Tiny House Living Part III

Our current tiny house is not as posh as our last place. It's a bit like staying at your grandparents' place, but as they say in real estate, location, location, location. 

You can see our current neighborhood, More Mesa Shores, from Goleta Pier. It is just to the right of John's left glasses lens in the photo above. This places us a lot closer to Emily's apartment and some of our more regular haunts. 

The neighborhood has its own private access to More Mesa Beach. Unfortunately, it is a .5 mile walk, then a descent (and corresponding ascent) down a steep walkway, followed by lots of steps. Our knees aren't up to that kind of workout. However, there is a cozy bench at the top to enjoy the beautiful ocean view and sounds, which we have done multiple times.

The neighborhood also has direct access to More Mesa. We visited More Mesa with Emily back in Fall 2018, but accessed it from a different spot. She had previously visited with a meditation group and thought we would enjoy it, which we did.

At around 300 acres, More Mesa is a huge area fronting the ocean with cliffs, including many trails and the beach. (The beach, because of its seclusion, has an unofficial reputation as being clothing optional. A local friend told us the story of how her parents were out sailing one time and mom's sea legs weren't too good, so she decided to swim to shore. She landed at the beach here, greeted by none other than her pharmacist in all his manspreading glory. Needless to say, mom reports that she never saw her pharmacist in the same way again!). The Mesa offers wonderful recreational opportunity, particularly in this socially distanced time, as well as a wide variety of plants, wildlife and vistas.

Swan-neck Agave and a California Ground Squirrel

Gorgeous vistas

I earned some Seek credit for these. The first plant is Telegraph Weed, a plant native to California, not really a weed, but probably called that because it is invasive and has spread to other areas. It's related to daisies and sunflowers and is found in sandy and disturbed soils, which is exactly where we found it! The second plant, California Croton caught my eye because of the orange color. 

Would you believe my Seek credit for the far right picture was for an animal?! True Cochineal Bug. Cochineal scales live on prickly pear cacti and they have a very interesting use in daily life - red dye - I kid you not. 

Great Blue Heron

We had assumed that the city or county owned this property. However, we learned that it is privately owned by a real estate developer based in Saudi Arabia, purchased for $25 million in 2012. In 2019, the developer put the property on the market for $65 million, a price tag quite far above its value. There were no takers, but since the property is privately-owned, there is always the risk of development that would threaten the ecological and recreational value of the property (even though its development does face a number of restrictions). The More Mesa Preservation Coalition is a group of concerned citizens opposed to development and hoping to preserve this special property. Only time will tell what will become of this jewel!

Back to our studio ... Even though the place is older and has outdated furnishings, it really has everything we need to function. At approximately 560 square feet, it has plenty of space (and is considered a small house, rather than a tiny house). In fact, the hosts told us that they eventually plan to move in to the apartment and rent their house when they are fully retired and traveling more often. 

We were very happy to see a full-size refrigerator upon arrival, which was not in the listing, as it had recently been added. The kitchen does not have a stove, so the owners have cobbled together a wide variety of cooking instruments to address that. However, we have to be careful not to use too many simultaneously, as we have popped a circuit breaker once already. We don't want to be pests! 

This is the most interesting of the cooking appliances. It is a magnetic induction hot plate, and it works with only certain types of pans. When the pan is removed, the burner automatically turns off; that is a nice safety feature. Another nice feature is that it boils water really fast. Great when making pasta!

My favorite kitchen feature is the fabulous view at sunset!

The bathroom is decent, although the shower is tiny and made even smaller by the handicap accessibility features (the pull down seat and grab bars). Good thing we are used to cruise ship showers, LOL! Although it is small, I give it props for having a shelf for toiletries, as well as a hand-held sprayer that makes cleaning the shower easy. It also has excellent pressure and a good supply of hot water.

 

The main part of the studio is a big open area that contains the bed, dining table, a desk, and the living room. This photo the from host's listing shows the area. It gets great sunlight, and I like that it has a desk and a rocking chair. The only complaint we have is that they have a lot of their personal belongings stored in here on the shelves and in the drawers. This makes the guest's stay more difficult, and it is one of my pet peeves for AirBnB stays. If that storage space were available, we would have no difficulty living long-term in this small home. 

Since the studio has a great location and fulfills our needs, and with the current pandemic numbers and vaccination distribution issues, we decided to plant ourselves here until mid-March. We can't really go anywhere, so why move?