Trees have been at the center of my history at 1990 Gibralter Road, Landers, California. The trees and I have celebrated 12 years, 13 summers and 13 birthdays in the high desert since buying in February 20012. I was retiring broke, alone and with medical issues but for some unknown reason, I was still looking to buy a house. How and why such craziness entered my thinking, I do not know. Anyway, a very helpful real estate agent was kind enough to show me around, he probably did not share my optimism yet he never let on.
After
looking at four fixer uppers, we stumbled upon the newly renovated house on
Gibralter. At least I stumbled, Herb may
have had a plan. An investor was rehabbing
this 55-year-old one-bedroom shack that looked eastward toward Goat
Mountain. They had added another bedroom, a toilet room and a front porch, for a grand total of 1000 square feet of living space. The house had not yet been painted but the
owner was, as they say, motivated. The
sale was for $75,000 and the owner paid all my closing costs. With a no down government loan,
I was a new and proud home owner with nothing out of pocket. Miracle is a word casually thrown around but
I have come to appreciate this one miracle.
The 2 ½ acre property is mostly sandy soil with local desert fauna. What attracted me most was not the house, the 1000 square foot garage, the sandy soil or the desert fauna. The trees were the attraction. There were three majestic Joshua trees surrounding the house, the largest one behind the house is a huge unique specimen. Twenty yards behind the garage are the two trees that for me sealed the deal. One is a sprawling California Pepper tree that I have come to name “the wild thing”. The other is a huge Eucalyptus, over 100 feet tall. Both of these trees, and the Sycamore in the front yard were probably planted by the original owners.
Together we are all becoming old fogies.
G. Goslaw
Landers, CA
