Hidden Treasures of an HOA

I have lived in Dobson Ranch almost my entire life. It’s a large, cozy, family oriented subdivision in Mesa. There are several community pools (one with a swim team), a library and a great community newspaper. My parents have owned two homes in Dobson Ranch and Jason and I bought our first home here two and a half years ago.

There are lots of things that I love about this area and our home, but one of my favorite things has nothing to do with our actual living space. Dobson Ranch has several man-made lakes that run around the backs of lucky homes, creating scenic views from backyard porches. In a few places along the roads that line the subdivision, the water peeks up to the edge of the road. In each of these spots, a few yards from the edge of the water sits a three or four foot square platform. At certain sunny times of the day (which, we all know, in Arizona, is almost all the time) many turtles can be seen warming themselves there in full view of all passersby. It’s a cheerful, charming sight that over the years has my neck habitually snapping toward those platforms every time I pass. Often, when Jason walks in the door from work in the afternoon, the first words out of his mouth are about the turtles he passed just before he got home. It’s one of the things that I happily pay my home owner’s association fees for.

(Photo by Robin Ross)