{"id":35049,"date":"2019-01-25T01:52:48","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T01:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=35049"},"modified":"2019-01-25T01:52:48","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T01:52:48","slug":"happy-trails-part-138-now-its-home-orientation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=35049","title":{"rendered":"Happy Trails, Part 138: Now it’s ‘home orientation’?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My wife and I are in the processing of purchasing the fifth home we have shared over more than 47 years of marriage.<\/p>\n

The previous four home purchases — two in Oregon and two in Texas — have all gone about the same way: We select a house, we settle on a price, we obtain the financing, then we close the deal. “Closing” on the sale involved signing a lot of papers, then the title company person hands us the keys to the house — and maybe a garage-door opener — and says, in effect, “Have a nice life.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Boom! Done! Off we went.<\/p>\n

Now, though, it’s different. We got word today of a closing date. But before that happens, we get to take part in what the builder calls a “home orientation” session. The message we received tells us that the session “is designed to teach you about how your home works.”<\/p>\n

How it works?<\/em> Yep. We’re buying one of those “smart homes.”<\/p>\n

I’ve mentioned already that it is a modest home in Princeton, Texas, in northeast Collin County. It is part of a brand new subdivision.<\/p>\n

Unlike the four previous homes we purchased, this one comes with some razzle dazzle, a few bells and whistles. If we want to make it smarter than I am — which isn’t hard to do — we can subscribe to a service that provides an “Alexa” device that does things on voice command: dim the lights, turn on the TV, lower the shades; I’m wondering if there’s an “app” that tucks me in at night.<\/p>\n

Don’t misunderstand me. I am not going to resist this “home orientation” lesson. I welcome it. I’ll need it. It just kind of blows my mind, given that I am 69 years of age and while I am getting a bit more tech savvy as time marches on, I am far from the “geek” that my sons would prefer me to be.<\/p>\n

The “home orientation” awaits in just a few days.<\/p>\n

Bring it!<\/p>\n\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My wife and I are in the processing of purchasing the fifth home we have shared over more than 47 years of marriage. The previous four home purchases — two in Oregon and two in Texas — have all gone about the same way: We select a house, we settle on a price, we obtain … Continue reading Happy Trails, Part 138: Now it’s ‘home orientation’?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1063,3920],"class_list":["post-35049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-collin-county","tag-retirement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35050,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35049\/revisions\/35050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}