Sunday, October 20, 2024

Glad That's Over!!

October 1 - 20, 2024
Tombstone, Arizona


The month starts out on a high note meeting up with great friends! Joe and Gay are in Bisbee for the first week of the month - surprisingly a place they had yet to visit. One of the few good Mexican restaurants in our area had sadly closed its doors, but quickly re-opened with a new name and new menu. Now Los Hermanos, we all enjoy our yummy lunch on their nice covered patio. Although we arrive early (per their website hours), they accommodate us with soft drinks, and we jump right in to a few hours of catching up.

Joe, Gay and Bill

Gay captures this precious pic of our sweet Tessa.

The girls with the curls.


A week later Hurricane Milton tears into Florida just two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina. I feel somewhat contrite complaining about warm temps when so many have lost so much from "bad weather". Seeing the devastation in North Carolina and Florida, having friends in both, recognizing how long it will be before any sense of normal returns for millions......Ima just gonna shut up about our desert. 

And then our world turns upside down with Bill getting very, very ill. Initially complications from his kidney failure and dialysis not meeting adequacy, his days of sick stomach turn toxic with two separate hospital stays. The second two-night stay starts with 28 hours in the ER due to over capacity at our hospital in Sierra Vista :-(( He finally gets relief following a visit to his doctor, and after nearly two weeks he can keep down liquids and then solids. It was brutal and I'm so grateful he's feeling himself again. 

This setback also means no more in-home treatment - back to clinic dialysis three days a week. Although we thought the in-home treatments would give us more freedom, the opposite is actually true. We move forward again.

As is often the case with rough times, it's hard to look back and see anything else happening in your life! And really there hasn't been much. 

More front porch time with nature, and the return of our weekly craft group. Yay!! So fun to get caught up with this fun group of women. Half traveled while the rest of us stayed put for the summer, so an entertaining plethora of stories to share. Rebecca and I are planning more day trips which I am very much looking forward to!

Without hesitation with pretty doe jumps the fence and keeps an eye on me.


She slowly walks across the yard, about 6 feet from me sitting on the porch. Tessa is asleep :-)

After sniffing and staring, her goal is soon clear. Not a bird in sight!


She makes several stands to enjoy her snack, then it's back over the fence to her twin fawns waiting in the brush. Bye!

Hard to see the squadron of Javelina - three babies (called 'reds') and two adults. Our first sighting this year.


At crafts group I finish the felted fall leaf hanging. Time to start on Christmas pieces!

A few days of chilly weather is very welcome!

In local news, Duke has been restored in front of Doc's Saloon :-))

I corrected the typo from the last post - the new grand coming in April is our 10th!

I'm delighted to see Miss Penelope in the birthday shirt we sent that is soooo her! Mom and Reese hanging out in the back.

M and M having Halloween photo fun.

Ezra's classroom is Hogwarts for October.

October is always the fastest month of the year for me - starts out in summer and ends up in the holidays! This year I'm happy to have most of it behind us. 



Sunday, October 6, 2024

September Happens

 August 25 - September 30, 2024
Tombstone, Arizona

Time slows, life settles. Staying home, no travels planned for now. Although we're still plenty warm enough, it's already feeling like Fall is on its way. My (as it is for so many others) favorite time of year no matter where I am or what I'm doing. From subtle nature-color changes to pumpkin spice everything to grands starting and returning to school to football - I love it all. I'm okay with Halloween and Christmas sharing store-space, it's the norm now so let's just embrace it :-) I can't complain about having so much to celebrate this time of year!

It's official so I can share that we're welcoming our 10th grand this upcoming Spring - wooooowwww!!

Quail, 3 species of Dove, House Finch, Thrashers, and Black-Throated Sparrows continue to arrive in large numbers every day. We still see a few Northern and Desert Cardinals, but the Cow Birds and Grosbeaks and Gold Finches have moved on. Still lots of song, but much less color. Our pretty lizard no longer suns himself on the gold rock, but both Cotton Tails and Jack Rabbits still visit occasionally. Probably the biggest change is the deer. We saw none when the monsoons were at their peak, likely no longer needing our water trough. The last week brings a beautiful doe, and the smallest spotted fawn I've seen, to the water. They're already wearing their winter brown, no longer the slick gray of summer. 

Some mornings are like a farm yard!

Without the sun through those big ears I'd never have seen this visiting Jack.

Difficult to see with the phone, but in person I enjoy their visit.

So little!

I meant to include this very wet monsoon afternoon in the last post - it was awesome!

Seems like our cooling trend stalled and turned around, bringing back higher temps and keeping me inside. We're still cooler here than where most of our kids are in SoCal, where they're averaging ten degrees hotter :-(( I think everyone is more than ready for sweatshirts and socks!

I'm just blathering to fill a post at this point so I'll give us all a break and call this one done. October brings both visiting and returning friends - tis the season :-))

Ezra is excited to be playing soccer this year!

Penelope and Reese are excited about getting a new sibling!

Pluto's excited to meet Oliver!