It's time for monsoons!

It's been humid for a couple days and this morning the anvil type clouds started to build to the north.

And the southwest.

Within a few hours, we could see rain near the mountains.

Then on the mountain.

And now it's raining on the Pumpkin Patch Ranch! It's our first monsoon storm of the season and it smells so fresh and sweet and the thunder sounds great. We love this time of year.

Before the heavens opened up, we worked on the garden. Sam planted more seeds in a few empty buckets.

And installed climbing sticks made of native mesquite shoots around the tomatoes, cucumbers and squash. Mom came out to supervise.

Then Sam put up bird netting to protect our ripening tomatoes. Aren't they pretty?

We brought in our first cucumber last week and it tasted so fresh.

Isn't summer great? Sam has a mandatory week off before school starts again in July, so he's planning lots of projects, barbeques and a few adventures.

We hope you all have a great week!

Quiet days

We've had a quiet week, with the one exception of last Sunday evening at the Tucson Pops Orchestra Music Under the Stars concert with our friends, Paul and Gaye. That's Gaye on the far left, with her mom Thelma, sister Kit, me, Paul and Sam.

It's been years since I've been to these concerts in Reid Park, and it was a perfect evening!

Back on the ranch, Mom Vae takes a walk fairly early every day, to avoid the afternoon heat. Can you see her behind that bush? She often sits and looks at the sunlight and shadows on the hills and mountains. And keeps tabs on the neighbors.

I've been working on a project in our 5th wheel. The twenty year old cabinet latches were stiff and some were broken, so Sam bought new magnetic ones.

Sam installed the first one and showed me how he did it on the second one. Then on the third one, he showed me again and had me do it. I wrote down my directions and with a couple adjustments, I've done the whole kitchen. No one can say I'm a quick learner!

Only 9 more cabinet doors to go. Maybe I'll be done by next week. Have a great week, everyone!

Not much news

Our garden fared pretty well during  the two weeks we were gone on vacation. Most of the plants survived. But they're growing so slowly, Sam has been experimenting with adding nutrients in the form of compost and liquid additives.

We've harvested mostly lettuce, but also peppers and a few small okra. And the tiny turnips, which are dormant now in the hot season.

Sam is back to work several days a week washing, buffing and waxing his school bus. We also spent a Saturday morning helping his friend J.J. trim several mesquite trees. J.J. was Sam's bus driving trainer and is in his mid-70's, working on his third or fourth career!

Not much else has been going on. The morning temperatures here are surprisingly nice, in the 60's, and afternoons get a little warm, up to 97 or 98 degrees. Not bad for June.

I'll end with a few sightings in and around the ranch. This fine specimen crossed the road one day on our drive home. We hadn't seen cattle in a month or two.

Of course, we have dozens of lizards, but they're hard to capture in photos. I'm not sure what kind the striped one is, but the second is likely a Clark's Spiny Lizard.

Sam found this guy hanging on the window of our 5th wheel. He's over an inch in length and I can't believe all the detail on his legs and body.

We've recently spotted a little quail family of mom, dad and 5 or 6 babies, but they're even harder to photograph without a zoom lens. This is a little fuzzy, but can you see one parent and several smalls just right of center and left of the yucca blossom? So cute!

Of course, our predominant, constant native creatures during the heat of summer are the cicadas. There must be hundreds on the ranch, in mesquite trees and other bushes, and the sound of them means summer is in full swing.

Finally, our favorite native, Dingus Magee. He dealt with car travel by hiding any way he could!

Stay cool, everyone!

Our last few days of vacation

Like the cats, Sam would have been happy to relax in one place for a few more days. Jobs and responsibilities sure get in the way of fun!

But since we were still over 1,000 miles from home, we once again loaded Dingus and Frankie into the car and headed out. We have no idea how they both fit in one small carrier, but they seemed to enjoy it.

Our first destination was the town of Pawhuska in the ranchlands of northeastern Oklahoma. I was surprised at how green and pretty it is, although this was probably due to excessive rains earlier this month.

If you've watched The Pioneer Woman on Food Network or, like me, followed her blog for the past ten years (thepioneerwoman.com), you might recognize the Mercantile.

Ree (the "Pioneer Woman") and her rancher husband, Ladd, renovated the abandoned historic building a few years ago.

It's now a general store/tourist destination.

And includes a bakery and a deli. It seems to have transformed this sleepy little town.

So we did a little shopping.

Sam was drawn to the Dodge Power Wagon, recently renovated by a family friend.

The Drummonds have also opened a small hotel and an ice cream shop, which we had to try out, of course.

Overall, it's a nice little town and we were glad we stopped.

We did a quick overnight in a KOA camping cabin west of Oklahoma City, where we could hear the freeway, but overlooked a small lake. I would have been one unhappy camper if it was IN the truck stop, as it first appeared! Okay, I admit I WAS a cranky camper, but I got over it.

Our last day of driving included stopping at a prairie dog town in New Mexico. A few years ago, driving a semi truck, Sam drove past this corner every week and always saw prairie dogs popping up and down. I don't know if you can see the one sounding the alarm in the lower right corner of the photo.

We finally made it home to Pumpkin Patch Ranch last Sunday and greeted Mom, who was also happy to get home. A huge thanks to my brothers, Ben and Tim, and sister Becky for pitching in to take care of her!

For supper, Sam drove a little further to pick up a pizza, then suggested we sit on the porch to watch the sunset. God gave us quite a show!

It started with some nice color.

And quickly exploded into one of the best sunsets I can remember.

What a great welcome home! We had a great vacation, but we're so glad to be back at the ranch.

Tennessee to Arkansas

The cats were pretty happy to spend almost a week in one place. Actually, they would have been happy to stay in Georgia forever. But the time came to leave, so we loaded up the car and the cats and headed west.

Our first stop was Millington, Tennessee, northeast of Memphis. We had dinner with Sam's cousin Sam, who was in the Marines and flies his own plane (not this one, however).

Tennessee Sam offered us free accommodations at his air club, the highlights of which turned out to be: 1) free, 2) bathroom, 3) air conditioned. The negatives are perhaps obvious, and include the fact that it's a very old building, probably built in the 1950's, and a classroom used by Navy, Marine and air personnel for 60 years. But the best part was the new motion detector fluorescent lights that woke us up every time we rolled over on the mattress. Which fortunately only happened 6 or 8 times. We survived and were thankful for his generosity.

The next day we traversed the back roads to Bull Shoals and Flippin, Arkansas, home of Bull Shoals Lake, which is huge. So is the dam. In 1951, when it was built, it was the 5th largest dam in the world.

Our good friends from Tucson, Don and Linda, recently bought a wonderful house in Flippin, where Don grew up.

In his youth, Don spent several years as a river and fishing guide on the White River. So they took us out for dinner at a great old resort right on the water. This was the view from our table. Great fresh fish, too.
https://www.gastons.com/

Today, Linda and I had fun exploring their new yard where things grow without even being watered! So different from southern Arizona.

And they have a great view of Bull Shoals Lake, amazing even on a rainy day. So enjoyable that we decided to stay an extra day!