The three of us

At the moment, Pumpkin Patch Ranch is three people: Sam, mom Virginia, and me. Two of us are a little wacky sometimes. 

They like to entertain each other. While I'm doing laundry in Benson, Sam often takes Ma on errands or to lunch. This makes for a much more peaceful day for me, and I'm so grateful to him.

This summer, Mom walks in the early morning or evening, though she doesn't go as often as she used to. It's something she can do on her own, but we make sure she comes back safely.

Sam continues to work on the "hole to China," the dry well for our new washing machine. He digs and digs, usually in the heat, and it still isn't deep enough. 

Then he sucks up the loose dirt with the shop vac, dumping it out every so often. This story will continue . . .

In other news, Sam has an exciting new toy! It's a 1976 International Loadstar 1700 with a big service bed and all kinds of fun and vintage additions. And it runs! Do any of you have a one ton pickup? Well, this baby is a 7 ton truck! It will arrive at the ranch within the next week. 

Meanwhile, I had a little excitement, too. I signed up for a painting class! We started with blobs of acrylic paint. 

And a super nice instructor. 

And ended with . . . well, a not too terrible painting. Most important, it was fun! I've always wanted to try painting, so although I have a long ways to go, I hope to get better someday soon. 

In an update on our garden, the sunflowers got big and beautiful. They were loosely my inspiration for the above painting.

From the garden, we've had many salads and sauteed vegetables to add to our meals, and have really enjoyed the fresh veggies. On the flip side, the tomato plants were pretty much decimated by bugs and we haven't made salsa even once.

But we harvested 63 jalapenos one morning, which Sam shared with his new coworkers. They were so pretty!

And we grill okra once or twice a week, which we love. Mom isn't so thrilled, but we've learned how to disguise it on her plate!

Speaking of Mom, I keep forgetting to mention her favorite front yard visitors. These rabbits feed and frolic in pairs every morning and evening, right outside her dining room window, and she loves to watch them. 

Monsoons often bring wonderful sunsets, but I had never seen anything this intense until a week or so ago.

The man and rancher contemplates the coming storm. 

It was pretty spectacular. 

After it was over, he captured these beautiful clouds and rainbow. Wow!

Thanks for coming along on our journey.