Benson (homes, rent, high school)

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by mekitcat

Wow, your wife is very good at what she does. Did she make the cast herself?

Oh yeah, all her peices are original. She's played around with clay scupture on and off for many years. Sold a few peices along the way, but up until a year and half ago she was always working full time so she had little time or energy to devote to her art. Now that she's retired she's starting to get into it again.

The concrete castings came about because the original peices she was doing were done in Sculpy - which can be fired at very low temps. Since we didn't have a kiln to fire things at high temps, she was sculpting her peices in Sculpy then firing them in small oven we bought for that purpose.

Problem is, even after firing, Sculpy is weak - and the material is very expensive when you consider the fact that Gails' peices are life-sized. The bigger problem was the weakness though - since the peices were turning out to be too fragile.

So, this past summer we had the house wired for new high-temperature electic kiln, and this year we hope to put it in. At that point she'll be able to go back to natural clay and fire the peices at a higher temp - thus making them much stronger.

So to answer your question definitively - she sculpts the original peice from scratch (out of her head) then builds the mold from the original peice, then pours the concrete cast from the mold.

So, it's all her original work, not copied from anyone else's stuff in any way shape or form.

If you look my other Webshots albums you'll see there's 2 albums of her various works - one for her newer concrete castings, and one for her older clay work, paintings, murals etc. Some of Lionel's and Treas' work appears in that album as well (near the end of album).

Ken

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by mekitcat

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, his art is beautiful.

Thank you.

Yeah, Lionel's work was wonderful. A few of the pieces shown are Treas' (she's done a lot of fantasy type art, Lionel does landscapes). Most are Lionels' though.

Ken

[mekitcat]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

I worked with a very good realtor out of Tucson (where we were based during out property-search trip). Found the property we bought on his website (more or less - it's a long story). He did a good job and we're VERy happy with him. He's a tall, burly Italian-American guy originally from Boston and comes across as a dapper mob guy and ladies man, but the fact is he was terrific and I would have not problem recommending him. He busted his bu** for us on what was clearly going to be a very small commission. He's based in Tucson so he's not really a Benson expert and I'm not sure how much business he does out there, but I would certainly recommend him if you are interested (send me a private message for a link to his website). One of the things we REALLY liked about him was that when we first began working with him he told us that when we finally settle on some property and have made up our mind to buy it, he was going to suddenly turn around and try and talk us out of it. He said he would do this so he could point out the drawbacks (which ANY piece of property has) and make sure that we had really thought it out before we buy. True to his word, he did EXACTLY that - and thus made sure that we really understood the land we were buying (both the good AND the bad points). We LOVE the guy.


Ken

The realtor told you of the "bad points". What kind of things did he tell you if you don't mind I ask.

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by mekitcat

The realtor told you of the "bad points". What kind of things did he tell you if you don't mind I ask.

Well, lets see.

1) He brought up the point that although our neighbors had successful wells, there was no guarentee that we would be able to successfully drill on our lot.

2) That because we'd not had soil analysis done there was a possiblity (however slight) of soil contamination (no reason to suspect it though).

3) That even though we back up to state land, it's possible in the future that the status of that land could change and be developed (highly unlikely though).

4) That projected development in Benson and nearby Vail (including a new regional hospital) may be delayed (which it has been - and that's fine (we're still several years away from moving down there anyway)).

5) That if prices drop we might be able to find a better deal by waiting.

6) That the neighborhood might change before we got around to moving down there.

Nothing really surprising. All just pretty common sense stuff that he wanted to make sure we'd thought about.

Ken

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

Lionel was a highly skilled artist and a kind and wonderful man.
He will be missed very much.
Rest in Peace, Lionel.

Ken

I'm not really into landscapes, but his paintings ARE beautiful! I've always wondered how in the world such depth is achieved...

May he rest in peace.

[troymom]

mekitcat - I have nowhere near the experience/knowledge base of LordBalfor - just thought I'd give you one more suggestion about relocating -
We (husband/teenage son/me) are a couple of months away from relocating from Ohio to Sierra Vista. Visited the area in late March and did some checking. After visiting Buena High School and talking to counselor and Athletic Director we decided to check out some of the smaller towns/high schools and went into Benson. We sat in the high school parking lot for awhile (school was out, but ball teams were playing - baseball I think) then drove around the town. We happened upon the visitor center and went in just as they were about to close. We had the most enjoyable visit with two men working at the visitor center! THey stayed and chatted with us for another 30 minutes and answered all kinds of questions and gave us their opinion of their town and surrounding towns (like St. David, Tombstone, etc). For my tastes, Benson is just a bit too small and we'll be moving to Sierra Vista, but I was quite impressed with the Benson ambassadors we met that day. It wouldn't hurt to make a visit and check out the visitor's center...
And, for what it's worth - our older son knows a girl who lived in Douglas, AZ and he told her about our upcoming move and dilemma as to what school to send our younger son. She brought up a good point - she said in the smaller towns there's really nothing for the teenagers to do...so there's a lot of drinking among the teens. She advised us to seriously consider Sierra Vista because at least it's big enough to have lots of extracurricular stuff to do (movies/indoor pool/mall etc). Now I realize that's a pretty broad generalization and teens can and do drink/party anywhere and everywhere, but taking it from a girl who just lived that life, I think she may be onto something. Her comment definitely figured into our plans...
Arizona is so unlike southwest Ohio where we currently live - there are plenty of small towns all around us and malls/parks/schools galore but in Az it's pretty desolate between towns...not too many Speedways between Benson and Sierra Vista, if you know what I mean...and I don't mean that as a negative! We're looking forward to our move and seeing a whole new part of this country!

[LordBalfor]

Troymom -

Some legit considerations to be sure.

Ken

[mekitcat]

Originally Posted by troymom

mekitcat - I have nowhere near the experience/knowledge base of LordBalfor - just thought I'd give you one more suggestion about relocating -
We (husband/teenage son/me) are a couple of months away from relocating from Ohio to Sierra Vista. Visited the area in late March and did some checking. After visiting Buena High School and talking to counselor and Athletic Director we decided to check out some of the smaller towns/high schools and went into Benson. We sat in the high school parking lot for awhile (school was out, but ball teams were playing - baseball I think) then drove around the town. We happened upon the visitor center and went in just as they were about to close. We had the most enjoyable visit with two men working at the visitor center! THey stayed and chatted with us for another 30 minutes and answered all kinds of questions and gave us their opinion of their town and surrounding towns (like St. David, Tombstone, etc). For my tastes, Benson is just a bit too small and we'll be moving to Sierra Vista, but I was quite impressed with the Benson ambassadors we met that day. It wouldn't hurt to make a visit and check out the visitor's center...
And, for what it's worth - our older son knows a girl who lived in Douglas, AZ and he told her about our upcoming move and dilemma as to what school to send our younger son. She brought up a good point - she said in the smaller towns there's really nothing for the teenagers to do...so there's a lot of drinking among the teens. She advised us to seriously consider Sierra Vista because at least it's big enough to have lots of extracurricular stuff to do (movies/indoor pool/mall etc). Now I realize that's a pretty broad generalization and teens can and do drink/party anywhere and everywhere, but taking it from a girl who just lived that life, I think she may be onto something. Her comment definitely figured into our plans...
Arizona is so unlike southwest Ohio where we currently live - there are plenty of small towns all around us and malls/parks/schools galore but in Az it's pretty desolate between towns...not too many Speedways between Benson and Sierra Vista, if you know what I mean...and I don't mean that as a negative! We're looking forward to our move and seeing a whole new part of this country!

Thanks so much for your reply!

We live in a smallish town now around 12,000 or so and we are surrounded by farm land. It's all my kids ever known. As far as the size, I'm the opposite S.V. is to big for me.

I'm not to concerned about the drinking, my hubby and I don't drink and my kids know just how against drinking I AM! (had a very bad experience with a drunk ). Thats not to say kids won't be kids and try it, but I'd also put them under if they did! lol

Everything that I have been reading and coming across keeps up my enthusiasm, and with the exception of the possible drinking concern. I really haven't heard bad things about this town, and believe me I have been looking, this town may very well be the perfect little town for us.

I was hoping to get more feed back from some of the local's but... I guess if you live there you don't read message boards about your town?

I am very grateful to those who did reply to my post and questions and LordBalfor's very much appreciated wisdom Thank you!!



Oh btw I came across this thread did you see it? I would think that you had but if not...

alternatives to Sierra Vista?

That maybe something for you to think about, I haven't done any research to see how true that may or may not be but it maybe something that you may want to look into. And good luck to you and your family!

Cathy

[LordBalfor]

Mekitcat -

You're welcome

Just for fun, check out this website:

Zeta Woof: Benson, Arizona

There is a song called "Benson, Arizona". It was part of the soundtrack for the cult classic sci-fi/comedy film (one of John Carpenters early, low-budget movies). You can hear it at the link above.

Ken

[mekitcat]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

Mekitcat -

You're welcome

Just for fun, check out this website:

Zeta Woof: Benson, Arizona

There is a song called "Benson, Arizona". It was part of the soundtrack for the cult classic sci-fi/comedy film (one of John Carpenters early, low-budget movies). You can hear it at the link above.

Ken

I couldn't hear that clip all that well so I did a search and youtube has a video of him singing it. YouTube - Joe Bethancourt - Benson Arizona
its a catchy lil tune!


Cathy