It's always a great day...

 ... when it starts with a photo-worthy sunrise.

A November sunrise here in San Pedro Valley.

We've had strange weather this past year- largely notable because there were no big temperature extremes. Plus we were cheated a bit on monsoons- the weather gods think we need to do a diligent job conserving our water and apparently that's not happening. 

But a really strange thing is the very few times we got above the 100°F mark- the most notable was when we hit 110°F. Yeah, it got hot, but not unbearable. My blog posts on previous summers contained a lot of very descriptive analyses (I think the technical term is 'whining'), but those episodes were strangely missing this year: "... and the times they are a-changing".

But we should know clearly when fall is upon us as that's when snowbirds start arriving in the park from the North country. Well... US snowbirds this year. I read today in BBC news that large numbers of Canadian snowbirds are making other plans for the 2025-26 fall-winter season this year. I guess when a country's leaders speak unkindly of their neighbors there's bound to be payback. It may not measurably affect large communities, but small towns like Benson get a real gut-punch in the local economy when transient visitors make other plans. Along that line...

We were told a few years ago that Benson's population is about 5,000 souls. However that number temporarily swells to 10,000-15,000 from late September to about mid-March as snowbirds come here to get away from cold Northern temps. That number is not exclusively Canadian winter visitors, but still that number will probably diminish this year.

Another 'oh, by the way'...Arizona is an 'open carry' state. So we occasionally see someone wearing a holster and carrying a sidearm (concealed weapons require a special permit; it's open-carry only without the permit). There are signs on some businesses that say something to the effect 'no sidearms'- places like restaurants, banks (!), grocery stores. So you don't see sidearms when shopping at WalMart. That said, I have seen locals walking around WalMart with an empty holster.

In the mean time we are enjoying the occasional light-show that is sunrise and sunset. All good here in the last bastion of the 'wild west'!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Uh-oh... the 'season' has started!

Image
We (mmm... I!  ) drifted thru the whole summer and didn't give much thought to it ending. Hard to realize summer is officially over in about 10 days when we are still hitting temps in the 100s! But there it is.  Cruising-friends-turned-RVers who publish conchscooter.blogspot.com are in the Southern hemisphere dealing with van renovations. That's about as close as we get to being on the road. Well- not counting driving to appointments in Tucson. Appointments in Benson don't count as the engine hardly gets warmed up before we arrive!  -----------------------  And today, as I type this post, is the 25th anniversary of 9-11 . The Admiral and I were in the Herrington Harbor Marina in Maryland on that infamous day. We were prepping Goosebumps so we could leave for points South. We needed haircuts and made our way across the street to the shop where we went mid-week. We stepped inside and were greeted by some very somber faces. The staff had the TV on and we stepped in abo...
Read more

'Tis the season...

Image
 ... to sweat ! And complain. A lot.  It turned hot. Then this week it eased a bit. But it's coming back very soon! Hard to remember to check on sunrises and sunsets but here are what I managed to put together... Sunrise off to the Southeast... ... and a sunset off to the West (where else?!) The craziness in Washington DC has caused annual visitors to disappear from the park early as fuel prices climb to all-time highs. If you have a big 40'+ motor home or you're pulling a heavy 38'+ 5th wheel, either of which sucks up the diesel fuel, you need to take precautions to minimize fuel expense! Diesel was priced at $4.99/gal this week. 
Read more

Monsoons? What monsoons?!

Image
Every year I go through this anxious anticipation. "When are they ever going to start?!" Then that is followed by something like "when will this ever end?!" It's kinda' like how they joked about it in circa 1950s USMC: "there are only 2 good duty stations: the last one and the next one!" In the mean time life plods on and grocery prices rise faster than Social Security checks. A few years ago the Admiral was paying something like $100 - $175 for the week's food & necessities from Safeway. Now she's paying about $400 for the week. Yikes! And no, we aren't eating a different mix of food: we've been on a (sort of) vegetarian regimen since October 2013- it's called a pescatarian diet: veggies plus cold water fish (like salmon) once or twice per week.  Update: The Admiral shopped at Safeway today (23 Jul 2026). Sockeye salmon was $27/lb. They don't even carry king salmon. King salmon is caught of the coast of California and ...
Read more