Out Arizona Way
#76
One of the advantages of living in the country is water/sewer and trash are free! Water comes from my spring and rain water collections system and a septic system takes care of the sewage problem and we drop the trash off at the dumpsters on the way into town. Granted there is an expense in putting in a water and septic system but it's a one time thing and then you are done, no monthly bills.
Mike

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#77
(12-12-2019, 05:58 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: One of the advantages of living in the country is water/sewer and trash are free! Water comes from my spring and rain water collections system and a septic system takes care of the sewage problem and we drop the trash off at the dumpsters on the way into town.  Granted there is an expense in putting in a water and septic system but it's a one time thing and then you are done, no monthly bills.

Yup, living in a city you are forced to subscribe to all of those things including an HOA that you pay monthly to spy on you and fine you when you don't follow their rules. When we had a cabin up in Prescott, we got city water (.01 a gallon), had a septic tank, and like you, we found a dumpster on the way into town. The water was really good though, enough that we used to bring back some for drinking at home. That was before the era of bottled water, but even then, at a penny a gallon, I think we'd still be doing it if we still had the cabin. Where we live now, I believe we're getting ours from groundwater. There's a new subdivision going in near us and they've been drilling there for a couple of months now. Lots of houses built, not sure if they have water there yet.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#78
This conversation got me wondering about our water rates here in southern Ontario (Lake Ontario is about one mile from our house).  The one bill that I looked at (my wife takes care of the financial duties) for the period from May 1st to Sept. 17th showed a "fixed charge" of $98.00, (which is likely the sewer charge) plus $113.00 for water used.

During that period, we used 82.22 cubic metres of water, which translates to 18,088 Imperial gallons, or 21,706 U.S. gallons, and if the "fixed charge" and useage figures are combined, we paid $211.00, or around $0.01/Imp. gal., or $0.009/U.S. gal.   The dollar figures are, of course, in Canadian dollars, which are currently worth about $0.75 U.S.

I knew that water rates were pretty good here, but am astounded that they're so much cheaper than I had imagined.

We get garbage pick-up once a week, but there's talk of changing that to bi-weekly, although the recycling pick-up will remain weekly.  Recycling here is pretty comprehensive (for those of us who bother), and because of that, we put garbage out perhaps only once a month.  Garbage rates are included in our property taxes, and not, as far as I'm aware, an item that's specifically shown.

Wayne
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#79
I happened to have last month's water bill. I paid $20.36 for water, $16.94 for sewer, $17.50 for the community sewer initiative (so they can rebuild the sewers throughout town), $14.50 for garbage, and $5.15 for storm sewer. With taxes my total comes to $75.67 per month. The sewer charge is based on water usage year around. When we lived in Omaha the sewer fee was based on water usage Nov. through March. That way people weren't charge a sewer fee for watering the lawn, washing the car, etc.

Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains

Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
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#80
"we paid $211.00

I knew that water rates were pretty good here, but am astounded that they're so much cheaper than I had imagined."

I would burn City Hall to the ground, sell out and move before I would pay that !!!!!!!!

Nope  Nope   Nope 
Crazy   Crazy   Crazy 
35   35   35
Mike

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#81
I feel like a water miser. We usually use between 2,000 and 3,000 gallons every month. Of course, we don't have a blade of grass anywhere, and all our plants and trees are desert variety, so it's rare that we have to water anything. We did loose one plant during our summer drought, but everything else set back waiting for rain.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#82
Hmmm, I use around 1,500-1,800 per month but then it's just me. When I was married and our son was still at home it probably was 4 times that amount.
Mike

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#83
(12-15-2019, 03:57 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: Hmmm, I use around 1,500-1,800 per month but then it's just me. When I was married and our son was still at home it probably was 4 times that amount.

One of our little pleasures in life (or extravagance) is taking long hot showers every morning. I also remove the "water saver" feature on our shower heads so we get the full force of water. I figure that since we don't golf, go to sports games, hit the bar scene, stay away from casinos and skip restaurants that require advance reservations or jackets and ties, we are entitle to this one guilty pleasure. Icon_e_biggrin
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#84
Well I do golf but do stay away from those other things and also enjoy a long hot shower in the winter time.
Mike

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#85
Here we are, days away from Christmas. I wrote this one back in 2010 as my Christmas article. I've tweaked it a bit, but the memories are still the same:

Trains, Christmas and memories

Railroading and the holidays seem to go together regardless of where you are. I think I was a railroad buff since I was a kid. There was the Erie Railroad running a half-mile from our house, the Penn Station in Newark and the overhead train to New York City, all fond memories. I remember when train stations were brimming with holiday travelers. Some were heading home to be with family, some just barreling out of town for a respite from the hustle and bustle of the season. Surely though, this was also the time for anyone with a train to pull it out and set it up under the Christmas tree. I grew up in New Jersey and I remember getting the price of bus fare (five cents) to head downtown to see the trains running in the department store windows. Gone were the mannequins wearing the latest fashions, now they were decorated with animated figures, usually it was Santa surrounded by snow-clad scenery, sleds, bikes, gift packages under trees, a train in just about every window and maybe even a Red Rider BB gun propped up. We’d head upstairs to the huge toy department and sure enough, there was a Lionel train running with just about every accessory possible. Miniature people and things that did something, like the conductor that would pop out of the little house with a lit lantern every time the train passed by. We’d strain our necks to see the logs that would load when a freight train stopped to pick them up, what a delight for a young boy. I imagine there were many an adult mesmerized by the trains as they circled around billowing smoke out their stack and blowing their whistles. Yeah, I remember having to squeeze between these looming figures on my tiptoes, just to get a glimpse of all that action.

All that was great to help create the holiday spirit, but the practical matter is, that it’s all there to sell stuff, toys for sure, including train sets. Usually these sets were presents, sitting unused for the rest of the year, until the Christmas tree was put up once again and then the tracks were placed around it. Sometimes kids, with their parent’s help, had a train layout in the basement or attic; these too would wind up around the tree just because that’s what you do at Christmastime.

Well, here in Arizona, we don’t have those huge department stores with all those windows facing busy streets, what we do have are the malls. If we’re lucky, some model railroad club will be granted some precious space around the mall or inside a store to set up their layout. Usually though, it isn’t what I was used to when I was growing up. No, if it were even close, you’d find me hanging around the malls jumping up and down to look over shoulders, just to renew those old memories.

There’s much more to do train-wise around the holiday here other than setting up you trains, or ogling those in a store. How about a full-size adventure, head up north where the Grand Canyon Railroad normally takes riders between Williams and the Canyon. However, they change routes in December and some of their trains head right to the North Pole. Yep, you can enjoy and evening ride on their “Polar Express” which includes a stop to be greeted by Santa, along with sleighs, elves and snow. There’s plenty of hot chocolate and cookies on the way as someone reads the Polar Express story. Each child receives a silver bell as they board the train, and trying to be true to the story, they are encouraged to wear their pajamas.

Christmas is all about creating memories; we should all have them. Some of the kids of today will remember riding the Polar Express to the North Pole; those of the future may have an entirely different memory to share. My memories go back to those Christmas window displays, those trains, and all that attention to the fascinating details. Whatever you fondest Christmas memories are, they need to be cherished and shared, for the new ones may not always bring the same satisfaction.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#86
Working in a toy train Museum that is owned by the full sized RR right outside the door that is running 3-5 Polar Express excursions a day in which over the 6 week period of doing this we will haul around 90.000 people of which at least 2/3rd's will come thru the Museum I really don't need anymore RR action during the holidays! Whew that was a long sentence! Big Grin
Mike

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#87
I suspect that you can ride the Polar Express just about anywhere in the world around this time. There's not much near the Phoenix area though, the Verde Canyon RR is about two hours north and has an elaborate Christmas ride with a stop at the North Pole. Passenger service through Phoenix ceased many years ago. Got to go south a bit, or up north to Flagstaff to catch Amtrak. You would think that with Phoenix being the fifth largest city in the US, that someone would put something together for Christmas.

Here's a few .....,,,,;;; that you can put wherever you please. Icon_e_biggrin Icon_e_biggrin
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#88
I did this one back in 2009. Things have changed a bit, don't go shooting as often and shotguns seemed to get more and more heavier over the years. Getting old does screw up a lot of good plans.

How to keep busy in the winter

Just what the heck do we people that live in Arizona do all winter while you guys there are all busy shoveling snow and trying to keep warm? I guess the fact that we that live in the southern half of the state and don’t have to do things like that, really gives us time to pursue other activities. Yeah, we have our pro sports teams that play in the winter, basketball and hockey to name a few. Outdoor activities seem to prevail more during the winter months for obvious reasons. There are pro golf tournaments along with tennis and then of course, there’s shuffleboard and pickleball, both top attractions around the Sun City area. For those unfamiliar with pickleball, it’s kind of a cross between badminton and tennis. For the elite, we have a couple of auto shows where they sell cars worth millions, and there are a few horse shows where horses sell for equal amounts. Something that is very big here is golf. I’m guessing that maybe half the landmass of Arizona is dedicated to golf courses. I don’t play golf, but I’m quite sure there are at least a dozen courses within walking distance of our house.

One activity I like more in the winter than in the summer is shooting. We used to go out target shooting once a week, but times change and we just try to go out as often as we can. If we shoot pistols or rifles, we go out into the desert and when we shoot shotguns, we go to the range where they have both trap and skeet. Trap is where you stand in one of five different stations, and you shoot at a clay target that comes out of a trap house near the ground at various angles. Skeet is where targets are thrown across the field from the left and right, and you shoot at high and low targets from different positions. We have probably the largest public shooting range in the country just to the north of us. Right at the junction of the Carefree Highway and I-17 is a 1650-acre facility that encompasses all types of shooting. There are several different pistol and rifle ranges including a quarter-mile long power rifle range, there’s a clay target range with trap, skeet and sporting clays, and there’s even several archery ranges. We go there when we have time and we rarely keep track of our scores; I guess you can say that we’re casual shooters. However, there are those here that are as passionate about shooting as anyone can get about a sport. There are quite a few winter shooting events here, where hundreds of shooters show up at any one of the shooting ranges around the state. Some park their huge motorhomes at the range for a week of tournament shooting, then moving to another range for yet another week of shooting trap or skeet. We sometimes go to these tournaments usually to look around, watch them shoot a bit and maybe look over merchandise for sale. This is one of the few times that we’re able to experience the feel of a $50,000 shotgun in our hands. Ours cost just a small fraction of that and we find we can miss the target just as easily with the less expensive gun and not feel quite as badly about it. A while back, we watched as archers tried to qualify for the Olympics and once we were amazed by the shooting skills of the US long-range rifle team practicing for the Olympics.

You can find lots of locals crowding the ski resorts to the north of us. There’s plenty of snow up there to keep them happy. Some, less daring locals can visit the Botanical Gardens or zoo in Phoenix, and then there are the outdoor rodeos, trail riding with either horses or ATV’s and other special activities such as skydiving and rock climbing. One of the few things that the locals here don’t do in the winter is swim. Yeah, some people with heated pools will, but for the most part, we leave the winter swimming to the visitors that come here and show us how brave they are because it’s a bit over 60 degrees out. If they’re that brave, I dare them to come back here and do all this when it’s 115 degrees in the shade. So now, you know why we do these outdoor things in the winter and leave the indoor playing for the summertime.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#89
Yeah but other than all that stuff what is there to do??? Big Grin
Mike

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#90
(01-10-2020, 07:05 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: Yeah but other than all that stuff what is there to do???  Big Grin

Well, some of us will sit in a restaurant and throw spitballs through our straws at each other, but that qualifies more as an indoor sport Icon_rolleyes . A few have taken to circling around the Walmart parking lot waiting for a handicap spot to open. Waiting That usually takes a good part of the day. Then there are the desert tortoise races that sometimes goes on for days before one reaches the finish line. Icon_cool  Just lots going on around here in the winter.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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