it's just not something you see every day

When I first decided I would feature a post about my adventurous day I had last friday, I thought I would title it, appropriately enough..."what I did on friday." It was all about finding an estate sale out in the boonies and scoring a deal on some vintage jewelry, a great carved wooden box, a few table linens and a stack of old blank western union telegram paper. I was there late enough to hit the half price sale, getting all the above mentioned items for 15.00. Such a deal! After leaving the estate sale I wandered into the Carefree Plaza to check out the farmers market. I went home with a loaf of yummy homemade bread, apricot jam, salsa, cookies and fresh oranges. The farmers market runs from October through May, once again "seasonal confusion" messing with my brain. We enjoyed the bountiful goodness all weekend.

While I was out driving to the estate sale I passed this sign:

So you see, I was still going to title the post "what I did on friday" and include the pictures of the finds from the sale and the goodies from the farmers market. Then I was going to end it with that warning sign and a simple "that's not something you see every day." But then something happened to change my mind.

Keep reading. This is a long one but a good one.

Tonight, we had Chuck's Aunt and Uncle over for dinner. They came late in the afternoon and we went out in the yard to show them around. We pointed out the spot where we had put up our bird feeder and told of all the feathered friends that have been flocking to the feeder and emptying it out daily. Cardinals, doves and song birds, to name a few. The women went back into the house to finish dinner preparations while the men folk stayed outside. A little while later Chuck came running in to get the camera. He wouldn't tell me what he was going to take pictures of he just said "I'll show you in a minute".

Well...guess what other kind of friends like bird seed leftovers!

They're javelinas people!

Four big one's and two babies.

IN OUR YARD!

With beady eyes and long hairy snouts!

Running down our driveway!

Because said men folk* chased them away.....

by throwing a basketball at them!

Imagine my horror when they showed me the pictures.

"IN OUR YARD!"

Do you hear me?

*That basketball chucking man folk is wishing he hadn't sold his bow and arrow in our Montrose yard sale.

thursday night special

Amazing sunset. From the yard. Enough said.

the Saguaro cactus

pronounced: sah-wah-ro

It is the largest American cactus.

It's bloom is the official state flower.

It only blooms April through May and only at night.

It only blooms when it reaches 40 years old.

It takes 75 years to develop a side arm.

Starting from a small black seed it takes 10 years to grow to one inch tall.

When houses or highways are built special permits must be obtained to move them.

It is against the law to willfully harm them.

They are native to the Sonoran Desert.

Inside the full grown cactus there are two inch spines that absorb water.

It can hold about a ton of water.

They can live to be 200 years old.

They can weigh as much as 6 tons.
They look pretty majestic with the sunset behind them.

These photos were taken in our yard.

Don't you feel smarter now?

shadow art

I always loved the sun that would stream in the kitchen windows in our old blue house. Leah captured me signing my feelings on one of the sunny yellow walls the day before we moved. A very good memory.

more on the rain

Chuck said he was starting to see animals lining up, two by two, at the end of our street.

It rained from 3 am Thursday morning until about midnight Thursday night. They are reporting 3.8 inches in this area. The wind was crazy too. So windy that the Phoenix airport grounded flights in the afternoon. We were even put on a tornado alert which eventually became a watch. The rain was pounding so hard and the wind howling so loudly that the girls and I camped out in the bathroom for about 20 minutes until the watch was lifted.

Excuse me...I thought we moved to the desert!

The girls did go to school late in the morning. It was not an official day off, however, attendance was very low. Rachel actually wanted to go to school. Leah did not. Being ever practical, Leah thought it would be a waste of time. "No one will be there and it will be just lame." Perhaps she was right but we thought they should go. Chuck had found an alternate route taking them over the wash rather than through it. So off they went, less than enthusiastic at best.

Some time after lunch I received a text message from Leah. Nothing in the subject line...just the following photo...

This was the attendance level in her Spanish class. She was right...it was a waste of time and not only lame but rather soggy.

when it rains

...you see signs like these in your neighborhood. We saw 1.43 inches of rain fall yesterday. It was pouring so hard last night we started wondering if the pool would overflow. They are saying this was the first of three storms that are expected this week. Today, I got a phone message from the school superintendent, warning of the next storm expected thursday. It said if you live above a certain area "please keep your students home". I'm not sure we are above that certain area, but I do know we are seeing a lot of these signs. Chuck paid attention to the sign (and the fact that there was a river flowing across the road) and waited to cross before he was able to get home last night.

After all those years in a snow zone the kids never had a snow day.

How ironic if they get one here for rain.

update: It is raining and they are home for now. Perhaps they will go a bit later. Reports are that half the kids stayed home. Some of the interstates are closed. How's the weather where you live?

this bud's for you

Because a certain brother-in-law of mine thought that my photos were from a book rather than my camera...I named this post in honor of him. And yes they are mine, straight out of the camera.

Most of the trees here have not shed their leaves for winter. Seeing trees that still have leaves in January is confusing to those of us who are used to lifeless, frozen, winter tipped trees this time of year. Adding to the question "what happened to winter?", today I spotted buds on this little fruit tree in our yard. In Colorado this usually occurs in the spring(April) just in time for the last snow fall.

I know snow isn't going to happen here.

I know seasonal confusion will.