Life is good

Almost a month ago, we finally had a couple good rainstorms before the monsoon season ended.

The native seeds responded and we have a mini-spring all over again here on the ranch. These are fairy duster, one of my favorites.

With my "new" eyes, I can see the smallest flowers so much more clearly. My second cataract surgery went well and I find myself slowing down to enjoy the views and colors in every direction.

Even our few ocotillo plants (a succulent) leafed out nicely.

Mom Vae spent the weekend in town with Becky, so we had more time to work on projects. Sam showed off his muscles while installing new 2x6 boards in the deck.

We also took time for fun. Zearings Mercantile recently reopened in Benson, so we checked out the candy and curiosities. Many Benson natives fondly remember visiting Zearings as children, and we met a couple of them while we were there.

For Dingus and Frankie, life is always good.

However, 3 resident rats are no longer living the good life. Mom's car started chugging, so of course I called on Sam. He found wiring chewed up and seeds stashed in the engine compartment, nestled amongst the coils and fuel injectors (description and photos courtesy of Sam). Several hours later, the wiring is spliced and taped, seeds vacuumed clean, and a rodent deterrent installed. As you can see, the rats didn't fare so well.

Hope you have a better week!

A little surgery . . . really!

We've  been preoccupied with several things lately, and high on that list are cataract surgeries. Guess who needed that? Last Wednesday they fixed one eye, and this Wednesday the other (your prayers are appreciated). What an amazing procedure. I'm doing fine, our colorful world is so much brighter and I can see again!

Briefly, here's some other fun things you missed -- dinner with our group, to say goodbye to Paul and Gaye (center), who are moving to Maryland.

A visit with our friend Laura, who brought her brother Larry along. The peddle cars at Butterfield Overland Stage Days in Benson were a big hit with Larry, and he and Sam quickly became best friends for the day.

Work continues on the deck project, as well as Sam's buffing and polishing job, on the Hummer wheels this time.

Then there was the "Big Boy," the world's largest steam locomotive. Sam read about it months ago; it was recently renovated to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the golden rail spike which in 1869 joined the east and west railroads at Promontory, Utah. The huge engine is on a tour of the western states, coming through Tucson last week. Nona, J.J., Sam, and new bus driver, Becky, joined a huge crowd on Friday to see it.

Saturday morning in Mescal, Sam, Mom Vae and I staked out our spot just a mile or so from the ranch, where the engine and its train would come through on its way to Benson and points east. We waited an hour and a half with over 100 of our neighbors.

Finally, here it comes around the bend! Woot woot!

The excitement was definitely building.

Right up until we heard a freight train coming the other direction on the closer track. Nooooo!!

A glimpse between rail cars was all we could see. Can you believe it?!

Fortunately, Sam had walked down the track aways, where the Big Boy lumbered by unobscured by the other train. His camera malfunctioned, but he got a video and enjoyed seeing it in action.

In spite of the problems, it was a fun outing. I hope your week is going well!

The big project

With the cooler weather, we are finally getting to a big project we've been needing to do all year. First stop was Home Depot for supplies to refinish Mom Vae's deck/porch.

Not that it needs it or anything! This west end is especially rough, as it gets direct afternoon sun every day of the year.

First step is applying the paint stripper.

Then a couple hours later, Sam scrubbed the old stain off. This kind of work was easier when we were younger!

Then I washed off the stripper and the clumps of old stain and we let it dry overnight.

Sanding comes next. Sam borrowed a couple belt sanders, which are a great help. Thank you, Dennis and Jeff!

I fit under the deck, so I was nominated to remove the lattice. Fortunately, it's not as yucky under there as you might think.

I also reapplied more stripper on the spots that didn't come off the first time.

Mom has appointed herself supervisor, though she often says she wishes we weren't working so hard.

More sanding.

Sam also removed all 45 spindles, so we could paint them separately.

But first they have to be sanded. Surprise!

We're not nearly done with sanding.

Next, we apply a cleaner, wait 15 minutes, then scrub and rinse. After drying 24 hours, we did a little more hand sanding this morning, and were finally ready for deck coating. It's thick, goopy and has to be brushed and rolled on as fast as possible, especially in our dry southern Arizona climate. So I didn't take any photos!

We're thrilled that the first coat is done, with one more to go. Doesn't that look better? The posts, railings and spindles will be another color. Hopefully we'll get them done this weekend. At which point we'll be finished with the smaller half and ready to start the larger section!

To be continued...

Fall break

Sam has been on fall break, so we celebrated at a weekend barbeque with our good friend Kathie.

Sam was the chef, of course, and cooked chicken and okra on the grill. Kathie provided a yummy salad and her usual scintillating conversation. And her house. And the neighborhood BBQ grill.

Later that week Sam entertained Mom while I made my weekly visit to the laundromat. They discovered a rampaging dinosaur at Rattlesnake Ranch in Dragoon. Mom really enjoys Sam's sense of humor, and he's a great help to me.

Last weekend we drove up to the mountains, where Dennis and Lucy (see our post last week) loaned us their Heart House on the edge of Show Low. They work with Apache women and young people on the nearby Whiteriver reservation and also work with churches in the area.

We had some relaxing time on the porch and walked in the forest.

We drove around beautiful Fool Hollow Lake, which brought back good memories for Mom of camping there with my Dad Ben, who died 5 years ago.

Deep in the forest, we had no cell phone signal, so we got our cyber fix at cafes with wifi.

Sam was thrilled to find out it was the weekend of the Run to the Pines Car Show, which started with a cavalcade of cars led by a vintage fire truck.

They just kept coming for an hour or two.

You'll see this one again later.

All sizes and shapes, and all beautifully restored.

The next day was nice and sunny, so we spent an enjoyable hour or two walking around the actual car show at Pinetop Country Club.

Mom especially enjoyed the 1930s to 1950s models, which reminded her of her childhood. Anything later and she said, "That's not old!"

Sam made a new friend (surprise!) of a former owner of an auto body shop who transformed this 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne from a 4-door to a 2-door. (See previous photo.) How do you even do that?!?

Sam wanted you all to see this old bus restored into an awesome motorhome. It's for sale, so it could be your new RV for only $65,000.

The next day we took another side trip down memory lane to Snowflake, where my parents lived in the 1970s when they built a youth camp outside town. My Dad designed and built two houses in his lifetime, and this was the second, a saltbox style.

We were able to tour the interior, which brought back a lot of memories for Mom. We're happy to see it's still in pretty good shape.

Our long weekend soon came to an end and we had to bid goodbye to the pines.

Time to hit the road...

With some beautiful scenery along the way.

We drove through Salt River Canyon at sunset. What a spectacular place.

But we were all happy to wake up the next morning to a sunrise on Pumpkin Patch Ranch. Have a great week, everyone!