HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM

Mustard planted in hills for flood irrigating

Mustard in flower

Abandoned Doll Shop at a cross roads several miles south of Florence

Behind South Butte

Ocotillo flower

Behind South Butte

The rocky road

South Butte on the right

Martinez Canyon

My Mother is 82 today and again I am far away on her birthday. That is what happens with our chosen lifestyle though. Wendy has her school chum, Brenda and husband John, visiting for a couple days. We were halfway through eight handed Mexican Train last night when the company arrived so had to finish with six players. It didn’t change the outcome though. Jacquie was the clear winner followed by Eleanor. Jim and I were the worst by far. We had been to the ATV club potluck last night for supper and there was no lack of food, no snacks needed during the game. I had a couple good rides last week. I’ve been combining hiking with the rides by going for a stiff hike most lunch times and some long breaks. It’s getting harder for me to be introduced to new areas as I seem to have been to most of the good spots, but they did surprise me on Saturday by going into a neat area behind the South Butte. The desert is greening up rapidly after all the recent rain and I imagine the flower display will be incredible after we have gone back north, sniff, sniff!

Our weather continues to be on the cooler than normal side. Randy heard yesterday that we are 7 degrees below normal on average. We are getting considerable precipitation this year and even our sunny days haven’t been all that warm for the most part. In fact our sunny days only last a few days then another front comes through to cool us off again. Saturday was a gorgeous day and we had to keep peeling clothes off on the ATV ride. Sunday morning we were awakened just after 5 AM by thunder and pounding rain.

I made a couple of 13x19 prints which turned out pretty good then dug out my matting supplies and cut mats for them. Mitzy and I have been taking some fairly long walks in the desert lately and yesterday’s was the longest at an hour and a half. We were both dragging butt when we returned.

One day last week we took Eleanor and Ron for a drive to Arizona City then Casa Grande to pick up some cat food for Sophie and plywood for Jim who is taking out the motor home carpet and installing tile. Then we went to the Golden Corral Buffet. It’s quite large and Eleanor and Ron were both impressed. Last Friday evening we went to a new café for supper with friends Ken and Marie. They served really good sweet potato fries. Later we played Aggravation which the ladies won two out of three games. They did that to us last time, too.

Today is the AGM here at Caliente and we are abandoning ship. I got smart this year and voted last week in the advance poll so I don’t have to sit through all the verbal garbage we heard last year. I don’t enjoy politics at all. We are instead going to Chandler to find Aileen’s preferred face cream then to Mesa to the Canadian Snowbirds Convention. After that, we plan to go to Superstition Market for fresh veggies. Marie is going to dogsit Mitzy for us. I guess I will be the dogsitter tomorrow as Aileen and Marie are going to Casa Grande while Ken goes to the casino on the bus.