I Can't Take the Credit #27

Rose bush

What's been totally uplifting in the last few weeks are all the blooms and plants popping up that we didn't plant. I've wanted to go out and spends hundreds on bushes, trees and perennials but there's not money in the budget for that. To go out in the mornings and find something new is exciting.

Miniature rose bush

I needed that because I found another spot on my arm. This kind of bloom I can do without. The good thing is I was 99% sure it wasn't melanoma again. I called the Indian Medical Center and they moved my already scheduled appointment up a week. My doctor even called me back. Every three months I have a full body check. He took a biopsy and scheduled me to come back in two weeks for the result and my full body check. I wondered, if this spot had been very suspicious would it still have taken two weeks for the results. I hope not. But the news was good - only pre-cancerous. Nothing more had to be done. I like this doctor. He's very personable but awfully shy for a doctor.Not a good thing. His full body checks skim over certain areas. He's obviously uncomfortable. But really? I've never met a doctor with this problem. I'm a little concerned about that.

Climbing rose

Some sort of desert bloom

Almost think maybe once a year I should see a civilian doctor for a thorough go-over and pay the price. I'm going to think on that one.

We've had some ups and downs with our own plantings. But I'll go into that in another blog. I've been scurrying to get my edits done on my latest book, The Art of Love and Murder, so I could get it off to a couple of agents before I take off for a few days to a conference. I'm heading out tomorrow which is why this blog is brief. This should be a fun conference since it's for readers - authors to meet, Jimmy Thomas in the flesh (he-he) and a male model contest. A few days away from the farm will be hard, though. I've gotten really accustomed to waking up here to see the progress in the garden and at the end of the day sitting on the patio to watch the sun go to bed. Maybe the male model contest will take my mind off of what I'm missing at Tortuga Flats Farm!

Snap Dragon I think

Okay-it's a weed but isn't it pretty?

Emotional, Random and Scattered. #26

A random picture from a trip to Seattle.

It's random thought day. Tidbit day. This and that day. Because I'm scattered. Last week took me on an emotional roller coaster and left me like when you've been on a boat all day and you still ride the waves even after you're on solid ground. Okay, long run-on sentence. Sorry.

Jimmy Thomas

I wonder if Jimmy Thomas is as cute in person as he is on his covers (or at the top of this blog). I'll find out next week.

I wrote 'the end' today on my latest manuscript and emailed the last three chapters to my critique partners. Part of the book takes place in the  haunted Monte Vista Hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona. As soon as I get their comments, I'll polish it up an ship it out. I'm hoping this book gets me an agent. I'm really, really, really hoping.

Paulden is dry. I'm going through bottles of lotion.

Soaking in a tub is twice as important but I do it half as often. Oh wait! I do shower.

It must be some sort of law you have to have at least two dogs if you live in Paulden.

Last time I mentioned putting up wind breakers for the plants - this screen like material we would cover the chain link fence with around the garden. Lance tested the theory and it doesn't work unless the break is within a few feet of the plants. I suppose this decision has saved us some money. And I suppose only the strong will survive.

Our latest victims are three rows of leafy greens. Bugs. Nasty little boogers. More research. Now we're investing in a thousand feet of a light weight material that you cover the rows with until the plants are big enough to sustain such attacks. Still, not guaranteed. Not sure where this fits in my budget, but if we're ever going to feed ourselves we need the plants to survive. Some day, I'll go to the grocery store and have a really small tab because most everything comes out of our garden. That's the plan, Stan.

Eggs and Colored Soap #25

Far out man!

We have the coolest do it yourself car wash in Chino. It's so clean and efficient and not expensive. With all the dirt in this area, they probably do a pretty good business. I love their colored soap! It's psychedelic! Whoops, dating myself.

There's a goofy dog that lives up the street from us. When a car drives by, he runs out of his fence barking and races like mad beside the car to the end of his property. But if we walk by with our dogs, he's nowhere to be seen. The horses on the property do come over to greet us.

Our next project is to put up some windbreakers around the garden. Between the wind and the searing sun during the day and the drastic drop in temps some nights, we lost about eighty tomato plants. True, we jumped the gun and put them out too early, but the speed at which they died was amazing. Lesson learned. We each dealt with it differently. At least one of us was furious. I felt sad. The windbreakers are needed. The poor little broccoli and cabbage plants are only inches high but the wind lays them out nearly flat.

Proper attire to visit a troublesome neighbor?

Frank made an impromptu visit to our new neighbor. Remember the ones I complained about with the couch on their porch and boxes falling out of their open shed? The young man that lives there has a three-wheeler and likes to go in circles near our fence. The problem is the wind (yes, that again). We've been plagued with dust as we sit on our patio, and he runs around in circles. Time for a visit. We all laughed after Frank left, thinking of the shirt he had on. It turned out good. She's a single mom, working long hours and apologized for the property still looking the way it does. She made the son apologize, and he was sincere. We haven't had a problem since. He pays attention to the way the wind is blowing. One day, he had a friend wetting down the soil after each circle!

And remember our really nice neighbors? She delivered seventy-two eggs to us a few days ago. Just let her know when we run out!

Weeds Are Ground Cover Too! #24

This is like the year of new beginnings, at least for many people close to me. This series of blogs started with the four people in our house starting a new beginning, an experiment in changes. We've not only taken on a new lifestyle, but we've each had other new starts. Christie started a new job, Lance is in a new band, Frank started retirement and I'm just adjusting to it all while I try to finish one book and start a new one.

My sister turned sixty and is getting married in two weeks. Talk about new beginnings! My mom may move - she's still fighting it, but is due for a new start - even at her age.

As our fledgling farm is blooming, we've watched not all new beginnings succeed. Makes you kind of think, and I'm hoping the human efforts don't fall into similar pitfalls. The peach and apricot trees bloomed early then we had some cold weather. They don't appear to be fruiting. Bummer. Of the twenty suckers and shoots I planted, five will definitely not make it. But I'm excited about the fifteen.

Frank finally got all the grass seed planted. We had a three week delay on getting the backyard in because the nursery ran out of seed. The joys of being in a small town. With all the watering, the weeds are going crazy. I've been far too busy getting my chapters and synopsis ready to send to agents to be out there weeding everyday. I'm worried they will be so thick the grass won't grow. Frank is not a weeder. Remember, he's the guy that doesn't play in the dirt. I simply have to take some time to do some weeding everyday. He figures they cover the ground so what the hey. The dogs are not real happy being walked out to the pen and contained every time they need to go out. And we don't have a lawnmower yet. After the tax man cometh, we need to find a deal on one.

There are still $1.00 tacos and $1.50 beer! Yea! Gave my bookmark to the waitress at Doreen's and she was gushy. Asked if I had any. So now we have to go for $1.00 tacos again on Wednesday. Fair trade.

Bad News (stick it IRS) Good News (agented -please!) #23

Hard to believe it's been well over a week since my last installment. Getting ready for the writers' conference in Scottsdale and filing taxes ate up the time.

On that - first the good news. The conference had its highs and lows. The highs outweighed the lows. I have two requests from agents for my latest manuscript. I really want an agent. And one of them is my dream agent. I'll polish the first three chapters yet again and rewrite my synopsis before emailing it off...and then wait...and wait some more. Usually takes weeks to hear back.

Now the bad news - we owe taxes. This isn't a big surprise. We'd set aside some money because Minnesota taxes social security but we hadn't held out. Frank started taking his social security months before we moved. But wow! I mean wow! I hadn't expected it to hit us quite this hard with the deductions we had. According to Frank's calcs, the Feds gave us back $850. Minnesota wanted over $1700! Now let's heap on the bad news a bit more. We got our refund back within days and guess what? We only got $350. I'm crying here - well, not really but gasping a bit. Waiting for their letter so I can yell and scream. Not that it will do much good. IRS really isn't very flexible.

Blackberries - before

Blackberries now

Argh! Tuck that away and look out to the garden. I was gone four days (that's a story for next time) and in those four days, so much greened up and sprouted. Before I left, we were getting asparagus. We didn't plant it so this was a big surprise. It takes about three years from planting to harvest for asparagus. We didn't know they were there, which makes it very lucky that they weren't damaged when we cleaned up that part of the garden. They harvest daily so we have both purple and green asparagus about every other night for dinner. What a treat.

Green house success

Lance's lovely rows

There are all kinds of little green leaves popping up in the green house. To name a few: broccoli, cabbage, many kinds of tomatoes, dozens of herbs, artichoke, brussel sprouts, various beans, and lots of kinds of peppers. And there are more. Lance has planted several out in the fields too, (things like carrots and onions) but so far only radishes are popping up. We live on the windy side of Paulden - no, did not know that until AFTER we moved in - so seeding is a challenge. Those little bitty things blow around with the slightest gust of wind.

I'm excited that twelve of the twenty suckers I dug off of other trees are definitely alive. It will be years before they bear fruit, but I'll totally enjoy watching them grow - and keeping them alive. Many years ahead of worrying about frost and pests.

Fruit tree 3 months ago

A special thanks to the people who approached me at the conference in Scottsdale this weekend to tell me they enjoy this blog. I was surprised - what a great compliment! And to Kelly - gopher wars continue and thanks for your help.

Pear tree now!

PS - those of you who do follow my blog - would love it if you would click on "Join This Site". It's fun for me to see  how many are visiting on a regular basis.

A Verde Discovery - #22

The lake that isn't

Just east of Paulden, really within a stones
throw, are the headwaters of the Verde River. Technically, the Verde starts at Sullivan Lake. Trouble with Sullivan Lake, typical of the water in Arizona, it's not there very often. On a recent motorcycle ride, Frank and I discovered, by accident, the lake that isn't where the Verde River is purported to start. There are no markings or signs. When we got home we looked it up on the map. The Verde must go underground and pop up farther east. The headwaters aren't visible from the road and you can't easily get to them. The steep rugged cliffs would require cliff climbing which we don't do. But the Verde is alive and well a mile or so up the canyon.

If you go far enough east, it's quite large and deep. As a kid, we would head out of Phoenix and go tubing on the Verde. What I remember is a well used, green river with rocky muddy banks. It was beautiful but, well, peopled.

The trek down begins

View along the trek down

Our neck of the woods finds the Verde small with crystal clear waters and quiet beauty. Lance and Christie discovered a beautiful area just east of the headwaters. 

The first glimpse of water

What's great about this park area is that it's not marked either. You can find it on a map, but if you're driving by the road that goes into the park, you'd never know it's there. We're only a few miles from nearly pristine waters. Once you leave the paved road, the fairly rugged dirt road winds through flat land that is high prairie but dotted with small cactus. After about five miles, the road is blocked. The last mile and a half is done on foot. The first half mile is rather steep - great going down - not so great coming back! On our way out we met the couple that checks on the area every few days. They told us that the road used to be open all the way down but the park was abused so they closed it. I'm glad. The long trek keeps most people out. We were the only ones on this stretch of river all afternoon.

Heading upstream to fish

The Verde River

This isn't the prettiest time of year. The trees are only beginning to leaf, and there are very few wild flowers blooming. I know we'll utilize the Verde often and see it through each season. I'm really looking forward to full-blown springtime. But even now, the beauty is inspiring.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - #21

There are neighbors...and there are neighbors.

These pictures are only a few examples of the variety of homes in Paulden.

We have new neighbors to our west. I haven't nailed down exactly who lives there, but I've seen a woman, probably middle aged, a young man of maybe teen years and a younger woman. But I've seen some men come and go. Relatives? Let me say something about Paulden first. This is the kind of area where people come to live the way they want to live. And I don't have anything against that UNLESS their lifestyle infringes on my lifestyle. I think you can tell from my previous posts, I'm a visual person. I'm not crazy about these new neighbors. Their open-sided storage shed faces our property, and it's jammed with - oh I don't know - junk? The contents spill out next to the shed (I use that term loosely). On their front porch is stuff. I can't make out what exactly. And guess what! Next to the porch is a couch. I get to stare at textbook hicksville out my window as I write. They are the backdrop to my orchard. Once the trees are leafed out, most of the view will be obscured. But really!

The first trees we can afford to plant on our property line will be to the west.

That's how it is out here. There are some beautiful homes, common homes like ours and some really tacky ones - all within sight of each other. Thank goodness there are no plots smaller than two and half acres.

Dave and Eunice, that loaned their tiller, live a few acres away. I visited them a couple of days ago. My purpose was to give Eunice two of my books. She likes romance. They've been so nice, and we don't  have much to give in return yet. Last week we (well, not me) baked them cookies. Small payment for all their kindness. I liked their place. They have cows, goats, chickens and three little yipping dogs. Their property is well maintained. I stepped into her home and she apologized for the dust. That's funny. Dust comes with every home here. So I gave her Honey On White Bread and Sleeping with the Lights On , and I came home with four dozen eggs and four sacks of okra. Unreal. Talk about good neighbors.