Summer 2009

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .

In July, 2009, with the help of our friends, Richard and Dianna, we installed metal fascia covering on the well house. (As always, I’m using “we” in a very loose sense here. You see who’s doing the work.) We could have painted the beams, but the fascia covers are way more durable and long-lasting on the parts of wood most exposed to wind, rain and storms.

You just slide the covers under the metal trim and nail them down. Richard is a building contractor and recommended this method. He has been a big help and a sounding board for Sam.

For the last couple of years, Richard and Dianna hoped to buy part of our ranch and become our neighbors, but recently their plans may have changed. We would love to have them as neighbors, but we know sometimes things change in life, and we know God is in charge, whatever happens.

A few months later, in September, we spent a weekend painting and closing in the eaves.

We cut long strips of pressboard, which I painted the same color as the fascia coverings.

These were to cover the exposed beams under the eaves. We also installed vents, to allow a little airflow in and out of the building, and Sam used a foam sealer around all the seams and holes.

For the gable ends, we chose a nice bright shade of green. I used to be afraid to use bright colors, but I’m tired of being boring! For now, we’re going to leave the blocks their natural gray color. Having grown up with painted block walls, I know how the paint flakes, chips and fades after a few years. Stucco would be nice, but for a well house, it’s probably not worth the extra effort, time and money.

Our final project that weekend was to evict several families of mice who had taken up residence in the well house over the previous year. We had to drag almost everything stored in the building out onto the dirt driveway – 5 shelf units (4 shelves each) covered with building materials and boxes of stuff, furniture, lawn chairs, just tons of stuff. Much of it had to be vacuumed out and washed of mouse droppings or shredded paper nests. What fun! Sam wanted to kill every mouse he could find, but I voted for letting them run free into the desert to find new homes.

Sam propped the huge water storage tank up on blocks, then washed down the floor with bleach and water, which made the inside smell nice and fresh again. This took most of the day, and we barely got everything cleaned and reinstalled before a late monsoon storm hit.

We spent that night sleeping on our air mattress on the floor of the newly cleaned well house, intending to close off the last few inches of open eaves the following day. At 3 a.m., we woke up to high-pitched squeaks and beady eyes peering at us from the top of the block walls. Sam’s loose translation of mouse-speak was, “Hey, guys, they cleaned the whole condo, it’s time to move back in!” For the next hour, we attempted to get back to sleep, while watching these amazing mice flatten themselves against the block walls and run straight up and down them, no problem. Sam agreed to buy mousetraps at Walmart in the morning, and I no longer had any opposition to that. Around 4 a.m., I mumbled to Sam, “Is that Walmart in Benson open 24 hours?” Within 5 minutes we were on our way, and Sam bought 4 mousetraps, a jar of peanut butter and a box of plastic spoons. (I was asleep in the car). As he paid, the checkout lady looked puzzled at his choice of items. Sam’s southern drawl kicked in, “My bride thought the mice were cute . . . until they came back!”

In the year since, we’ve found only small lizards and harmless grandaddy-long-leg spiders inside the well house, and we can live with those. The lizards eat whatever other bugs may be around.

Back at the ranch, after the storm of the night before, the morning air was clean and beautiful. This is our view looking northwest from the well house.

And this is our view looking northeast, toward the spot where we hope to build our house, just beyond the electric post.

Sam and Jan’s International Vacation – July 2010

As you can see, we packed light for our international vacation this summer. The first leg of our trip took us to the Atlanta airport, where Sam juggled this nice little piece of luggage.

Next stop was Dublin. What a lot of green! What cute little towns and quaint old buildings! Our plans also included stops in Rome, Athens and Cairo.

More green. Wait a minute. Kudzu? In Ireland? Well, actually we were in Georgia . . . Dublin, Georgia. If we’d made it to Rome, Athens and Cairo, we would still have been in Georgia. Who knew it could be so exciting?

We spent the first week with Sam’s sister Faye, her husband John and son Carl. Faye was celebrating a milestone birthday (which I’m not at liberty to disclose). We forgot our camera, and it took us a week to consistently remember we could use Sam’s Blackberry phone. So . . . no pictures of the beautiful birthday girl!

One of Sam’s old haunts is Fincher’s Barbeque in Macon, GA. On our first visit (of 3), our waitress was Hadley, which prompted speculation on the lack of child labor laws in the South. However, Hadley’s proficient and professional service was a highlight of our meal. We also got to know her dad Jake and grandmother, Mrs. Fincher, current owners of the historic restaurants. Fincher's Barbecue Restaurants

We visited the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base, where many of Sam’s family have worked since the 1980’s. For years, Sam has kidded me about my job at the county courthouse in Holbrook, AZ, and the fact that it’s now a museum (therefore I must be old). Revenge was sweet when Sam pointed out plane after plane in the air museum, saying “I used to work on this one, and on that one…”.

It’s quite a collection of planes and history.

Our friends, Vic and Bobbie (you'll see them later), took us to Juliette, Georgia, where the movie, “Fried Green Tomatoes” was filmed. We had lunch at the Whistle Stop Café, which looks much the same as in the movie, complete with ceiling fans and no air conditioning. It was 91 degrees inside, faintly cooler than outside, and humid of course. Iced sweet tea never tasted so good.

A few days later, we hit the road! Problem is, what road should we take? Every road has multiple numbers, and the signs never quite matched the numbers on the map.

Somehow we found our way toward the coast and spent an afternoon in Savannah. I’ve long wanted to visit this beautiful city, where the Spanish moss hangs from the trees and historic old buildings have stood for 250 years.

The Savannah Cotton Exchange sits above the Savannah River, among old warehouses turned into shops and restaurants. Cotton was evidently a major factor in the city’s prosperity in the 1800’s.

As we continued down the coast, we got a hankerin’ to see the Atlantic Ocean, so we took a side trip to St. Simons Island. We found more trees draped with Spanish moss, surrounding old and new summer estates. Fortunately, the shores and beaches are public.

The next morning we got out early, to spend the cool part of the day at Okefenokee Swamp. Of course, with humidity of 98 percent and high temperatures of the same, “cool” is relative. But we had a lot of fun touring the park by boat, train and on foot.

Alligators were large and everywhere.

So were spiders. And snakes. All in all, I had a great time on my first visit to a swamp!

A few days later we convinced Vic and Bobbie to join us on another road trip. First stop was Stone Mountain, east of Atlanta. It’s the largest exposed piece of granite in the world. The Confederate Memorial carved on the side is larger than Mount Rushmore and was begun by the same artist.

Our first adventure was a hike to the top, quite an accomplishment in the heat. Our trip back down involved dangling by cables as the gondola dropped over the edge. We rode the train around the bottom, then checked out the park attractions. The 4D movie was great (my first 3D/4D experience). We also tried out a climbing adventure course, ate lunch and wandered the shops.

Next stop was Chattanooga, Tennessee, just over Georgia’s northern border. We spent the morning at picturesque Rock City Gardens, on top of Lookout Mountain. Panoramic views of 7 states, but the trails taking you to the views were my favorite.

The paths wind up and down through massive rock formations, overgrown with native plants, over old stone bridges and through caves. It’s the kind of early 20th century charm that we love.

After a wonderful lunch at Mount Vernon Restaurant (Dennis' cousin’s place) we spent the afternoon and evening in downtown Chattanooga. Utilizing the public art, Vic and Bobbie demonstrated their dating days, when Vic would watch old movies and Bobbie nodded off.

More public art, and a rescue in process. Sam and Vic have known each other since grade school, with the dubious distinction of having been thrown out of the school library every time they were together. Not much has changed. It’s a wonder Bobbie and I didn’t throw them out of the car on this trip.

On the way home, we took back roads through the southern edge of the Smoky Mountains. We ate lunch in Helen, Georgia, overlooking the Chattahoochee River, with streams of tubing tourists floating by. Actually, the young and thin ones float, but the old and chubby ones tend to drag bottom. Within an hour, we figured out which group we were in and decided not to go tubing.

Helen is a cute Bavarian tourist town off the beaten path, and made a fun end to another great vacation!

Dingus Update

Dingus Magee is growing like a weed. This is what he looked like almost 2 months ago.

Sam took him on his first walk, with a harness and leash. Across the street and back took 10 minutes. Since then, we take him out on the patio once or twice a week, and he’s only escaped the harness once when I didn’t have my eye right on him.

The top of my recliner is his favorite place to sleep, even (or especially) when I’m sitting in it. I feel little paws on the back of my head, and eventually his head will come down over my shoulder and he’ll end up in my lap.

“We” have had to learn that the cursor on the computer screen is not a bug or a toy to play with. Sam is thrilled that, after 3 cats in the past 7 years who ignored the laser pointer, he finally has one who loves to chase the little red light as it scampers around the room. It’s a good way to wear him out! (Dingus, that is. Sam just reclines in his chair and chuckles.)

Of course, some of the best toys are free. He had hours of fun with the paper sack. Pumpkin even played with him for awhile.

Dingus continues to torment Pumpkin, but discipline has slowed him down some. This is how it starts. He just cannot resist Pumpkin’s tail.

Pumpkin tries to warn him and get him to back off.

But things quickly escalate. Sam calls this the "Ninja" move. There’s a short spat, which doesn’t faze Dingus at all, then further rumblings from Pumpkin until Sam or I swat Dingus and say “No”. Fortunately, he’s good at playing by himself, too.

He’s over 4 months old now. The appropriate boy-parts will be removed by the vet next week, so we’re hoping things will calm down after that.

Our beautiful big boy.

Lizards & Things

As long as we’re talking about animals, I’ll show you some of the reptiles we have seen out at the ranch. Not as cuddly as kittens, but we do like reptiles! Sorry, we’re strange that way. Remember we visited Reptile Gardens in South Dakota last summer!

As I mentioned earlier, Sam was building the block walls in December, 2007. He mixed the mortar by shoveling sand and cement into the wheelbarrow and adding water. One afternoon, a shovel-full of sand landed in the wheelbarrow and continued to wriggle.

This big boy had been hibernating in the sandpile and was sleepy enough that he hung around awhile. Sam later discovered that he’s called a Clark’s Spiny Lizard.

Before returning him to his winter burrow or sand cave, Sam officially and properly recorded his length as 8 or 9 inches.

Off and on during the next year, we would see him (or a relative) roaming the well house walls or scurrying through the weeds.

In August, 2008, Sam renewed his friendship with Mr. Spiny and a distant smaller cousin. Sam swears the big lizard recognized him as a friend!

New Member of the Family

Sam and I have a new member of the family! His name is Dingus Magee (Dingus for short). He's 12 weeks old, with a lot of playful energy, but he's also a sweetheart.

Everything's a toy to Dingus, and every possible minute is playtime. Feet and ankles are frequently attacked. Fortunately, his birth home taught him the word, "No", and he's also litter box trained!

Pumpkin has been less-than-amused from the start, but Dingus follows her around, attacking and trying to get her to play. Pumpkin is spending a lot of time in places that Dingus can't yet reach, such as the top of the bedroom dresser.

Dingus lies in wait...

But the two are getting along better all the time. We're certain they will be best friends ... once Dingus grows up and settles down a bit. At least Pumpkin is no longer bored!

We hope to post more pictures in the coming weeks.