Oh deer!

Untrimmed mesquites vs trimmed mesquites. Kind of hard to make a case for the bushy look when you can see the difference right in front of your eyes. It does require some weed pulling too. Hi Ho Hi Ho. . .

Anyone can see that a blue fountain is much nicer than a regular old stone insides fountain. Note the pruned pomegranate bush growing into a tree on the right side.

I went out to trim Mesquites this morning and I came face to face with a deer--a doe actually. Unfortunately I had a saw and a pair of clippers in my hands rather than a camera, so no picture. But, on the other hand, fortunately for me, those were just the tools I needed to trim up the mesquites which are constantly trying to grow into bushes, and which I am constantly trying to reshape into trees. Kind of like life isn't it. I can just get so comfortable in my little bushy world, but no--we have to keep growing up into something bigger and better. Enough tree philosophy. Chao, chao.

Painting

I started painting the fountain this morning. Whew! That's a job. Well not horrible, but hot and sweaty. (I had to let all the cool water out to even get started!) Don't worry--I am not painting the entire beautiful cantera stone fountain blue--just the cement floor and the walls on the inside up to the water line, swimming pool paint blue. I think it will help preserve the stone and it will look nice too. I have to go out and paint the sides in awhile. That must be why I am sitting here blogging!

Tender Mercies

Sleeping at Megan's

I am reminded again and again that God is mindful of us even in the small details of our lives. Last week late in the evening I was sitting on the bed reading a book and Mike was watching TV. I looked up at Mike and noticed that his face was flushed, I mean dark red flushed. I asked him if he felt alright and he said that he felt a little dizzy. I felt his face and he was HOT. Then I took his blood pressure and it was through the roof--197 over 110. He doesn't have blood pressure like that. So while I am fussing around and worrying he asks me to look up the drug interactions of 2 medicines that he takes. Lo and behold, these two meds have a negative interaction leading to high blood pressure, rapid heart beat, tachycardia, fever, etc etc. and can be fatal.

FATAL is not a good word. Mike took blood pressure medicine and went to sleep and in the morning I called the VA and left a message for his doctor. Three phone calls later from the pharmacist and one call later from his primary care dr. no one could figure out who or how or why he had been prescribed this combination. The next morning the dr in charge of the clinic called at 8:00 AM and asked if Mike could come in and see him right away. Well, the doc had all the symptoms and complications printed out for the syndrome caused by the 2 meds. He was very accomodating. Incredibly accommodating in fact!! He acknowledged that the interaction between the 2 drugs could be quite serious. (To which Mike replied that FATAL certainly seemed to fall into that category) He dropped the offending drug. Everyone was happy. Except that it took several days for the side effects to clear the system.

I asked Mike why he had me look up those two specific drugs, and he said that he had seen an ad that afternoon on TV that mentioned the danger of taking Imitrex (one of the 2 meds) with certain other medications. I have never seen that ad before or since. But it was there when we needed to know.

Hen's Eggs

Isn't this a cool plant? Not surprisingly it is called the Hen's Egg plant. I have a friend who works every day in her garden. She has a big piece of land and the whole place is cultivated. It looks like an oasis in the desert. She lives down the hill and speaks only Spanish. I visit her once in awhile and trade her my black plastic pots for plants. It is always a surprise what I will bring home. But this was completely unexpected. The fruit looks and feels like an egg. But it's not edible. Oh well. Nothings perfect! Have a great day.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring. . . .

Is this my favorite view or what? I must have 100 pictures facing this direction!!

I woke up this morning to the rumble of thunder and the sound of steady rain. The hurricanes on the Pacific side of Mexico ( as if Mexico had a pacific side!) spin rain up to us here in Southern Arizona. And if you live in a desert that is wonderful. So the plants keep growing, everything looks good, and it is the most relaxing sound in the world early in the morning. Have a great day

6 word sentences

The preying mantis lays her eggs:

Janelle gave Mike a book for his birthday. It contained only 6 word sentences. We found it again yesterday. Oh my. You can't imagine what happened. We had to write a thank you note:

Hi Janelle, this is your sis.

We cleaned the bookroom yesterday afternoon.

Mike found his sixtieth birthday book.

He read it again, every word.

All our converstions have six words.

It's so great to be sixty!

You should only use five . . .

That's what 50 is like.

But, you'll never see 50 again.

Life keeps getting better and better.

Does your body ache all over?

Oh, it will--I Promise you.

Soon you'll need large print documents.

Bifocals may soon follow; so sorry.

Hair color fades, facial hair sprouts.

And your hearing? What about that?

Well, we've had lots of fun.

Now I will give the message:

In just 25 words or less:

“These things are important: temple marriage,

mission, college. Press on, set goals,

write history, take pictures twice a year.”

Hope you all enjoyed General Conference!!

Enough already. Have a great night.
Mike and Karen

Where have we been?

Just a week ago we left Rio Rico and drove to Tempe, where we spent the night at Charlie's house. He is in the middle of remodeling the house he just bought--making 2 bedrooms into a master bedroom with walk in closet and larger bathroom. A Project. But great.

We then drove up to Flagstaff to Megan's and planned to go from there to Salt Lake City to our neice Lauren Spence's wedding. But, after driving around Flag for a couple of days a sensor came on on the dashboard of the car. What to do??? We called on-star, they ran a diagnostic, and said that we definitely should not drive all the way up to SLC. We needed to take the car into the dealer.

So here we are back on the border. The car is fixed, the trip is off. But we spent all afternoon in the book room, moving books around, reading, relaxing. . . and I filled a big box with books we don't want or need. I only need to fill about ten more boxes and we'll be able to fit all the books on the shelves. Hmmm.

Spending the day in the book room is like a mini-vacation. We are in a different building. There is no phone, no TV, comfy furniture. We'll have to go on a vacation like that again tomorrow!!

If we don't answer the phone, just leave us a message!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!!

Yes, it's true. Today is Megan's birthday and she is as wonderful as ever. Happy Birthday to you.