What a week we had!  Thunderstorms and rain every day except Friday.  Wednesday was the worst.  My daughter thought it was the worst storm she has witnessed since living here for over 10 years.  It seemed to be very localized too.  I had to take someone to town for an appointment in the middle of the storm so I noticed that it was dry and sunny at the next exit, only 5 miles down the road and sunny again in town, only 7 miles down the other way.  I drove  through the the storm twice!  What a mess!  The rain was so bad that people were either slowing way down or pulling off the highway altogether.  Then there were these loud POP!POP! POPs, almost like gunshots.  It was hail!  My daughter ran out and saved a few chunks of it.  It was the size of quarters.  She said it lasted for 20 minutes!  

On the way home from town I had to rescue my son-in-law and the grandsons who were on their way home from school when the storm hit.  The washes were so flooded that Jeff could not get his little Honda across and up our big hill.  The washes ran for hours because the rain was so heavy and lasted so long.  They were still flooded when Steve came home at 5pm.  We have never had that happen before.  The water usually subsides after an hour at the most.  Not this time.  Needless to say, our dirt road is an absolute mess now.  It is full of holes, ruts and gully washes, not to mention rocks and sticks and other debris.  I'm wondering when the county will send out the road crew to fix it.  Maybe they won't if there is no money left.  I bet someone local will do it if that happens.

Speaking of local, I was once again reminded that going local is a good thing on Friday.  We had a beautiful chestnut horse running loose.  He got into the property next to Shawna's house that has been deserted for some years now.  He was trying to get to the neighbor's horses behind us but was stopped by various fences.  He was magnificent to watch as he paced or raced with head and tail high back and forth along the fence line.  We called the neighbor to see if one of her horses had gotten out.  She went out and bridled the horse but he was not hers and he would not let her lead him any where.  He would just drag her in circles back to the fence line near her horses.  She finally gave up and let him go.  She would not call anyone though and kept giving me excuses of all the reasons why she couldn't do anything.  But, she was concerned that the chestnut would eventually hurt himself by trying to jump the fence to get to her horses.  There was also a lot of barbed wire fencing laying on the ground where he was pacing.  So I got on the phone.  Keep in mind, this is late on a Friday afternoon, about 3:30.  I called everyone I could think of who might be able to catch a horse and put him in a safe place.  I started with a number I have for wild animals in trouble.  She gave me a number for the Arizona Livestock Department.  They gave me a number to call for the person in charge of collecting livestock.  That gave me a recording saying to leave a message cuz that person did not work on, get this, Friday, Saturday or Sunday!  Don't they know that all animal emergencies happen on the weekends?  OMG!  I then called Benson animal Shelter,  a horse rescue organization, who gave me a number for another horse rescue organization, supposedly "closer" to us.  The one  I called was only 20 minutes away but she wanted me to call one that was in Sierra Vista which is 35 minutes away!  I was going crazy!  And it was getting later and later.  Finally, I thought it made no sense to get someone so far away to get this horse when he probably belonged to someone right here in our neighborhood.  So I called our local feed store!  Ha!  She was amazing!  She had heard of someone who had lost their horse just near us and gave them a call.  Not 10 minutes later, one of the neighbors called and asked where we were so they could come get their horse.  Wasn't I amazed when my alpaca neighbor pulled up in her pick up truck!  What a relief!  I told her I should've known to call her first.  She knows everything and everyone in this neighborhood.  She walked right up to that gorgeous high spirited horse, put the bridle on him and walked him right home!  I did notice that he tried to walk her a different way a few times but she just kept talking to him and walking him back home!  I loved watching that beautiful animal go back where he belonged.  I also learned, once again, it is best to go local!  


I managed to get some more aprons made for the Farmers' Market but I didn't sell any this time.  I did sell a pair of alpaca gloves.  Maybe some of the lookie-luus will buy more next week.


S