Memorial Day

We walked again this morning. We took a path until it intersected a road and followed the road back to the barn. We saw this interesting rock that looked like an animal.

Last day of the festival. One of the vendors was wanting photos taken of her jewelry so she could get juried into another show and Alan asked if I'd be interested. She has some cool stuff, it's fused glass like Diane does. She even paid me to do it! Cool.

I bought one of the cool hats that most of the vendors have been wearing, mine is blue, I love the style of the hats, very cool!

Closing time was 3 pm, but as usual, we had a flurry of last minute lookers and a bit of rearranging to do before we left. All the artists put something out in the aisle, we put the 2 spools with sculptures on them out. First thing I did when we got home was check on my garden and water everything. It all looks good, my onions are getting green tops now, yea!

Memorial Day Festival Day 2

We saw this cute little family out looking for breakfast on our walk this morning. It was cold, we even saw a bit of ice on one of the benches on the golf course! My ears were frozen by the time we got back and I wished I'd brought a knit cap to wear.

One of the visitors today was riding this cool looking bike. Someone said it was made by Schwinn and is circa 1917. It says Excelsior on the bike, so I'm not sure he is right about it being made by Schwinn. It was so loud and spewed lots of smoke, I thought it was because it's so old, but apparently they were like that when new. I watched the rider start it, it has pedals that he spun with his feet and then the engine started. I wonder if you can pedal to go and not start the engine?

We're Open!

We started the day with a walk through the golf course. There are lots of different paths that we can take and we tried out a different one today. As we get tougher, we will venture out on the longer paths.


We all take turns cleaning the barn and we signed up for this weekend, so we swept and cleaned when we got back. This was our opening day and lots of people showed up! The day started out slow for us, but we did get a few people stopping in and had a couple of people interested in custom scratch boards. One wants a car and another is interested in a horse and rider. Cool. We made one big sale today, one couple bought 3 originals and a giclee print! John spends his time in the booth working on new scratch boards. People like to watch him scratch and are interested in how it's done.

The Beginning . . .

We started our day with a walk in the golf course. I'm looking forward to a summer of our early morning walks there, it's one of my favorite things about being at the Art Barn!

We finished setting up and made a run home this afternoon to get a few items to add to the booth. Everyone in the barn is set up and ready for the big day tomorrow. We stopped and got photos of a couple things we'd noticed on our trip over on Tuesday, I spotted an interesting group of cut logs and John saw an old concrete mile post. It was different from what we were expecting it to be, there are no raised numbers on it. Guess they made different styles over the years.

The outside vendors were starting to show up when we got back and things are lively and hopping at the Barn!

I BBQ'd chicken for supper, I tried out a new recipe for a rub that I turned into a marinade and it was so good! We invited Monna to eat with us, she supplied a salad to go with our meal, yumm!

Moving In

What a busy day! We worked on our booth again and have it almost finished, yea! We had the big artists meeting at noon to go over the barn rules and meet each other. There are 3 booths that are new to the barn. Should be an interesting year! We made a trip to Wal Mart this afternoon to pick up some groceries.

The Big Day Has Arrived!

The big day, we left town early and made it with no wind to bother us! The wind started blowing not long after we got here, so it was a good thing we left early! We got our pro panels up, the art is sitting on the floor, a few are hung, and we made a second trip home to get the trailer full of sculptures. We went out to eat supper with Alan and Vicki at El Rancho, we were all disappointed, it wasn't as good as we remembered it being. No competition to El Camino!

Almost Ready

The weather so far today has been beautiful! It was pretty cool this morning, but nice in the sun. Keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow will be the same! Doing last minute packing, hooking things up, good thing we started early, the sway bar on the travel trailer hadn't been attached! We haven't gone anywhere with the travel trailer except around the yard since we brought it home after the last barn season. Last summer John was laid up with his ankle so we didn't go anywhere.

We Live by a Lake Again!

Hardly any wind today, it was chilly in the shade, but it felt pretty nice in the sun. Feels like spring again, yea! I had my blood drawn today for my 6 week thyroid test, hope things are improved! Tad has filled his pond so we are a water front property again. Saw some kids playing in the water, what fun!

It's a Stay Inside Kind of a Day

It was breezy when I got up this morning and now it's horribly windy. It's a good day to stay in out of the wind! John called me a bit ago, he said he'd had to go out in the wind to do some repairs and now he has enough dirt in his ears to plant potatoes, LOL! We keep getting gusts here that are howling and one of my walls-o-water fell over. The ones in front in my brick planter are protected by the house so I think they'll be okay, the others are out in the direct wind, and are getting it hard. A gust almost blew me over when I went out to stand it back up! Luckily, the tomato wasn't damaged!

I caught up on some classes I'm taking from Jessica Sprague. I have her 3, so far, Photoshop Friday tutorials and did those and listened to all the videos again from her This Old Photo class, that I'm just finishing up. I always learn so much from her classes and her tips on fixing vintage photos have been awesome!

Hazardous Weather Outlook

We've got a strong wind going again and the National Weather Service says we have a Red Flag Warning, Wind Advisory and Hazardous Weather Outlook for today and tomorrow. They said there is a slight chance of snow in Flagstaff on Sunday! I went out early before it got too hard and planted some tomatoes in my brick planter. I think I'll wait a bit to plant the rest and see what the weather is going to do, we've gotten snow Memorial Day weekend before!

I also got the new soaker hose cut and hooked up. When I saw how nicely the water was coming out, I went and got another one to redo the other bed. The old hoses squirt streams of water out that go all over the place and wet down the surrounding ground. The new one just slowly soaks out, so it should save water.

I was walking down the sidewalk and almost stepped on this, isn't it pretty.

I thought it was a leaf as I stepped over it, but it wasn't. It's some kind of a moth, I think. Not sure. Anyone know what it is? I went back out a couple hours later and it was still sitting there in the same spot. I don't think it's dead, maybe it's waiting out the wind?

I'm Wearing Sandals, So Summer Must be Here, Right?

The wind is picking up , so I went shopping instead of working outside and got some new soaker hose for my garden and picked up a few groceries. I got out my sandals and have been wearing them the last few days. My foot isn't swelling as much in sandals, yippee!

I Planted Tomatoes!

I planted two tomatoes this morning. Also got my other beds ready to go. Bad winds are predicted for this weekend, but they predicted them for today and so far, there is just a slight breeze, so hope they're wrong! We're hoping for no wind and good weather on Barn move in day!

Busy, Busy!

We have only a week until the Art Barn opens for the summer and we're not ready! We spent the morning taking down pictures from the walls and packing them in the camper and trailer. I think we'll have to make two trips, the desk isn't going to fit anywhere and we can't get the larger sculptures in, either.

It was calm this morning, planted onions and transplanted a few of the carrots I started earlier. I've never tried transplanting carrots, so I'm not sure how they are going to do, hope it works!

I walked on the treadmill this morning, it was easier today and I did a bit over a mile. This afternoon we went to St. Johns and installed Mom's cooler. Wanted to get it in before we get busy at the barn and it gets too hot! While we were there, I got some Vermiculite and some compost so I can finish up my garden bed. We noticed this sign at the Lyman on our way down, Charles is collecting "fractured English" signs so I snapped this for him to add to his collection.

Cloudy and Windy Tuesday

I walked a mile on my treadmill today, it was hard! I need to go back to the Wellness Clinic, I've lost so much strength that I'd gained from exercising most days!

LOL, I feel so dumb, I found the missing lights and surge protector. Right where they should be, in a box in the camper, a clear plastic box! They were under some sacks and packing material so they didn't show up. At least some good came from the hunt, the attic got cleaned up a bit.

We took a load of stuff from the attic to Andy today and visited with Jessie, who has been sick with the stomach flu. She got it on the way home from her school trip to the valley last weekend. Susan said a lot of the kids on the bus were sick too. Poor Jessie, she is still feeling under the weather and stayed home from school again.

We still have scattered clouds today and it's cool and a bit breezy. The day ended quite windy and we had wind warnings for our area.

The Hunt is On

John had to work overtime this morning, dumb company, after working a 12 hour graveyard shift, they schedule a meeting for the shift. Don't know how they expect any of them to be awake enough to take in anything!

After he slept, we went on a hunt for the missing lights and surge protector in the attic. We moved stuff around and threw away a lot of stuff, it was dirty work, dirt gets in through the vents and the floor and boxes were covered! I was too, by the time we quit. We didn't find the missing lights, but we got a lot done. The guys just stacked stuff randomly when they moved it all out of the studio to work on it and so it was a huge unorganized mess!

Our lunch today, a DiGiorno Rising Crust Pepperoni Pizza. It was good, and almost had enough pepperoni on it to suit us. I only had to add a few more slices.

John always eats his with eggs on top, says it's good. I've never tried it.

It was cold and cloudy again today, no moisture though.

The Question for Today is . .

Are my poor lilacs going to bloom this year or what? The photo makes them look like they may yet have some life in them, I thought they were frozen, and a few are crunchy, but some are still pliable.

I overdid it yesterday and I'm stiff and sore today! I was going to get my earth boxes ready to plant today, but it was too windy and cold out and I was too tired. I looked out the window just in time to see a whirlwind start right in the middle of the pile of leaves and corn stalks I'd raked up to put in my garden beds. It moved them across the yard. spreading them out as it went. I was wishing I had a camera in my hand as the whirlwind came towards me, it was cool! Here's the mess it left behind.

Sunny Saturday

Sunrise this morning, taken at 5: 27 am. In the winter the sun comes up off the right side of the photo, look how far its moved! I love to watch it as it travels from its winter position to summer! There were clouds in the sky as the sun came up, but they were gone by midday.

When John got home from work we took a load of heavy trash to the dump. It was a free day to dump, so it was a good chance to get rid of metal and heavy stuff that would have cost a big bundle of $$ to get rid of otherwise!

When we got home from the dump, John cut the trex I got to add to the top of my beds to make them higher and fastened them together and attached them to my grow boxes. After he went to bed, I moved the soil to one side of the box and put cinder sand, manure, leaves and grass clippings on the bottom, then piled the soil on top of that, then did the other half. So I guess what I have now are Lasagna - Square Foot Gardens! I got both boxes finished, John helped me with the second one after he got up. They didn't end up as full as I thought they would, I'll have to add more soil to the top. The horses across the street were nice enough to share some of their manure with me. LOL, they came to see what I was up to, I think they thought I'd brought them a bucket of goodies to eat. When they smelled what was in the bucket, they soon wandered off, I'm sure they were thinking what a weird human I was! I got a lot done today, cut the lawn with a weed whip, it was too tall to use the mower, put the clippings in my garden beds, cut the weeds around my garden with the weed whip, trimmed the tree and got the bed in the travel trailer put back together. It felt great to be outside again, the weather today was wonderful!

The Trailrider's Resturant is Looking Good!

The Trailrider's Restaurant is coming along, I like the stone and stucco outside! Can't wait to eat there, the food in the old one that was in Hudson's Furniture store was so good!

It's still cold here and breezy today. I was going to drag my tomato planters over and get them ready to plant, but it was too unpleasant out and I'm not sure the tomatoes would make it even with walls of water protecting them. I haven't gotten any of my beds ready to plant, its just been too cold out.

Finishing Up the Cooler

John put finishing touches on the cooler installation and I put mud on the repaired places on the wall where the old cooler was. This is all that shows from the outside.

It never did get very warm today, spring where are you??

Happy Birthday Charles!!

Hope you have a great day!

Andy and John replaced the cooler today. They cut a big hole in the house to insert it, it's an industrial one and should have an easier job keeping the house cool, if it ever gets hot enough to need to be cooled!

We had a cold night and it froze again. I'll bet most of the fruit in town probably froze, my pear blossoms don't look good.

Trip Back in Time

We went to visit Mom and give her a late Mother's Day gift today and on the way home, we took the old highway. It's in better shape than the last time we tried it, they've replaced the many gates that we had to stop to open and close, with cattle guards and bladed off the broken pavement, so it's a much smoother ride. It was cool to see some of the old landmarks we remembered, but sadly some we looked for are gone now. What we called the Queen's table and the King's table, two huge flat rocks perched on top of pedestals, have fallen. I love the part of the road that runs through the lava field, it reminds me of the bad lands in New Mexico. Pretty rough going if you were to try walking through it! We were looking for one of the old milepost markers, they were made of concrete and the numbers were molded in. We didn't find one, but we had a nice ride down memory lane.

Home Again

We had an uneventful trip home. It's always sad to leave the kids behind, sure did enjoy our visit! We stopped to take a photo of the cool cactus buddies John spotted on the trip down. He had to climb a slippery slope to get a good shot because of the angle of the sun.

We enjoyed the scenery along the road, the desert is so green and colorful right now!

The road through Salt River Canyon is always a bit unsettling, full of lots of sharp curves and twists! There are three levels of roadway in this photo!

Show Low is working on their main street, I'm not sure what they are doing, but it's a mess right now!

International Wildlife Museum

We stopped on our way to the museum to see this cool Coffee Bus that's parked close to Charles' house. Too bad it was closed, I'd have loved to go upstairs to see what it looked like!

We've driven past the International Wildlife Museum on other visits to Tucson and thought we should visit it, but never have. It was a cool place and I'm glad we visited!

After touring the museum we were all hungry so Charles took us to El Guero Canelo to try a Sonoran Hot Dog. YUMM, YUMM! The buns were homemade and so soft and good! The dog was wrapped in bacon and grilled, then placed in the bun with beans, grilled onions, fresh onions, tomatoes, mayo, mustard and Jalapeno sauce.