Happy 100th Birthday

Today is Tumacacori National Historical Park's 100th birthday. We went over to the ceremony to eat good tortillas and enjoy the festivities. We also went to take a look at the newly built museum with a new mural on the wall. The mural is about 8 feet high and about 15 feet long and curves around the wall. Very nice. It depicts the jesuit missionary expulsion from Matape, Sonora. No one knew what the church in Matape looked like, or even exactly where Matape was, when the artist was ready to begin the project 3 years ago. So Martin, Steven, Graham and I jumped into the car and went exploring, finding the town of Matape, other historically interesting sites, some new insects, and incredibly bad roads. We photographed the church inside and out and the artist used our photos in his recreation of history. We were introduced this morning as the photographers. I am sure both Steven and Graham remember taking some of the photos, as well as pushing the car in pouring rain and deep mud. I wish they could have been there today to see their handiwork! This is a small version of the mural (above.) Michael, I think would have enjoyed seeing everyone as well--he worked at the park for awhile. (We said hello for you to one and all!)

For pet lovers everywhere

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'

'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered.

'Wow! Would you happen to have some water?' the man asked.

'Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up.'

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

'Can my friend,' gesturing toward his dog, 'come in, too?' the traveler asked.

'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.

As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

'Excuse me!' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'

'Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in.'

'How about my friend here?' the traveler gestured to the dog.

'There should be a bowl by the pump.'

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

'What do you call this place?' the traveler asked.

'This is Heaven,' he answered.

'Well, that's confusing,' the traveler said. 'The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.'

'Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell.'

'Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?'

'No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'

Karne, Karne quite contrary, How does your garden grow?

Does that look peachy or what? We have been eating peaches for weeks, drinking peachy, icey drinks, eating peachy warm desserts. I am afraid we are coming to the end of the peach season. Who knows though, if the rain keeps up atnight and the sun stays warm in the day we could be eating peaches all year!

Isn't it great what the rain will do for a garden?? Plants are growing everywhere, across the yard, up the wall . . .

A giant gourd plant is growing across the yard and up into the mesquite tree. Mostly it is giant plant. I am waiting for the giant gourds to grow up and hang like mesquite fruit from the branches. Like I said, if the rain keeps falling and the sun keeps shining . . . there is no telling what might grow!!

odds n ends

Mike's sister Charlene and her husband Brad came to visit. Now they're gone. We hadn't seen them for a long time. We caught up on what the kids are all doing, visited Tombstone and stood in the exact spot where Morgan Earpp died on a pool table. Took the mandatory walk across the border and back. Brad broke his leg badly when he was hit by a car some time back. But he limped around with the rest of us gimps. So a good time was had by all.

Weeds, weeds everywhere

It rained a little yesterday. So taking advantage of the damp earth I pulled weeds on the front hill this morning early, before the sun was really up and the heat of the day came upon me. I think I am about 2/3 of the way to the edge of the wall. Who could believe what a lot of work weeds can be. Now all the weeds that I pulled inside the yard are trying to grow back. I have to snatch them up whenever I go by. But, my pumpkins are growing, the giant gourds are beginning to form, there are tomatoes on our plants, and tiny bell peppers on my enormous pepper plant--The plant put all its energy into leaves for the first 4 months of its life. Luckily we have a long growing season. (Unluckily when it comes to weeds.) Oh well.

How do you move a tortoise?

Did you know that tortoises are very territorial? They like their own space. They measure out their own space, pace it off, and defend it from intruders. Yes, the Tortoise Wars are real. But, when you move or decide to send the tortoises off on vacation, say to Disneyland, they become very disoriented.
When we brought Fred and Wilma home it took them a year to pace off the backyard and really feel at home. It took them a year to mate even. I mean that is disorientation. Unfortunately Wilma died before we moved down here. We added 5 more tortoises to Fred's area to keep him company--including 2 females--but he has never recovered. He hates all the intrusive tortoises who are trying to share his space. And he weighs over a hundred pounds. . .
Oh well. After five years here I thought he would adjust. Do you know a tortoise therapist?

My how time flies!!

We are back in Rio Rico. We left Flagstaff on Tuesday morning at the same time that Megan left for class. It is gorgeous here as always. We stopped in Phoenix and had lunch with Charlie, then stopped in Tucson to see Graham and Elysse before finally arriving home.

I was soooo tired today. I don't know why. But I couldn't even sit down and read a page without falling asleep. I did figure out how to make our old scanner work and scan our negatives from the last 20 years of vacations--No, that will not be a one day job, but I was really excited to see how well it works. The monsoons are still with us thanks to the constantly recurring hurricanes. And my pumpkins are growing big, my peaches are turning peachy, I actually love it. That's all from here--Have a wonderful day.