Cactus Ed Lives!

Below you'll find a link to a rare video of the Thoreau of the American Southwest, Edward Abbey. This doesn't have much to do with Tucson, except that Ed lived and died in the Tucson Mountains, as I hope I will.

Here's the back ground, written by Ned Judge, the co-producer of an eight minute film essay about Ed's curmudgeonly perspective on the "improvements" to Arches National Park, the subject of Ed's book Desert Solitaire.

Essay by Edward Abbey "I Loved it...I Loved it All"

by Ned Judge Plus

An eight minute film essay that I co-produced and directed with Ed Abbey in 1985. At the time I was working for a network magazine show. The executive producer took me to lunch one day. He told me that he was having trouble with his son who was 18. The son thought his dad was a corporate whore. He had told his father if he had any balls at all he’d put Ed Abbey on his show. That’s why the EP was talking to me. Would I see if it was possible? I had an acquaintance who knew Ed and he passed the request along. Ed responded that he’d give it a try. He signed the contract and wrote a script. We met in Moab and went out to Arches National Park to shoot some practice sessions with a home video camera. We would review them at the motel in the evening. After a day or two, Ed was feeling pretty comfortable on camera so we scheduled the shoot. We were all happy with the way it went. But then we ran head-on into network reality. Roger Mudd, the show’s host, was extremely negative about putting an “eco-terrorist” on the show. The executive producer caved (his son was right about him apparently). So this Abbey essay was put on the shelf and never aired. Abbey died 3 years later in March 1989.

And here's an endearing video of my hero, Cactus Ed. Steve got to meet him at readings. As a member of Earth First! he was even invited to Ed's memorial service. Unfortunately, I arrived home in Tucson in 1990, a year too late to meet this wonderful philosopher, anarchist and defender of wilderness.

September Residential Sale Statistics

The Tucson Association of Realtors has released the Residential Sales Statistics for September. Average sale price was $182,041, up 1% from a month ago and up 21% after bottoming out exactly a year ago.

The report says days-on-market dropped from 65 in August to 45 in September. Next month we'll see if that is an aberration. There sure have been a lot of bidding wars lately, so it seems possible.

The 938 closed sales indicated a 20% decline in units sold in one month. Again, that looks like a fluke. However, we do typically see a less dramatic decline in sales from September through December. Sale activity has historically accelerated after the holidays.

Short sales and foreclosures are still 41% of the sales.

In September 2011, 38% of the sales were cash. Cash buyers are frequently investors. Last month, 30% of the sales were cash. This is probably because the prices of houses are going up, and the opportunities to fix and flip for profit are getting scarce.

Mountain Horny Toad

Steve and I saw four or five horny toads while we were hiking the Carrie Nation Trail in Madera Canyon. Notice how this fellow's salmon and olive camouflage is just right for his environment. Quite different from his desert cousin, whose photo can be seen on the July 23, 2012 blog post.

Price Reduced on a Lovely Home

Lovely family home in a desirable neighborhood. Well maintained and nicely upgraded. Gorgeous, soaring open-beam ceilings.
Two-sided fireplace is open to living room and family room.
Dining ell has a view to the back yard through the bay window.
Solid masonry construction with high block wall for privacy. Light and bright kitchen with oak cabinets, cheery blue counters and desk.
Big closets and sweet built-in storage. Dual cooling. Raised planter bed, mister on the spacious covered patio, plus ramada and storage shed.
Laundry room inside next to roomy storage room/workshop. Three blocks to Mesa Village Park, and about the same distance to Park Place Mall. See interactive floor plan here.

Sold for $138,000 on December 14, 2012. What a deal. All the foreclosures and short sales in the neighborhood dragged the appraisal down way below what this house is worth. 

Life Imitates Kitsch

Space Shuttle Endeavor

Like mating dragonflies, space shuttle Endeavor sailed over Tucson riding a 747 this morning on its way to its final resting place in Los Angeles. The fly over honored our former Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, and her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, who was commander on the Endeavor's last mission in May 2011.

I am disappointed that there was no advance publicity about this once-in-a-lifetime event. Hence, all I got was this sorry photo with my phone.

Short Sale Pain May Hurt More in 2013

Unless Congress acts quickly, people who lose their homes in short sales may be hit with a tax bill for the "income" they received in the form of forgiven debt.