Category: SA Times

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It was Red River week this week.  We left on Monday and returned on Friday.  Everything was pretty much as we left it and we enjoyed the mountain air.  There was some rain on Tuesday but otherwise we stayed dry.  Except for when we went swimming.  They have a nice pool where we stayed, which is the main reason we stay there, that being one of the granddaughters’ prerequisites dating back to when Abigail was knee high to a chipmunk.  Then, I had to get in the pool because Kari was busy with Rebecca who was too small to participate.  Now, all five GD’s are aquatic.  Can’t say as I mind not being required to get in the pool.  The older I get the less inclined I am to want to get in what amounts to a large bathtub with strangers.  And there were plenty of strangers, more than other times it seemed like to me, especially of the short, screeching variety.  But as luck would have it, after we came back from a longish hike, when a dip in the pool seemed inviting, there was no one in it but the members of our party who had returned early, so I took advantage and slithered in with the rest of them.  I managed to avoid drowning at the hands of an exuberant granddaughter and emerged refreshed and ready for lunch. Continue reading “Pilgrimage” →

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Despite a rain day with precious little rain, I managed to get all four quarters of SA mowed this week.  Friday I mowed 2005 so the place would look its best on Saturday when we congregated for our annual July 4th celebration.  There was a good turn out and the weather was decent, though it had warmed up from the seventies mid-week to a more normal July 4th temperature.  Janice scored a blow-up water slide (pictured) at a garage sale or maybe dumpster diving, not sure, and it took the place of the slip-and-slide that served us well for a number of years.  Last year it was determined the S&S needed to be replaced and the water slide worked admirably.  It got quite a workout, too. Continue reading “Celebrating the 4th with a 5th” →

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We’re about to wrap up June and over the month we’ve actually gotten more rain (4.75 inches) than we did last month (4 inches).  Of course, last month was dry as a bone until a few days before Memorial Day, and the rain was more spread out this month.  Regardless, we’ve gotten a lot of rain in the last 40 days and nights and while we are grateful, it does create a new set of problems.  The weeds are on the march and I’ve already mowed the place twice, I hope to go over it a third time in the coming week,  Oh, and there is rain in the forecast about mid-week.  So if anyone tells you old Keet aint got nuthin’ to do, tell them they don’t know what they’re talking about. Continue reading “Reverting to the mean” →

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No rain since last weekend! What ever shall we do?  Come to think of it, we did got a wetting Friday night, I think it was, or was it Thursday.  Looks like there is a possibility of rain Wednesday, though.  Am I being greedy?  Maybe.  I just don’t want to go back to drought conditions.  I’ve heard that the weather folk think we will return to normal precipitation in late summer but when you’ve nearly died of thirst, you tend to worry about where the next water hole is. Continue reading “Green and growing” →

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More rain, almost a repeat of Memorial Day weekend.  And with more rain we’re getting mosquitoes and mowing.  Now, the mowing I don’t mind.  Rather like it.  I would rather straddle the John Deere than move water hose around.  We had begun to water the tender plants after the heat and sunshine of the past couple of weeks, but thunderstorms rumbling through in the wee hours of Friday morning took care of that.  We were rousted out of our comfy beds about 1:00 AM by the weather alarm radio and the civil defense sirens.  I thought the sirens meant a tornado had been sighted but none had, although later in the night the weather weenies said one might have been sighted.  We called Barbara to see if she wanted to go below with us but she decided to ride out the storm at home.  We wound up not going down either since it was raining pretty hard and there was no immediate threat of a tornado.  It did hail a little and we really held our breaths when it did, last year being fresh in our minds.  The hail wasn’t heavy enough nor large enough to damage anything but a few leaves here and there.  We are grateful. Continue reading “Mo” →