Holy Cow!  July passed by without a word from me!  Shame on me!  Hope you all had a great 4th!

The end of July was our annual migration to Klamath Falls, Oregon.  We flew to Sacramento and then took a rental car the rest of the way.  It is about a 5 hour trip.  The weather was beautiful for the whole visit.  We took our youngest grandson, Logan with us.  We visited Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, Lava Beds National Monument in Tulelake, California and, of course, stopped to take pictures of the always awesome Mt. Shasta.

Logan loved the "Lava hole" as he called Lava Beds National Monument.  We hiked through a cave that was great fun for him and Grandpa but was a little tedious for me.  The path through the cave was not always smooth and I am not as agile as I once was so it took a little time.    Logan wanted to go in another cave, called Skull Cave, because it is a huge cavern.  There is ice at the bottom because it is so deep.  Grandpa and Uncle Paul took one look at the 75 steep steps to the bottom and decided it was time to turn back.  Poor Logan!  He came out with a pouty face and said, "You didn't make it fun, Grandpa!"  He wanted to go all the way to the bottom but he's only 4 after all.  He did not realize the effort it would take to make it back up.  We took him to the gift shop where he purchased a cute little bat finger puppet.  No more pouts!

Crater Lake is such a unique place and just as awe inspiring as Mt. Shasta.  There were still huge piles of snow up there but that did not stop the hoards of tourists.  I got so frustrated in their gift shop that I nearly ran out screaming and pulling my hair out!  A shout from Steve's mom brought me back to ground safely.  We left the park and found another restaurant and gift shop just outside the park where we had lunch and I managed to find t-shirts for all the grand kids.  

We had several family get-togethers while we were in Klamath.  It is always fun to see everyone and get reacquainted.  Everyone is a little grayer, a little chubbier and a lot wiser!  And all the young ones are just a blast, so wild and full of life.  Were we like that once?

We came home and the grand kids started school right away.  We have also been moving Sara and Logan into Shawna's house down the hill.  It has been a process because we can only really do any work or move stuff on weekends.  Sara and Logan have moved in but she still has a few things left at our place.  

It is almost weird to me to have the whole house to myself lately.  I gave the goats and the chickens away before we went to Oregon, so my outside chores are reduced.  I still feel as if I have something to do almost every minute and yet I don't feel that I have really accomplished anything.  How weird is that?  I have been cleaning and reorganizing rooms.  I have also gotten quite a few books read.  I am starting a new diet this week and plan on starting a new workout routine next week.  We'll see how far that goes. LOL!  It would be nice to lose about 20 pounds before our cruise in January.  I'll try to keep you posted on that.

It is only 9am.  It is already 98 degrees outside. The wind is not blowing ...yet.

Yesterday, being Monday, is my heavy work day.  Before 10 am, I had washed and hung 4 loads of laundry, fed and watered the animals, watered all the plants and washed all the dishes from our busy birthday weekend.  Oh yeah! And stripped the bed and put clean sheets on it.

 Our only granddaughter turned 5 years old on Saturday, my husband had a birthday on Monday and Father's Day was on Sunday.  We celebrated all those on Sunday.  Steve got a big new bar-be-que grill for his birthday so he bbq-ed pork chops for 11 people.  We also had coleslaw, potato salad, hot dogs for the kids, applesauce and two cakes, one for Eden and one for Steve.  Eden's cake was a rainbow layer cake with all different bright colors inside.  I made a pineapple upside-down cake for Steve, as that is his favorite and he almost never eats cake anyway.  Of course, Eden got so many gifts it looked like Christmas in June!  The theme this year seemed to be horses and mermaids.  Along with her horse quilt, she also got a horse pillow and a stuffed horse.  Her aunt got her a herd of "My Little Pony" horses that had long manes and tails and combs to style them.  She got a mermaid Barbie and an "Ariel" mermaid from the movie.  For the pool, she got new water wings and another mermaid doll with seahorses that swims! Ha!  What a haul!

We had a fire behind us and a fire in front on the border.  We watched the big air tanker fly back and forth from Parker Canyon Lake to the fire behind us all day yesterday.  The smoke seems less this morning.  I do not know if either fire is out or still going.  The weather people are saying we will get record high temps this week and then get "steamy" by the weekend.  This will be a precursor to thunderstorms on the weekend and perhaps, the start of the monsoon.  I am not looking forward to the "steamy" part, but I do like the monsoon storms.  We will have to start swimming in the mornings if we want to swim at all.  Afternoons will be full of lightening and heavy rains.

Our swallows on the front porch hatched the first batch of babies for this season.  As far as I can tell there are at least 3 little wide open mouths up there when the mamma comes by to feed them.  There are probably more.  They are tiny right now.  All you can see are big mouths and eyes.  The lizards are loving the dry hot weather and are everywhere. It is a good thing because if not for the birds and lizards, we would be overrun with bugs, bugs, and more bugs.  The crickets are abundant and obnoxious with their leg rubbing.  The tiny little red ants are virtually covering the yard and everything else.  I can hardly water the animals or the plants without getting some on me.  They are nasty little biters too.  If I am wearing a sundress, which I often do, I have taken to picking it up and walking, like the ladies used to do in the Old West. Sometimes the ants will still hitch a ride, but I usually notice if they are crawling up my feet and ankles.  Then I can stamp them off before I go inside.  If they get on the hem of my dress, I may be inside before I notice the buggers!  I've even gotten them on my arms from leaning on the fence as I fill up water buckets!  Yikes!

This week our #1 daughter and her family, including 3 of our grand kids, are moving to their very own first house in Tucson.  Steve is helping move their stuff.  I will help by keeping the kids while the move is made.  Then, our #2 daughter and her son are moving into the house being vacated by daughter #1.  Steve and I will be official "empty-nesters."  Whooo-hoo!  I have been looking forward to this but I am thinking that it is going to be rather weird at first.  I will be alone much of the day.  What will I do with all that time????  Don't worry!  I'm sure I will think of plenty! 

I have been working for several weeks on a quilt for my grand-daughter's 5th birthday, which is coming up this weekend.  I finally completed it this morning!  It is so satisfying to complete an artistic project.  I think it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!

My cat, Loki, seems to like it too.  He planted himself right in the middle as I was trying to take pictures.  Silly cat!

We will hit 102 degrees this afternoon.  I got the ironing done this morning too right after the quilt.  It is just too too hot here to do anything that takes any effort in the afternoons.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be even hotter, 105*!  Yikes!  I really don't mind so much.  I am thankful that we have air conditioning in the house, but I also know that we can survive without it as we did a couple of years ago.  And we have the pool.  I plan to use that this afternoon for awhile.  Gotta get my exercise in you know!

Due to several fires in our area, we have been having some spectacular sunrises and sunsets lately.  I tried to capture the sunrise the other day with the alpacas relaxing in the foreground.  It came out too dark to see the alpacas.  In the one that I posted you can see the dove sitting on the wire though.  Mornings are my favorite time of day.  It is nice and cool and quiet.  The birds are just coming alive and their songs and chirps are about the only sounds.  No new problems or news has yet to invade my consciousness.  Nothing to disrupt the feeling of peace and thankfulness.  And I can just thank the good Lord for small miracles.

Here it is June again!  Hot days and cool nights.  On Thursday last week we were inundated with heavy smoke from the fire just across the state line in New Mexico.  We could not see the Whetstone Mountains just in front of us.  It was like being back in southern California with all that  brownish white smog. It made for some spectacular sunsets.  Even the moon had a pinkish glow for a few nights. That lasted until about yesterday I would say.  Then our constant companion WIND picked up big time and blew much of the smoke away.  So as much as I often curse the wind, there are times when I am grateful for it too.

My tomato plants are getting bigger and are actually producing tomatoes.  It remains to be seen whether or not we will get to enjoy any of them.  There was a good sized one I was watching.  It was starting to turn reddish orange.  I reached around the leaves to see how big it really was and YUCK!  Half of the tomato was already pecked away!  Eaten by birds no doubt!  There are several fruits on each plant now.  I hope they aren't all eaten before they are ripe.  The squash are doing nicely and there are already a few jalepeno peppers on those plants.  I wonder if they will be hotter than the ones in the store.

My geraniums that I transplanted outside are finally blooming like crazy.  So are the petunias.  I also have a large bush in the backyard that I love.  I don't know what it is as it was there before I moved in.  I call it a butterfly bush because it is similar to those.  It's blooms are dark purple and cone shaped.

The saguaro in the front yard is shrinking from lack of rain as it always does this time of year.  One of its branches it also starting to bloom.  As I was taking pictures of the blooms, I noticed a bird at eye level inside the cactus trunk.  I took a picture of the hole, but the bird hid way down inside, too dark down there to get his picture.  

We have been swimming most every afternoon.  It is very refreshing after the temperature hits 100 degrees. I worry about fires and they are popping up all over the West.  We have to hang in there and be extra cautious until the monsoon comes in July, only a few weeks away.

Mother Nature at last had mercy on us and the blasting winds stopped on Sunday morning.  What a relief!  The temperature also dropped a bit, into the 80s.  

I decided to move our three little goats from the northwest pasture to the old turkey pen in the southeast corner of the front yard.  Of course, one cannot just move animals without some changes and forethought.  The turkey shelter, while plenty big enough for the little goats, was too close to the fence.  We moved it so that the goats would not be able to jump on the roof and high-tail it over the fence and down the hill.  Steve also added an overhang at the back for additional cover from the sun and rain.  We also moved the feeder.  It is a big strong wooden box so we placed it on the wagon and rolled it onto place.  Then we had to remove the old chicken wire that kept the turkeys in so that the goats can get the hay out of the feeder.  After cleaning up the area and moving water buckets, we were ready to move the goats.

Frankie and Georgie have collars so all we had to do was get a hold on the collar and snap a lead on them.  Billy does not have a collar.  He was given to us by a neighbor and is somewhat skid-dish.  He loves to get cookies out of my hand but he stays just out of reach, not allowing petting or catching.  So, we figured we would have to lasso him and drag him, kicking and bleating, over to the new place.  Steve was walking Frankie and Georgie down to the gate to close it.  Those two walk pretty easily on the leads.  Since goats are herd animals, I thought maybe Billy would follow them instead of having to be dragged.  I went in the barn and got a can full of grain.  I opened the gate and started rattling the can and calling Billy.  Steve walked ahead of me while I called and coaxed Billy, rattling the grain can all the time.  I stopped and let Frankie and Georgie have a taste of the corn which caused Billy to take note.  He wanted his share of that treat too.  He started following!  All the way to the new pen!  Wow!  Sometimes quiet and gentle beats foolery and force.  Lots less sweat too! Ha!


In honor of Memorial Day, thanks to all the veterans and people who serve in the military.  We would not be America today if not for their brave and selfless sacrifice.  And, as a former military spouse, I thank all the spouses too.  Their support and sacrifice makes lives easier for those who serve. Thank you all!


And, Happy 30th Birthday to our son, Sam.  Our love and prayers are always with you!

Here we are nearly at the end of May!  Wow!  The year is hitting it's half-way point.  

Yesterday afternoon we watched the eclipse through specialty cardboard glasses.  The shades were so dark it was like having a blindfold on except when you looked toward the sun.  It was fascinating watching the slow but steady progress of the black moon crossing over the blinding orange sun.  I heard that is not going to happen again here in my life time!  Glad I got to witness it.

As I said in my previous post, the cactus have been going crazy blooming since we had the rain.  My desert willow tree is also loaded with blooms.  I took lots of pictures to share.

Our weather has been about the best we get lately.  The only time I notice the wind is when it's NOT blowing cuz it just blows all the time.  We are not getting the monsoon thunderstorms in the afternoons yet.  There is just not enough humidity in the air.  It was about 10% yesterday.  Once the humidity goes up to about 50% and the wind changes to the right direction, the monsoon will come.  Usually not until about the 4th of July.

This morning I watched as 2 Gambel Quail crossed the back yard followed by about 10 little ones.  They are so cute and too fast to get a picture.  I did get a picture of the Gilded Flicker that has a nest in the top of our Saguaro Cactus.  I also saw a bright yellow Warbler sucking nectar from the Desert Willow flowers.  Our yard is overflowing with birds.  The swallows have completed their nest over the front door.  They will be hatching babies in a matter of weeks.


Steve and the grand kids caught 2 scorpions and a centipede.  They put them in jars for me to see.  Creeped me out!  Ugh!  It was fascinating to watch the big scorpion kill and eat the smaller one though.  Gruesome but fascinating!  The remaining scorpion is the biggest one we've seen around here and it is so fat we are wondering if it is full of eggs.  We have Bark's Scorpions.  They aren't very big as far as scorpions go, but they have the worst sting.  This one is probably a little over an inch long, not counting the nice tail with the wicked stinging barb at the end! Yikes!


The rattlesnakes are out too.  We've seen some on the roads but have not had any close encounters so far.  I pray that they avoid our little piece of desert this year.  My daughter saw a skunk cross the road.  The tarantulas don't usually show themselves til monsoon.  So much to look forward too! 


Enjoy the flowers!

Happy Mother's Day! 

On May 9th, we had our first big thunderstorm of the season with rain and hail.  Now all the cactus are blooming madly and are quite beautiful.  It is getting hot too.  We hit 100 degrees today.  Of course that temperature is the signal to start swimming again which we did today.  The water is still quite invigorating to say the least. 

On May 10th, we had the alpacas sheared for the year.  We had a new shearer this year, a young lady named Lacey and her helper from a neighboring farm, Melissa.  The ladies were fast and efficient, completing the 3 boys in just about one hour.  All the boys had fighting teeth removed again and Prince finally had his huge front teeth cut down to size.  He seems much more comfortable now.  

After the shearing all the alpacas seemed rather dazed.  They would not even come near me when I fed them the next morning! Ha!  Didn't trust me after that is my thought.  They are slowly coming around again.  Now that it is hot again they cannot stay away when they see me drag the hose over.  They love to get sprayed with a nice cool shower of cold water.

The girls, my daughters that is, a friend and I took a "girl's day out" and went to La Encantada Mall in northwest Tucson.  We ate lunch at an upscale restaurant.  Some of us had mahi mahi tacos and some of us ate salmon and fried spinach.  It was quite a treat.  After lunch we walked around the mall and checked out all the interesting shops and stores that we don't usually get to visit in our neighborhood shopping centers or Walmart. We visited Victoria's Secret, Cold Water Creek, Anthropology, Crate and Barrel and Williams-Sonoma to name a few.  The mall itself is different in that it is 2 stories and has a big outdoor courtyard with fountains and huge trees.  It is also high above Tucson and the views of the city from there are spectacular.  What a great Mother's Day treat for all of us!

Also this week I got through my yearly check up with flying colors.  I have to continue on a couple of medications but do not have to add any.  I hope to get a call from a dietician sometime in the coming week.  In spite of using my treadclimber faithfully, I am not losing weight so the doctor recommended the dietician.  He or she will probably tell me I am eating too much, but we shall see.  Sometimes getting older really sucks!

I got my workroom cleaned up and reorganized after purging stuff for the yard sale.  I have plenty of room now to get some sewing and writing done.  Hopefully this week I will feel motivated and get myself in gear.  Then again, the pool whispers to me...