Pearblossom, CA

Pearblossom is further out again, strung along the highway at the eastern end of the valley where the properties stop being neighbourhoods and start being addresses. It is the kind of place where the nearest anything is a drive, and that shapes how people deal with a repair.

The wind is the local hazard

This end of the valley catches wind that the sheltered western side does not. Wind is unglamorous and it is relentless: it works fasteners loose, lifts flashing and trim, sandblasts paint off anything facing the wrong way, and finds every gap around a door or a window frame. Weatherstripping that would last years elsewhere gives up early here.

The practical version of that is a maintenance list weighted toward the outside of the building rather than the inside. Exterior paint, trim, door and window seals, gates, fencing and anything bolted to a wall.

Worth gathering up

Because it is a real drive from our base, most people out here are better off making a list than calling about one thing. A morning that deals with the cooler, two doors, a run of trim and the tap that has been annoying somebody since spring is a far better use of a visit, and cheaper per job, than three separate trips.

If you are unsure whether we come out this far: we do, and one phone call settles it.