Hi Sue, I agree with you that Susan will probably get tired of her neighbors fast but most of them will take the hint when she turns down invitations enough times or quits answering the door. I also don't like being bother by neighbors or rather by most neighbors, there's a couple I like, with the others I quit answering my door when they knocked and they seem to have taken the hint. I talk to them when I see them in the hallway, that's all I can take of them. It'll be 5 years of living here next month, the first year was aggravating with people stopping by but by the 2nd year that pretty much quit and now it's nice, seeing the neighbors I like only when I want to.

I'm the opposite of you, I want one floor living, my knees can't handle going up and down stairs all day anymore but there are a lot of two story townhouses around here that have main floor living and the 2nd floor is mainly for guests. I'm assuming you're in a townhouse which is the way to go with not having to do any outdoor maintenance :)

Hi Homely and NQ.   I too have been following Susan's move into 55+ condo.   She's made a beautiful home for herself and seems happy, although rightfully exhausted after such a big move.  My husband and I looked at such a community of active adults here in the Phoenix area.   Ultimately we decided against it because I had my heart set on a two-story home.  We don't have yards to worry about, just a front porch and a lovely patio.  No yard work!  We've been here just over 4 years.  My thoughts about Susan's move are mainly about whether she will enjoy having people "right outside her front door."

Thank you Homely, it's nice chatting with you again too and I'm enjoying watching these cams again. I really hope this cam is only down for a short time because I really would like to see the progress they're making on demolishing the last tall building.

I'm also enjoying checking out Susan's new place, my apartment is very close to the size of hers, so I'm picking up ideas on her storage ideas. Her tv cubicles might work in my bedroom where I'm lacking storage and I do like that she brought all of her color over to her new place. I've always gravitated towards earthy tones till I moved to this apartment and decided to do as Susan did, I brought a lot of color in here with my furnishings and it has me smiling everytime I look down at my brightly colored rugs, bed quilt and curtains. I should have added color to my apartments years ago, I'm much happier with it than the old earthy tones :)

Hi, N Q - Have I mentioned lately how lovely it is to have you around to chat with again? I do see that Susan has her cams reinstalled now, and I'm so happy for her. What a terrific move. And her updated colors are fantastic with her art work - I looked at her YouTube tours. What a great use of space in that little apartment!

And good morning to you, Nicola! The cam is not working for me today. I will wait patiently to see if it is a temporary glitch... might have to check the web to see if there is any new news of the town.

Homely you have a long time to decide if you want 55+ community living or not, I just know that most people at some point in their lives decide that taking care of a home has become too much for them and your mom is an example of why moving into a community is the way to go, LOL, your kids some day in the future may pushed you towards community living  :)

Susan moved mainly because another blogger told her about how the place she moved to had a swimming pool and she decided walking out her door and taking an elevator to a pool would be so much more enjoyable then driving to it daily like she has been doing, plus it has a couple restaurants and diner within the complex which works for her.

Tomorrow she may have her cams back up, if they go up I'll post them, meantime here's a video of day one of her new place, still colorful but toned down from her condo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHwyffNUoZY

Hi again, N Q! I'd completely forgotten about Susan Dennis! I used to love checking in on her while her cam still worked on here! I have wondered about her from time to time, but didn't do a good job of searching out her cam and journal online. I just checked her out and am so glad she has made this move and hope she is happy there. My Mom is 86 and lives in a community like that - it's a relief to her, and us, to know that all her needs are seen to. It allows us to enjoy all of our time together so much more, without any worries. Thank you for letting me know about Susan's move! I think those communities are wonderful.

And I will have to look in to the over-55 town house communities. I'm certain there must be some around here. Won't be ready for it for a few years, but it's never too early to start planning :-)

Homely, I love 55+ living, no loud kids around other then the occasional grandchild visiting their grandparents and no twentysomethings with loud music and parties.

When I first moved here, there were 5 couples that had all come from living in houses to here, 3 of them moved out within the first year and another one moved out last year. They just couldn't get use to walking out their front door and running into neighbors BUT there are a lot of 55+ townhouse communities around and that would probably be best for you and your DH. You'll be in a community of older people with normally lots of ammenities & activities but when you open your front door you won't be running directly into people !

Seattle Susan Dennis is in the process today of moving out of her condo, into a senior living center, I'm going to be curious to hear how she handles it and I sure hope she decides to put her cams up in her new place !! I'll miss watching her cats and what new colorful furniture she gets or maybe she'll tone it down some in her new place.

N Q, your place sounds perfect! I love that you got a brand new place AND in an over 55 community. I have friends who live in those and they really enjoy it. At the moment, DH still is adamantly opposed to doing something like that. Someday, though, we will have to downsize! I'm so glad you have your oasis to enjoy :-)

N Q, your place sounds perfect! I love that you got a brand new place AND in an over 55 community. I have friends who live in those and they really enjoy it. At the moment, DH still is adamantly opposed to doing something like that. Someday, though, we will have to downsize! I'm so glad you have your oasis to enjoy :-)

Homely, for me the decision to move here was easy because it was a brand new 55+ apartment building and I would be the first person to live in my apartment. After years of living in older apartment buildings, this place attracted me and I knew that there was a quarry behind here, it's been here for 40 years so the noise from it wasn't surprising and I'm lucky because the trucks don't go past my place. Other then the building being new is that I'm basically right in the middle of everything, grocery store less then a block away, hospital/clinic less then a half mile away and the wildlife is a plus ! I forgot that I also do have redtail hawks that swoop down and kill the field mice and snakes.

It sounds like you found the perfect place for you and your family and having wildlife in your backyard really does make a difference, it's so calming :)

Good heavens, N Q, where you live sounds like EXACTLY where I live! We moved here from another county ten years ago, and there is a very large quarry smack in the middle of one of the more lovely areas where we were looking, also separated from the houses by narrow strips of woods. After looking at a few houses nearby, I noticed the dust and truck traffic, along with the vibrations and noise from blasting, and sadly decided to look at houses a bit further away from where I wanted to be. But being further out means we have more wildlife - three breeds of owls in our back woods, a number of different hawks and the occasional bald eagle. I love it! Last week, our daughter was videoing two bucks locking horns in our front yard and captured a fox walking in on the action :-)

Homely I think we'll see this 2nd tall building come down this winter, there will be less dust from it with the snow. I can't imagine people still living in the one building, think of how loud that must be !

Where I live I have a gravel quarry less then a quarter of a mile from me, it's actually on the other side of a narrow patch of woods that stands between my place and them. There are some days that I can feel the hammering of the gravel stone that's being broken up all day and I definitely feel the blasting that they do. The only nice part of living here is the wildlife that lives in the woods and can be seen in my backyard. I have deer, fox, coyotees, eagles and ducks and geese in the small pond in my backyard.

Good Morning, Nicola and NQ - Continuing to watch this process. I'll be interested to see how they continue with it through the winter. 

Hi Nicola, I've been looking in on this cam daily and I also thought that the brown & grey building might house workers but I saw a woman with a walker come out one day and another day a woman with a baby scroller so I think that's an apartment building with people who haven't moved yet.

The last couple of days they've been building up a road on this side of the tall building. I think they're building it up so that the cranes can reach the top of the building so that they can start tearing that one down soon.

I still can't imagine moving a whole town or at least moving the buildings that they can.

Yes, The hills are the mine and as far as I know there are still some people who live in the town. I know a lot have moved but maybe the lights in the building is where the workers now stay. At some point the whole town will be gone but I have no idea how long that will take. One church is being lifted up and moved, I dont know if they are doing that with any other buildings .

Cam won't load for me today!!  :-(

Nicola I was wondering if those hills could be part of the mine but I couldn't imagine it being that close to the town.
Do you know if there are still people living in the grey & brown brick building on the left side. I see people coming and going from there and lights in some of the windows at night. I can't imagine living so close to the demolition ! and one last ?, are the rest of the buildings going to be torn down or moved ?

NQ, thats the mine, and it really does look so strange without that building. The bright light has been on them building for a while, not quite sure the reason but thought it might be for security? thats the only reason I could think of.

It really looks different here without that building. I wonder if those are natural hills on the right side or hills created from the mining ?

strange, it's 4:30am there and that extremely bright light is still flashing on and off.