It was raining when we arrived in Red River, the first they’d had for a while. It was more than an afternoon mountain shower and I was concerned there would be more during our stay. Fortunately, the days were clear until we left on Friday. It is the last time Kaylee and Rebecca will be able to fish in the 12-and-under pond but they seemed to get enough on Tuesday. Sophia and Vivian fished Tuesday and Wednesday and, while they had nibbles, Vivian caught the only two. One of them was the biggest (over 15 inches) fish I’ve seen in that pond while the second one was the size (less than 10 inches) we normally catch. With the big one, there was enough fish for anyone who wanted it on Thursday evening. Aside from the big fish, it was an uneventful week, just the way we like it. Abigail was Aaron’s guest when his folks took them to the Broadmore Hotel in Colorado Springs to celebrate Aaron’s graduation. She wanted to reciprocate so Aaron came with us to Red River but had to stay in the old folks condo. There was plenty of room and he claimed to have had a good time, even sent us thankyou note for letting come along, but Abigail took a big chance subjecting him to me for four days.
SA was as hot and dry as we left it when we got home Friday. The weekend held the possibility of rain but the latest radar showed the storm missing Amarillo Friday night. It was wrong. It started raining about 10 o’clock that evening, continued through the night and noon Saturday for a total of 1.71 inches plus another .03 Saturday night. It was mostly a slow soaker, just what we needed. The powers that be called a rain-out for our 4th of July get- together on SA and moved it to the San Jacinto academy cafeteria. Terry Lopez works there and pulled some strings. As it turned out, we probably could have managed on SA because the sun was shinning all afternoon.
Abigail’s 18th was celebrated on Sunday. I read somewhere if you want to remember something, close your eyes and picture it as it happens or as soon after as possible. When Abigail was about four she was walking with her parents and dogs Harley and Max as I came out of our gate headed for the barn to get a little work done. When she saw me she hollered, “Grampa (or Graypaw as she pronounced it then)” and came running to meet me. I took a knee, better to protect both of us from the collision, closed my eyes and pictured the scene. It is still vivid in my memory and doesn’t seem that long ago.
Jill and the girls came back to help us celebrate the remainder of the July birthdays and to let her daughters spend a little more time on SA. She felt like they’d been shortchanged Red River week. After Joyce took us out to dinner on the 25th, she and Kari took their daughters to Wonderland. We also had another celebratory dinner on the 26th, that being Chris’s birthday. For my birthday I got a wheelbarrow from the Zbindens and an adjustable guitar footrest from the Wylies to replace the block of wood I’ve used for the last 50 years. Both will come in handy.
My assistant and I have been working on weeds since the lack of rain over the last few weeks has put the grass on hold. If it doesn’t rain soon, the grass will go dormant and SA will turn brown.
The Wylie women headed home Sunday morning. Joyce and I skipped church to see them off. Though short, it seemed to me they got a lot of recreation out of their time here. The Zbindens returned from the Canary Islands Tuesday evening so Rebecca was here to hobnob with her cousins. She had to take time out to play in a tennis tournament Saturday morning but otherwise participated in the hilarity.