OUR FOREVER HOME

In July of 2018, while we were vacationing in Morro Bay, John Duran and his crew were working hard on our front yard. He told us of a county grant program that would pay for most of the cost if we used drought-tolerant plants. Kathy and I pictured a yard full of cacti. He came up with this amazing yard with a drip irrigation system. We have diligently cared for it with the help of Joe Ribera, our gardener. We love driving up and realizing that it's ours.

That little green box is a city program offering a mini-library to kids in the neighborhood. Kathy volunteered for it, and even spoke at the city announcement. It had a lot of activity at first which has slowed down in the past year.

Then there's the front door. I had decided it was time to replace it with something with a newer look. Kevin Austin (who did the main bath) installed the front door for us. I had picked out a nice, but plain, door. I invited Kathy to come along to pick it up and we ended up with this big glass oval at about twice what i had planned to spend. She was right, though. But there is this problem with Scooter. He can see through the glass and starts barking every time he sees motion. 

We started it in 2014 with some leased solar panels. (It was a mistake to lease, though.) It made a tremendous difference in our electric bill. According to Sunrun we saved about $8,500 over without them. In 2024 we decided to expand to produce enough electricity to have no PG&E bill. On December 31 we installed 11 more panels and a battery system which brought our total to 53 panels and two batteries. Interestingly, the 11 panels we installed at this time produce as much electricity as the 42 panels from 11 years before. Technology is always improving. We haven't been through a full year yet, so we will see how much difference this makes. It looks close so far. One thing I am trying to figure out is that our electricity usage goes up about 10% each year although our lifestyle hasn't changed.