growing number of dead trees that line paved and dirt roads in Oro Valley. Almost all of them have evidence of mistletoe. Before I saw it, but didn’t realize what it was or what it was doing to our trees. The clincher for me after counting dozens of trees with mistletoe was when I started seeing the Ironwood in bloom and mistletoe hanging from their branches.

I’ve seen Palo Verde, Mesquite, and Ironwood infected with Mistletoe. As the leaves fill out they will be less obvious but the destructive nature of this plant is still at work even when less visible.

I know many are concerned with Buffelgrass and the potential for long term damage to the desert especially in case of wildfire. It is a threat and possible threat to the Sonoran Desert.

Mistletoe is not just a threat, it is killing native trees. It is killing our Ironwoods and Palo Verde especially. A drive down Lambert past La Cholla to Thornydale will provide anyone looking plenty of evidence of what mistletoe is doing to these trees. In Marana drive down Linda Vista between Thornydale and Hartman you will see plenty of mistletoe and sick trees.

It is getting worse.

Mistletoe needs to be removed from trees, at least cut back so it can’t produce berries and spread to other trees.

I did a search on mistletoe in Tucson, Oro Valley and Marana. The only information I found on mistletoe and the devastation it is causing was on a local blog “By George a Blog” George wrote about mistletoe on Feb. 15, 2008, “Mistletoe is Certainly a Pest”

Ironwood are a limited resource around here and Oro Valley is privilege to be home to many of them found in the Tucson area. We can’t just continue to turn a blind eye to the effect of this parasite on our trees. If you own property or know someone that does and you see mistletoe in their trees please inform them of the effects of leaving this parasite continue to kill their trees.

If anyone from the city of Oro Valley or Marana for that matter read this post bring this information to a person who can help preserve our trees.

Mistletoe is more than a pest and a nuisance it is slowly changing the desert landscape by killing some of our most precious resources, our trees; not just any trees either, it is killing our Ironwoods.

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Why don’t we turn the Naranja City Site into a Reservoir and a park?

Click to see both images larger

I’ve been thinking about this for some time now. I was taking pictures in the Naranja City Site a couple of months back when someone told me about a stork or crane that came almost every night to the pond. Pond? there’s a pond! Well not much of one, but there is a dam. So why not make it bigger and build a reservoir.

Which got me to thinking, we have all this talk about how there is/will be a water shortage. Why don’t we do what they do in other places; Build a Reservoir. Around it we can build a park and we could have fishing and boating in Oro Valley just like they do at the 14 acre Lakeside Park in Tucson, only much bigger. Now how cool is this for an idea.

Oro Valley needs water, why not store it in a Reservoir?

I’ll bet it would be easier to get a bond issue passed for a Reservoir and a park than just a park.

Anybody else like this idea?

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It seems every single movie TV program or story set around Christmas has at least one reference to mistletoe begin hung in a doorway or held over head indicating a kiss to follow.

However, mistletoe in Oro Valley is not something you probably want growing on your property.

Some homeowners associations are already letting members know if they have mistletoe on their property it needs to be removed.

If you are from the Midwest you could easily have assumed what you are seeing from a distance is a squirrel nest. Yes, there are some squirrels in the deserts, But not many.

Mistletoe is a parasite. (Please don’t go off on how romantic beginnings end in parasitic relationships). There isn’t anything romantic about the spread of mistletoe. It is usually spread by birds with seeds deposited on the host.

I’m not going into all the gory details of what mistletoe does to the host or how it proliferates. (I’m a romantic at heart). If you want to learn more about this plant here is all you ever wanted to know about True Mistletoe.

If you want mistletoe, buy the plastic stuff, it works just as well and won’t kill your trees.

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There are days when I’m really disappointed. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever lived is Oro Valley. The desert has its own kind of beauty. I think after we have lived here for awhile we forget how majestic a place it is.

Like any community there are things we like or don’t like; City government seems to be one of those topics of discontent. I also read a lot about the Oro Valley Marketplace being anchored by Walmart and the Funeral Home in Rancho Vistoso. The tax levy vote for the Naranja City Site and those for and opposed. I love our city despite its warts and moles.

If we allow ourselves to over focus on these things we can loose sight of the fact we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I remember the first time I stepped out of the Target Store in Oro Valley I just smiled. Where else can you walk out of a Target store and have a view like this.

I drive around Oro Valley on a lot of the roads paved and otherwise. I walk the desert in search of wildflowers and to learn more about the beauty of this place I’ve called home for the last 7 years.

In the past few months I’ve seen an increase in our impact on this beautiful place by a blatant disregard for its beauty and keeping it beautiful.

I like the photographers motto: “Take nothing but pictures leave nothing but tracks.”

Oro Valley and our beautiful mountains and desert aren’t here to be our personal dump. Those of us that live here should consider ourselves privileged to live in such a beautiful and majestic setting. We should remind ourselves daily only we can keep it that way. Here are some things we can all do.

• Properly dispose of plastic bags
• Don’t litter from your car or on your walks
• Drink all the beer you want in the desert just take the containers with you
• Don’t use our community as your personal dump

We live in a desert, things here last for a very long time. Why do you think the Air Force stores planes here. Why do you think Truly Nolan has so many old cars around town. Why do you think you can still find things in the desert in tact that have been there for over 100 years.

Oro Valley is a beautiful place and only we can keep it that way.

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Marketing a Home Only Gets Potential Buyers to the Home

Marketing a home doesn’t sell a home. The home sells the home. Marketing gets potential buyers to look and consider buying a home. The presentation of the home is what make potential buyers, buyers.

Before you head out of the house each morning ask yourself “Is the house Buyer Ready?” You never know, today might be the day your buyer comes to see the house, be ready.

Want to see how to make sure you Oro Valley house is Buyer Ready? Click the flower!

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I missed it. I missed the day the new Ace Hardware store opened on La Canada just North of the Fry’s shopping center. For me a hardware store isn’t just about hardware. No, no, that would be to simple. A hardware store is an “Idea Shop”. A place I could spend hours and hours just looking at “stuff” and thinking of things I could do with the items I find on the shelves there.

Talk about getting my creative juices going, just take me to a hardware store. I’ve yet to stop in, been too busy the past week to even contemplate a couple of hours off planet so to speak. And it is really, really, hard for me to just go and get what I need.

Most of the time I am a hunter gatherer. I know what I need for the task and hand and three trips later I’ve got most of it. But when I go to a hardware store it is like the girls making a trip to the mall to look at . . . you can fill in the blank. I know it will be hours and hours (well after the sun is on the other side of the world) before they will make their way back home again. We have a don’t ask don’t tell policy about mall shopping. : )

Of course if they got some really good bargains they tell, and tell and tell how much they saved.

New Ace Hardware Open

Sorry, I really digressed there. Stop in and take a look around. I love the convenience of this store to where we live. (and buy milk).

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I drive by the Oro Valley Big Dig everyday. It is located between Lambert Lane and Naranja on La Canada up the hill from the new Ace Hardware store. Today it took an interesting turn. The equipment at the bottom of the pond was surrounded by water and it was getting deeper. Do you think they broke a water pipeline or have they hit the Oro Valley Water table?

Back in time a month

Maybe a little more than a month, back in February I was waiting for a nice rain to green up the grass on the course so I could walk down to the cart path by the pond and take a picture up the hill with the pond in the immediate foreground and the green and flag with nicely contrasting colors.

The bonus of that shot was going to be with the moon reflecting back in the water. There were several days and late evenings when I almost had the conditions I was looking for. The next thing I knew this black plastic fence went up around the pond. I hoped it was to be temporary while they removed golf balls or did whatever they were going to do.

A few days later the Rain Trucks showed up and started draining the pond. There goes the spring shot. That took over a week. Then the dig started. I figured they were going to dig down a few more feet so more water could be stored for the course. Great idea. They dug and dug and dug and hauled away dirt and dug more. The other day I saw a semi truck in the hole and it looked small. It was being loaded with dirt to be hauled away. Before I could get back with a camera (actually I had the camera with me I was going to breakfast, nothing gets between me and a good meal) the truck was gone.

Last night it appeared the equipment was parked for the weekend. This morning on the way to breakfast I noticed water around the loader parked at the bottom of the whole. There wasn’t any water there last evening. I decided it was time to at least get a picture of the Oro Valley Big Dig. The equipment had been moved and the water was deeper than earlier in the day.

Have they struck water? Is the Oro Valley water table really this high? : ) Did they break a waterline? Stay tuned as the saga of the Oro Valley Big Dig continues.

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I know Oro Valley has already been on some of your lists for various reasons. But sometimes fortune smiles even on the . . .

Anyway, Fortune Small Business magazine has picked Oro Valley as one of its “100 Best Places to Live and Launch.”

Please note that is live and Launch not Live and Lunch. We do have some pretty good places to lunch but we could use more.

We weren’t number 1 but we weren’t number 100 either, Number 44 was our draw and not a bad place to be on the list either.

I know some home sellers that would be thrilled to have more buyers in the Oro Valley real estate market.

Here is the link to the entire article “Oro Valley on the list of top 100 places for small business”

You might find reading the comments on this article interesting. It seems some perceive Oro Valley as a speed trap. I’ve lived here for 6 year now and only notice speeders being pulled over. Some say the city government is anti business. One of my favorite descriptions of Oro Valley was

“oro valley…the snottsdale of the old pueblo…jeeeez those people are stuck on themselves!!!”

Wow! I hope I’m not stuck on myself. I better check that out. Be back later! Enjoy the article.

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If you haven’t been up First Ave. lately you should take the drive between Oracle and Tangerine. There are a lot of poppies and bluebells lining the street.

There is no telling how long they will be there. This image was taken at the intersection of First Ave. and Naranja.

Click on the flowers to see a larger version.

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The earth has moved

Not only has there been a lot of earth moved, a lot of concrete and metal have been added to the site of the Oro Valley Marketplace as well. Click on the map to see a larger version.

Here is a link to a pdf document that provides a lot of statistics on Oro Valley and the area as well as a preliminary map of store locations at the mall. http://volkco.com/PDFs/OroValleyMarketplace.pdf

This link was sent to me by a friend that found it before I did. He and his wife haven’t even moved here yet but are excited about starting their new life in the Oro Valley area. He has a photo critiquing blog which has some great photos and good critiquing of images. Digapixblog.com is a great place to spend a few minutes each day reading and viewing photos.

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