Approximately 1974 Janet and I purchased this
property to build our future home in the "country" someday. We were living
nearby (3 miles to the north on Bonarden Lane) and all 6 of our children were in
the various schools nearby. We came out nearly daily to begin the initial
installation of bringing water and electricity to the property.
I purchased a 1974 Diesel Kubota Tractor with all
the implements to till the soil and begin the transition of moving dirt where we
wanted it to be. We planned out the location of the home to be up near the
front of the property to allow easy access from the street named Greentree
Drive. This also allowed for the maximum amount of land to be used for the
home and rearing of our active family. We had 5 sons and 1 daughter.
Our oldest son, Brent was age 16 and our youngest son Nathan was age 4.
Our 6 children were spread over a 12 year period of time. Brent was old
enough to go to Corona Del Sol High School and the others attended the Kyrene
Middle and Elementary schools in the neighborhood after we moved onto the
property.
We sold our home on Bonarden Lane in 1979 and moved
to a small farm house nearby while we began building the 1st phase of our new
home on Greentree Drive. In that 1st phase we hired Guzman Fence company
to enclose the pasture of approximately 3/4 acre with a 4 rail galvanized fence
including 8 ten foot wide gates for easy access to all animal pens. At the
time, I paid over $10,000 for the fencing and 6 stall animal shaded structure.
About 1 year ago I asked the same company to return and build a 40 inch gate for
easier access into the pasture for feeding the animals. This gate cost me
over $600. The new owner of Guzman Fence company was the son who had
originally welded all the fencing materials on my property for his father.
Now he was the owner and this fence was refreshing to him to see his handiwork
from his youth of 30 years before. His father laid out all the fence posts
by line of sight clear around all the property never using a transit. He
had his sons hold each fence post just right until it met his satisfaction.
By the time he had gone clear around the property the fence line was joined at
the back and was off by only 3 inches. Not bad for just eyeballing it!
This estimate to build the same four rail galvanized fence line today would be
over $60,000. This value was not included in the estimate or the hundreds
of feet of HCB fencing around the
back yard.
From the beginning we installed an electric meter of
200 amps and a 1" Water main line to make sure we had adequate power for our new
property. We had a large septic tank installed for the guest house
because of the size of our family with clean-out access off the back patio.
When we built the home we installed a very big septic tank below the grade of
the basement so everything easily goes down hill. We do not need a septic
pump as is common in most Arizona basement homes. The clean-out is located
in the front yard near the archway entry to the side yard. Our septic
tanks are so big they have never needed to be emptied. They could be but
we have never had the need.
After building the fencing we hired a contractor to
help us build a 600 square foot workshop in the center of the property.
From this workshop we could then build everything else as we continued to grow.
Along with the building of the first 600 sq ft workshop in 1983 I included a "Foster Fort" just off the
workshop for my kids. In this small room we learned to weld rebar into
ladders and created a place for the kids to call their own. Into one of
the fresh concrete panels we carved each of their names and their ages at the
time of construction for a history memorial. I was age 42 at the time.
Nathan, our youngest was age 2.
The workshop structure included a 300 square foot
covered patio so we could enjoy the shade while working on the property.
We built the workshop while living nearby in a small farmhouse. My kids
remember best the crop duster plane that would fly over the farmhouse spraying
the cotton fields all around us and yes even we got sprayed.
The next project was to buy our first black Angus
steer calf and begin raising our own beef. We have raised about 15 steers
for our own meat supply on this property. We irrigate our pasture and
planted grass. Since our property was a "working farm" during the years of
1929 thru 1948 we have a double portion of irrigation water available to us.
This greatly benefits our trees that really appreciate the deep watering they
get. Irrigation water is very reasonable to purchase and receive. We
designed our back yard fence to have easy metal door access to the irrigation
water when it is our time to receive it.
The boys liked the irrigation best when they could
skim board along the edges of the water and slip and slide for long distances.
They designed and build many skim boards to use. When you irrigate it's
just like having a lake in the back yard for a day. The water is about 4
inches deep and really makes things grow good.
We planted 5 pecan trees at the back of the property in the
small pasture. Over the next twenty years I named each tree after one of
my sons. The biggest tree was my oldest son Brent. To his left was
the youngest and smallest tree, that became Nathan. The next tree was also
a large tree and became Lance. Unfortunately, I roto-tilled over the top
of this tree and thought I had lost it. But the next spring it shot back
out of the ground to play the next round of life and became the second largest
tree on the property. In the corner of our Pecan orchard was the tree
named Jared because he positioned himself in the middle with trees on both sides
of him. Always offering shade and comfort to his brothers. The tree
that positioned himself the furtherest away was named Thury because his
schooling and occupational pursuits took him away from home but not out of
the family. These Pecan trees have all grown up and like my sons are now
mature and produce many enjoyable nuts or should I say, grandchildren.
Yes, we love all 12 of our grandchildren and foresee many more to come and be a
part of our family. When my only daughter asked where her tree was her
brothers quickly told her the "roses" were hers. Beautiful to look at but
watch for the thorns!
We build the 1st 800 square foot living quarters on
the property next to the workshop. I convinced my wife we would move our
family of 8 people into those close quarters and live there for a short time
until we could add the future home too it. Well, it took longer than I had
thought and we lived there for 5 years before we added on the home in 1986.
We thought of the approximate 3639 square foot home as the "addition".
We built a triple bunk along one wall and a double
bunk along the other wall and put all 6 kids into that room as their bedroom.
Wow! Even now I wonder how we ever managed that with only one small
bathroom to share as we got our selves ready for school and work each day.
We had to learn to share as we each had only 100 square feet of space to live
in. We had too learn to co-ordinate so as to be able to do homework, watch
TV, eat meals and especially share the bathroom. But our patio was large
and our property gave us reason to work and play outside much of the time.
My sons learned to work with their father outside on
our mini-farm and the projects seemed to never get completed.
Someone was assigned to mow the lawn and two others to run gas trimmers all
along the edges of the property. The rest of the family was assigned
various tasks like pulling weeds, planting trees, harvesting and preserving the
fruits of our labors. Our daughter Jody will always be remembered by her
brothers as the one assigned to bring her brothers fresh lemonade as they
worked. Calicoes on our hands and satisfaction of a good days work became
our family tradition for many years on Saturdays.
My children learned to "work first and play second,
don't quit working until the sun goes down and if the job is worth doing then do
it right, and if dad asks you to go get a tool you better come back with it."
Working with their hands and developing their minds
became the main project of the Foster Family on Greentree. But work was
not the only thing going on... our neighbors (six homes on Greentree) had large
families also and we had somewhere between 30 and 40 kids on the street to play
games and interact with. Street hockey was moved to roller blade hockey on
our common tennis court with the lights at night turned on. Of course the
lights attracted another 30 or 40 kids from surrounding neighborhoods to come
join them and the fun began when the sun went down.
We added a sunken volley ball court with truck loads
of very fine "engine sand" 12 inches deep and night flood lights to assist the
many many kids that came over to have fun. Our youngest son Nathan met his
future wife in his own back yard while playing sand volleyball and teaching
other kids to dance to swing music. Several of our sons played on the
Corona Del Sol High school volleyball team. Corona is walking distance
from our home and you can make it in to class in five minutes or less if the
need exits.
We have had many wedding receptions in our back yard
and patio's (covered, un-covered and sunken). Hundreds of people have
gathered here and lots of food and good times have been enjoyed. For our
daughter's wedding reception we rented a very large white tent and set up over a
hundred chairs. We filled the pond with water, floated candles on the
surface and let the sweet music play.
One little note about the sunken sand volleyball
court. While my wife Janet was at girls camp my sons and I rented a
tractor and dug out the volleyball court dirt and dumped the pile into a mound
that has since become the Sedona Red Rock Waterfall picnic area of our back
yard. My boys and I blew out about 8 tires on our van and dump trailer as
we hauled in load after load of beautiful but very heavy red rock from Sedona,
Arizona. We arranged the rocks and planted the trees and watered forever.
Today, twenty years later that spot of our yard looks like an oasis and it is.
The three re-circulating waterfalls add sounds to the back yard that pleases
everyone that comes here to visit. In the Spring of 2007 I laid out new
beautiful green sod grass over half of the sunken volley ball court. That
makes it easy for me to mow and maintain it but the new owner can do with it as
they choose. The space is big enough for a swimming pool, tennis, volley
ball or a full basket ball court.
Our youngest son, Nathan met his future wife,
Lucinda, in his own backyard while playing volleyball here. Jared
introduced Natasia to the hammock swing under the apple trees and Sid Myers
courted his wife-to-be on our love bench because she wanted to try it out!
The shape and style of our home is unique. We
wanted to best use the 9 months of the year when the outside temperature is so
ideal that millions of new residents have come to join us in Arizona for our pleasant
weather and enjoy our outdoor bar-be-que's and patio parties.
We built an 8' deep concrete bar-be-que for deep roasting beef or pork in
quantity for big events. It is located just off the workshop just inside
the big pasture near the driveway gate.
Everything is located just off the workshop because
that is how we designed and built our home. Our kids were not spoiled with
the luxuries of life though we have enjoyed the blessings that comes of hard
work and fun times.
We wanted to take advantage of the cooler
temperatures of a basement with a unique walk-out on to a sunken patio terraced
with beautiful plants, flowering bushes and trees. This meant positioning
all of our bedrooms on the lower floor along with our family room and laundry
room. Interesting that our basement air conditioner lasted for 20 years
and out lasted several units that services our above ground 1st floor.
Most of our sons have climbed the 20 foot high
beautiful rock wall located in the family room and touched the upper beam just
so they could say they too have done what Thury set the example of doing.
Of course, his parents didn't know of his achievement until his 'farewell'
activity and he casually mentioned that he knew he could learn to speak Mandarin
Chinese in Taiwan where he was going for the next two years of his life because
he had climbed the living room wall using his fingers and toes and positioning
himself on the wall like a fly. By concentrating on each movement of his
hands and feet he managed to reach the top, just like he thought he could.
But now his fingers and toes were hurting a lot and he called for his brothers
to come quick... at first they couldn't see him, because he was clear up on the
wall. He called for them to throw the sofa's cushions below him and he
pushed off the wall and landed like a cat. We, as his parents lost one of
our nine lives just hearing the story. Everyone that comes to our home
stands in awe at the site of that wall and can't believe the story, but it is
true!
Three of the four sunken concrete patio walls are
poured clear down to basement level so they could be built upon should the next
owner desire a very large theater room or perhaps a larger family room. We
have the original house plans to use as a guide to all the construction features
of this very unique home.
If requested, the buyer can receive a detailed
listing of the four complete sprinkling systems, location of the power lines
from the SRP transformer, the Qwest telephone line, Cox and Dish Satellite cables, the
solar hot water system and the main water lines. If I get my asking price
I will even include the watering, fertilizing, trimming and mowing schedules for
the entire property. Then you will be in balance with nature and can spend
your leisure time on any project or activity you enjoy.
We designed the upper level which is really the
ground level floor to have a study, small living room, dining room and large
kitchen. These are the rooms we all share and entertain in. We like
the convenience of a large 2 1/2 car carport for ease of pulling into and out
of. It is electrically wired for a garage door if you desire to add it. We set the carport back on the property and surrounded it with shrubs,
hedges and trees so it doesn't show to the street. It was for our pure convenience and
not a storage place to hide from view. We have lots of storage places
throughout the home but the carport is not a place to accumulate "stuff."
Central vacuum cleaner system throughout the home,
Two Dish Network systems for the "Cottage" (guest house) and the study and
family room, hardwood floors from the front entry, kitchen and air-lock hallway
to the carport are features of this beautiful home. This home is designed
to entertain and be lived in. Straddling oak hardwood cabinets with metal
drawer glides are easy to maintain and enjoy. In one hour or less you can
mow all the grass yards and your son or favorite daughter can trim all the
edges.
The kitchen has new granite countertops, new GE
countertop stove, microwave, garbage disposal unit and dishwasher. Janet
can help you here.
This home was been built by the Foster Family who
learned to work and play together. Our kids have all grown up, married and
moved away. We have the best neighbors in the whole world, good schools
close by and best of all we have everything needed within a few miles of our
home to enjoy a wonderful lifestyle.
But, we are retired as of last December 31, 2006 and
now plan to downsize to our future home and continue to travel, visit the kids,
grandkids and serve in the community where ever we live. At this moment
(February 24, 2008) we have only guessed at where we will live the rest of our
lives. Our married children want us to move to Chandler, Gilbert or Queen
Creek to be near by. We will sell here and figure it out later. We do not have to
sell, we have no time limit to move-out, we are happy here, it just seems like
we should get on with the next phase of our lives and let someone who will
appreciate this home & enjoy it with their family. If we really worked on
it we could be out in 30 days. We have purchased two large white utility
trailers parked in the back pasture into which we continue to add household
items that will go to the new home after we sell here. So you see, we are
almost moved out and ready for you to move in!
There are many trees and plants on this property
with special stories about them and the lessons they have taught us that we will
share with the "new owners." Ask us about the "happy marriage tree" in the
patio or the Elm tree that wouldn't die or the multi-trunk Pepper tree that
keeps coming back though the wind has knocked it down many times. All
great object lessons for your kids to look at and apply the "lessons of life" to
their own lives.
The best thing about living on Greentree Drive is
the neighbors! They will invite you to a welcoming party and assist you in
becoming acquainted with all the services, schools etc that you will need to
know about. Four of the original seven owners still live here.
Hopefully, this history has been of value as you
consider this home as your home.
