First of all,
a truth for the ages:

Men Sweat.

(He drives the only car we have with A/C,
and he still comes home like this every day from work – at least, in the summer.
He doesn’t like being “cold”.
No, I do not understand him.
Yes, I still love him.)

~*~*~*~*~

 

Mum, finishing a book I had just started before she arrived,
but was happy to loan to her when she was looking about for something to read;
I had frankly gotten bogged down
in empathy for the protagonist,
and had to put it aside for a while anyway.
It is entitled:

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”
By Mark Haddon

It’s brilliantly written, and I *will* finish it… when I can.

~*~*~*~*~

 

Thursday, around 3pm,
as we were all busily getting ready for our bi-weekly shopping excursion,
I got a text message from my husband saying:
“Broke down, be home late.”

A flurry of consecutive messages ensued,
and I found out that
the car would not start when he came out of work,
so he went back inside and found someone to give him a jump start,
and then at around 7th Ave. and McDowell,
in the left hand lane,
it just died for good;
then I found out
the police were there;
he was waiting for the tow truck;
the tow truck had arrived;
and then,
they were on the way, and
would I please run to the ATM to get some cash to pay the tow truck guy.

I took a girl with me and made the mad dash 1 mile north to the nearest stand-alone ATM.
It was EMPTY!
Gahh! 
Frantically turned around and drove another mile and a half to the next nearest ATM,
in the Fry’s grocery store,
calling Paul to let him know the situation in case he arrived home before we did.

We did make it home in time,
and shortly thereafter,
the following pics were taken:

At this point,
we were just happy the mini-van was still workable,
since as you recall,
the suburban is up at the ranch, sitting on cinder blocks in the sandy soil,
awaiting many parts.

(P.S. — $300 and a few minutes of labor later and CEL is fixed. 
All it needed was a new alternator. 
And a new battery.)

~*~*~*~*~

 

Pics taken before leaving to do our shopping:

~*~*~*~*~

Tomorrow is shooting,
and also for Paul,
running around to junk yards trying to find parts for an ’84 Suburban
that no auto store can find anywhere to order for him.

~*~*~*~*~

 

I want to go to sleep
but the neighbors are playing EXTREMELY loud, driving, frenetic music.
It sounds kind of like the music you hear in movies during a chase scene through a Moroccan market.
And interspersed with the music,
there is some guy talking into a loudspeaker,
and sometimes it sounds like he’s a DJ,
and other times it sounds like he’s an evangelist.

 

So,
I’m driving home from church yesterday,
mom is riding shot-gun,
Paul is sitting in back with the kids goofing off,
tickling,
creating an uproar,
his typical M.O.
I hear the wails of The Boy, as he is being
subjected to the loving ministrations of both his dad AND a big sister,
and holler back threateningly,
“You people better not mess with my boy… if I have to pull over and stop this van you’re ALL going to be in trouble!”

And amidst raucous hoots and guffaws,
Laurent exclaims,

“Hey you guys, let’s make mom pull over!”

 

Sigh.

Nobody takes me seriously any more.

Some random pics from the last few days:

 

Saturday Snack:
Summer Sausage and Sharp Cheddar

 

Thursday Dessert:
Fresh Strawberries and Chocolate Covered Toffee Bites

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Rearranging the shelves in the kid-office

 

to make room for…

 

Oma’s new computer desk!!

 

Big up-side – this shelf hasn’t looked so tidy since we painted in the spring!

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Megan is always either drawing or writing in her novels…
she sketched these two likenesses of
favorite NCIS characters on
(of all things)
notepaper
this week:

“Ziva David”

 

“Abby Sciuto”

 

 

Wednesday evening
Mother Dearest flew in from Fargo
for a
3 week stay with
her favorite daughter.

With that deadline hanging over our heads,
and having just arrived home from
a 3.5 day ranch trip mid-day
Monday,
we were somewhat pressed to get
all our tidying up accomplished
in a timely manner.

Being awesome, however, has it’s plusses.
And one of my awesome daughters
did a simply spiffing job
completely rearranging the pantry and
cleaning/organizing all the shelves.
This, you must understand,
was a herculean
effort.
She deserves a medal.

I’m loving the new arrangement, the greater accessibility, and above all,
the fact that my YELLOW is not being hidden by shelves!

~*~*~*~*~

Mom was surprised and delighted to be greeted
at the airport by both Jeff and Koos!
They delivered her to our doorstep around 8:45, and
there was much rejoicing!

Mom with her Heidmann Grands!

While awaiting her arrival in the evening,

Laurent whipped up a fabulous
Italian snack of
chicken marinara and garlic parmesan breadsticks.

Let me know if you want the recipes.

You want the recipes.
I will post them.

 

Back home from our explorations,
we relaxed a while,

had one more conversation with neighbors,

 

and enjoyed the lengthening shadows across the valley.

 

 

 

Earlier in the afternoon
Jacob and Geneva had hauled these tumbleweed shrubs
that I hoed out of the parking area beside the van
over to the fire pit
for burning.

 

Getting things ready for supper,
these two became entangled in a mock disputation.

 

The enormity of the pile of tumbleweeds was somewhat daunting…

 

Megan and Jacob going at it hammer and tongs…

 

 

 

 

Having had enough of the cacophony,
the older two were sent on a walk down the driveway to close the gate.

 

The cacophony continued as they went…

 

At last, the weed burning began!

 

er… well…

 

….ummmm….

 

…eh…..

 

Al right, so maybe they were a little too green.

By next trip they will make for a dy-no-mite bonfire!!

 

♫ “I’m not touching you!!” ♫

Now there’s touching!

Hah!
Meg, the instigator, finally gets her comeuppance!

 

Roasting the dogs.

 

I think everyone was trying to stand in the smoke so as to escape the mosquitoes!

After hot dogs came a lot of tomfoolery around the fire:

and that would have been the end of my ranch pics…
except that,
after everyone but Megan and Jacob had settled into their sleeping bags for the night,
(including me with my CPAP on and all)
and the two of them were reading on their cots by the light of the
kerosene lantern sitting atop the wood-stove,
I heard a fluttering sound.
Of course I could see nothing without my glasses,
but when I reached for them,
I was enchanted,
and had to grab the camera.

This unidentified flying insect was immensely attracted to the flame.

Fluttering and throwing itself against the glass…

Occasionally sitting still enough for me to get a clear picture…

With the flash, the extraordinary design was revealed!

By lamplight, it remained mysterious and beautiful.

A lovely end to a great family vacation.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

A little snackin’
back at the cabin after our drive:

Boy with Watermelon.

 

Perfect summer food.

 

Getting on toward 4pm, the skies grew overcast again.

 

These high clouds weren’t terribly serious about raining on us,
but they did provide some relief from the sun.

 

Poor, sad, decrepit suburban.

 

Paul will have to go back up in a week or so,
with the remaining parts he couldn’t get this last time,
to do the final repair job.

 

Boy with stalk of grass.

 

Boxer lying in wet sand.
(Dogs are gross… when they aren’t trying to drink the drain water,
they want to roll in it.)

At long last,
Paul was back from all his errands,
and we all piled into the van again for an explore of
entirely new roads!

We went back to the railroad, and turned north instead of south,
toward the power plant.

We came upon this pretty little valley and had a short stop to look around.

 

The field was full of flowers.

 

A couple of miles further we came to the end of the line.

 

As we turned around by the gate,
the option of driving up this hill to see what lay round the bend was intriguing,
but ultimately rejected
due to the fact that it seemed likely we would need a
4wd to make any progress.

 

Looking to the south-east as we traveled back the way we came.

 

The view of the ranch across the tracks.

 

Shadows on the mountain.

 

Looking to the west, this beautiful vista appeared.

 

And from the same spot, looking south-west…

Finally we came back to the railroad crossing,
and Paul decided, much to everyone’s delight,
to turn south on the mystery road:

And so, bumping along on this little-used trail, we came to a decline,

 

and stopped to appreciate this view looking north.

 

A zoomed look at the same view – gorgeous colors!

 

We drove as far as we could without getting stuck,
and stopped to turn around by this cool tree.

 

 

Megan, racking up an even bigger lead in the photo-competition.

 

Beautiful ranch land to the south.

 

 

My young photographer….
I’m going to need to make her post some of those 400+ pics she took -
they’re better than mine!

 

Returning from our shooting venture,
I noted that Paul, Ron and Gene were behind the cabin,
working on a water delivery.

Hoping I could capture the essence of their
demeanor when deep in conversation,
I snuck up the hill around the other side of the cabin,
thinking surely they would be too
entrenched to notice me.

Apparently…

 

…I do not blend in to the scenery as well as I thought!

 

Back inside the cabin, there were readers cooling their jets.

 

All four of my children, noses in books.
I bring them up to the wilderness,
away from civilization and school and the danger of the neighborhood
so they can run, play and be free…
and what do they do?
Flake on the cots reading BOOKS!

“WHAT HAVE I DONE WRONNNNNNNG???!”

 

What keeps me breathing in the night…

The truth about the “reading on the cots” pic is that
since Paul was going to be busy for another few hours,
we were all killing time,
waiting for Megan’s camera to charge on the generator,
so that we could head out on another
photo/driving/exploration.

Once the green “charged” button lit up,
off we zoomed
(or should I say, rumbledy-bumbledy-bumped)
along the rock strewn, washboardy ranch roads, narrowly averting disastrous
encounters with sudden crevices and deep potholes
by traveling at ridiculously slow speeds.

Our three goals for this sojourn were

1. Driving practice for the girls
2. Gathering interesting ranch pics
3. Finding some of those delightful miniature sunflowers from which to gather seeds to sow at the ranch.

About four miles from our starting point, we had still not run into any of the particular flowers I wished to see along the roadside,
although to be sure there were many others;
but we did come to an old corral area that demanded our attention.

Just outside the corral were these lovelies:

 

 

 

 

 

This old watering area has clearly not been used as such in some time…

 

A very large tank.

 

The place was swarming with big, juicy dragonflies!

 

They were very animated and disinterested in posing for me.

 

The desire to climb the windmill
was somewhat dampened by a very precarious ladder,
and nobody ventured much higher than this.

 

Geneva could just barely see over the side on her tippytoes!

 

 

Jake by the tank.

 

Pretty green “weeds” by the base.

 

This intriguing contraption appeared to be part of the cattle loading chute.

 

These slanted bars close in or open wider when a lever on the side is moved.

 

Pretty flowers.

 

 

Jake in the chute.

 

These are very pretty, but they are
“not the droids flowers I’m looking for.”

Moving along after getting sunburned at the corral
(course it only takes me 10 minutes to get sunburned)
we continued along,
vainly searching for my prized petals,
until we reached the railroad.

Here you see….. the railroad.

 

The crossing sign.

 

This is the continuation of the road we were on, going west beyond the railroad crossing. 
We had never gone down that road,
and were mightily interested,
but somewhat apprehensive about going that way without Paul along.
So we took our wistful photos and let it be.

 

Turning to the left along the BNSF maintenance road,
we suddenly spied an entire field of flowers,
with a giant ant hill right in the middle.

 

I began my rather tricky search for flowers that were mature enough that I could collect some seeds.
The ant colony made such a task more challenging,
since no matter where one stepped among the flowers,
one was surrounded by large, busy ants
which were ferociously collecting seeds and hauling them back to their home.

 

Obviously I wanted to take pictures AND collect seeds while surrounded by so many beauties,
but the speed with which I needed to keep my feet moving,
plus the stiff wind,
made most of my pictures moot.
I nearly dumped this one, but Megan said it looked like a painting,
so I decided it was a keeper.

 

Prickly Pears!  There are very few cacti at that altitude,
but here and there we find these little fellas.

 

These power lines run along the railroad,
starting at the power plant and carrying power all the way down to the Valley.
Hooray for the Coronado Generating Station!!
However, we don’t like to hang out underneath them for too long,
so we finished up
(I did manage to collect a few seeds, by the way)
and headed back to the cabin.

 

The Boy, peeking over the bathroom wall.

 

Meg checking out her photos.
The little stinker was already beating my total by nearly 100 pics!

 

A five legged cricket.
You don’t see one of those every day.
It still had serious leaping power!

 

Can you guess what this is supposed to be?

 

Sunday morning was
booked solid for Paul, with several
hours of assisting the neighbors with various projects,
so I took the kids up to the
shooting range,
and
shot some pix
while they shot at the target!

 

 

 

 

 

Geneva awaiting her turn

 

Meg, waiting as well.

 

This is the larger of two target stands we have used.
When you hit the hanging target, it swings up 180°, and makes a very satisfying “tink” sound.
Thus, we call it
“The Tinker.”

 

Paul learned one day that there is a limit to the caliber bullet from which The Tinker will sustain a hit.
30-06 is more than it can handle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geneva, readying her rifle.

 

Geneva fussing around with her rifle some more…

 

 

 

 

Poor Geneva –
after much trouble
she finally discovered that these were the wrong bullets for her gun.

 

One of my favorite ranch plants.

 

 

Back at the ranch,
the heat of the day seemed a perfect opportunity
for Paul to build a little
character in
The boy.

Here Jacob is being instructed on the proper technique for hoeing weeds in the driveway.

 

Hoe those weeds, Jake!

 

A girl and her story binder are seldom parted.

The rest of us spent the heat of the afternoon lolling around the cabin with the cooler blowing.

Sissy Jupe,
who truly believes in her very large 8-year-old heart
that she is still a puppy,
nonetheless requires more naps than she used to.

 

Thoughtful…

 

Meg,
having discovered that being enrolled in Great Books means homework,
needed to spend some time
studying her Prometheus Bound for school…

 

Cookies.
An Essential Ranch Food.

 

Two Old West Gunslingers.

 

Condensation.

 

Reflection.

 

Trigger.

 

Husband.

 

Cricket.

 

Toes.

In the evening we had a beautiful time fellowshipping
with our neighbors, Ron & Sherry, and Gene from across the valley.
They brought their BBQ grill, some corn on the cob,
potato salad, baked beans,
water melon, and pumpkin pie,
and we provided the T-bones, fried mushrooms & sweet onions,
cole slaw, sodas, and tables.
It was absolutely grand.

I was having too good a time to take pics of our party,
until afterward, when we were sitting around
recovering from the repast,
and
the dogs were enjoying
their portions.

 

T-bones are high class eatin’ for our doggies!

 

Happy boxer!

 

My beautiful Sissy!

 

A little evening sunlight through the leaves.

 

Boy with Beetle.

 

 

Saturday morning we were up with the sun
(because that is what happens when you have sky lights)
and Megan fixed a delightful, tasty, and enormous batch of oatmeal.
“It’s ‘double the water‘ – not ‘double the oats’!”

Been there, doubled that… live and learn!

After brushing our teeth we locked the dogs up in the cabin and headed out for
our morning jaunt to Springerville.

As always, our first stop had to be the wetlands -
or
“The Swampy Place.”

Here are my pics of mostly plant life, some creepy-crawlies,
and a few humans thrown in for balance:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is one healthy looking grasshopper.
And there were thousands of them!
I observed that they have very pretty designs on their wings,
which can only be appreciated during flight.

 

 

 

 

Pretty Meg in a pretty field.

 

 

Geneva navigating the rocky edge of the creek.

 

So fascinating to watch this one consuming a flower petal!

 

He ate all the way down the length of one half of a petal,
and then went on to the next one.
There were several half-eaten petals on that flower.
Is there such a thing as grasshopper OCD?

 

 

 

 

 

Can you see her?

 

It’s Meg, beneath a very large tree!

 

 

These two were quite fascinated with a critter they found on the path…

 

This is the critter.  About 2 inches long… interesting!

 

Dad and the youngest two rascals.

From there we went on to the Western Drug Store,
spent time and money and fooled around
and enjoyed ourselves,
and managed to get home to the ranch in time for
a tasty lunch of cold cuts and cheese on rye.