Hey, wow! It's the Iverson Movie Ranch jigsaw puzzle!

Iverson Movie Ranch jigsaw puzzle

Someone surprised me this Christmas with a fun present: an Iverson Movie Ranch jigsaw puzzle.

My first reaction was, "Wait a minute — how can this be?!!?" ... followed by: "Who has time to do jigsaw puzzles?" 

But I did find time, and by the time I had most of the "edge" pieces in place, I was hooked.

The puzzle contains an aerial view of a sizable patch of northwest Chatsworth, Calif., covering most of the Iverson Ranch along with neighboring terrain.

It's a familiar Google image that I go to all the time when I'm doing research.

Here the 118 Freeway, running horizontally across the center of the frame, begins to take shape. The white roofs near the center are the Indian Hills Mobile Home Village.

The red roofs above the mobile home park make up a condo community on the former site of the Middle Iverson Ranch Set and its surroundings, which were part of the Upper Iverson.

The freeway today divides the land in much the same way the ranch was divvied up back when it was the Upper Iverson above, run by Aaron Iverson, and the Lower Iverson below, run by his brother Joe.

To the left of the white roofs of the mobile home park are the lighter reddish roofs of the Cal West Townhomes, the sprawling condos that occupy the Upper Gorge and surround the Garden of the Gods.

Manmade structures are easier to line up than rocks and trees — making this probably the first time I've been glad the condos and other junk were there ... strictly from the standpoint of furthering the puzzle.

The puzzle turned out to be a blast to do — a challenge that took up the bulk of my spare time over a span of about three days ... while I also held down my day job.

At this point the section of estates in the top left corner — the former Upper Iverson and Brandeis Ranch — is almost complete.

Familiarity with the layout proved useful in doing the puzzle. At the same time, I couldn't help but enhance my understanding of the lay of the land.

A 400-piece puzzle might be a breeze to a "jigsaw master," which I am definitely not. But the image is incredibly detailed, and it took a commitment to put it together.

At one point it occurred to me that this individual puzzle might well be the first of its kind — the first Iverson Movie Ranch jigsaw puzzle.

For me it was the most rewarding jigsaw puzzle I've ever attempted — and possibly the only one I've ever finished, at least since I was a kid.

My "Personalized Hometown Puzzle" came from an outfit called Map Marketing, which I'm told is easy to find online.

Thus far I've avoided going to the website, and couldn't tell you how much the puzzles cost. After all, it was a present.

Well, I was just getting started ... and whaddaya know, it's done.