I want some coffee!

... here in the land of no-more-rain. Well, that's not entirely true as we've had a couple 10-drop sprinkles as we head toward winter. But a genuine 'gully-washer' is probably not in our future till the end of June 2027. Snow birds are returning to the land of moderate winters. Long-timers here in SKP Saguaro think of this season as the time to freeze our asses off. Visitors from the far North like Montana or Minnesota tell us 'you haven't a clue'. Actually we do have a clue and we moved here to get away from 'real winters' several years ago. But that's OK- keep the myth alive!  The Admiral is doing well and she has a date for her same-day procedure. Soon she will be relying upon the other half of I want some coffee! for meals and whatever. Uh-oh. If I can't solve a problem with a keyboard I'm afraid the Admiral will be demanding a court martial! So updates here will likely become a little spotty till early December. A shot of our Cact...

... and the surprising thing is the local temps seem to be following the calendar! Our location is in SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson, Arizona. Nothing special other than a great view and a very unique river that originates in Mexico to the South then flows North thru our San Pedro River valley. There are only 2 rivers which flow North out of Mexico into the US and our San Pedro River is one of them. SKP Saguaro is in Benson and is located about 1/3 of the way South between Pomerene and St. David. And that's the famous Tombstone tamed by Wyatt Earp in the late 1800s about 16 miles South of St, David. San Pedro Valley was originally settled by the Indians and then Spanish explorers before the US Army created a presence here with Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista. According to the Wikipedia link, Ft. Huachuca was home from 1910 to 1933 to the Buffalo Soldiers- black American cavalry soldiers . There is mining activity all over Arizona, but the first permanent white settlers who engaged in fa...

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 for haircuts mid-week. We stepped inside and were greeted by some very somber faces. The staff had the TV on and we s...

Summer has been (at least to this point!), mmm... tolerable. So far (as singer Lenny Kravitz said "it ain't over till it's over!") we've stayed out of the over-110° range down here about 60 miles North of the US/Mexico border. Definitely a 'kind' summer for us.  And during that time we've seen better rainfall (called monsoons in these parts) than most of us feared. Our handy-dandy Davis Weather station says we've had 8.25" of rain since 1 July. That's about 3/4" less than I had expected... about 3" of rain per month in July, August and September. And that should be (predictably!) about what I post here every year near this time! And just to add to to the atmosphere (!) of this post, here is an almost-rainy shot off to the SSE of the park. In fact you can still see the wet streak down the middle of our road from the T-storm that passed thru earllier.   Spotted just about sunset off to the Southeast of the park All good here at SKP...

... and hello Fall. We seem to be getting the last bit of rain from our share of monsoon season. It can get pretty wet around here when the rains come to visit but bye and large Benson is indeed a desert. And we have the cactus and mesquite to prove it! San Pedro Valley is kind of a special place as we have the San Pedro River flowing North out of Mexico right thru the middle of this unique valley. The San Pedro River is one of only two rivers in the US which flow North out of Mexico (yes, a repeat of info I posted here a few years ago).  Much of our little piece of 'uniqueness' is below the surface of the sandy river bottom: most of the water flow in our San Pedro River is below the surface of what looks like a dry river bed. That river bed is sand and I've read that it is very deep- as deep as 2,200 ft if memory serves. That river bed sand originates from the sandstone hills, cliffs and mesas that make up San Pedro Valley. And for that matter much of Southern Arizona. The...

 ... but I really do roast coffee! Usually once each week. Most Wednesdays find me in the shop with the roaster heating, stabilizing, then roasting from 3 to 6 batches of greens. The typical yield is about 450 gm of coffee (almost a pound) per 550 gm batch of greens. That's been the weekly routine for several years now. Initially I bought greens from a different country every few weeks, but for about 2 years now I have been locked onto greens from the high-country of Chiapas, the most Southern state in Mexico. To our taste these greens yield the most consistent morning cup. Initially I was buying greens from Sweet Maria's in Oakland, California. But the owner/operator, Thompson Owen, likes to provide a variety of choices. What you buy one week may not be back in stock for months or even years. Once I discovered we really enjoyed the flavors of the high-grown Chiapas greens I found myself drifting to other sources. Unfortunately I think I may be on a path to disappointment thank...

Yeah, it's summer here in San Pedro Valley of Southeast Arizona- just like it's summer in the rest of the continental USA. And to be honest it's not as bad as I have felt here in our neck of the desert near Benson, Arizona. Daytime highs are over 100°F but (so far!) under 110°F. So not as bad as it can get down here 58 miles North of the US/Mexico border and the town of Naco in Sonora, Mexico. And this year seems to be giving the US a particularly nasty fire season. Yikes! I haven't checked any stats to confirm but it seems there are reports daily even in states like normally-wet Washington that are getting some serious fire damage this 2026 season. Fire crews are getting hammered very hard. Even with frequently smokey skies I've been able to grab a few nice sunsets as a reminder that this is a beautiful place to have a camera close at hand!  These startling reds are pure luck with timing... most nights are just not this intense!  

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 ...

 ... but the truth is that summer sneaked in the back door about 6 weeks ago. But then this is Southeast Arizona and the weather gets to do whatever it wants. We've had days over 100° for weeks now. But it hasn't been unbearable as long as we can stay inside and hug the air conditioner during the hottest part of the day.  I managed to catch a few nice sunsets (mostly!) from the back of the lot. That area faces North (-ish) and the sun is setting in the Northwest these days. Conveniently there's no one currently staying in that lot so I have a clear shot out to the trees on the North edge of the park.   And this shot is off to the South-southwest (Mexico is about 60 miles away). And then there was the surprise T-storm. What a welcome break in temps as our Davis weather station said it dropped from about 95° down to about 75° in something like 20 minutes. It was a one-time event so it's not yet monsoon season... but it was a hopeful sign! Bit of a fast moving river out th...

 ... but we have about 2 weeks to go. So knock it off with the thermostat-fiddling, ok?! We had a sprinkle of rain this Monday morning. One of those head-fakes that's supposed to trick us into believing monsoons have started early. Not gonna' work folks! We've been fooled too many times. Summer and monsoons start in early July (if they start at all!) and no amount of wishing will change that. I'm confident I'm right cuz I've tried the wishing thing before and it just doesn't produce much moisture. It's been warm enough that we've been running the AC. A lot. Including at nite. But if I'm honest the AC hasn't run after 11:00 PM yet. But we're ready for it! The Admiral got this pre-dawn shot beyond the adjacent development.   Odd cloud effect. Kinda looks like smoke but it's not. We've had some really attractive cloud formations.  

 ... but so far we haven't been plunged into the fires of hell we call "Summer" here in Southeast Arizona. Well why would we?! It's still Spring?! And a very pleasant Spring it has been. Temps have been very comfortable and no overnight freezes. And not much in the way of clouds during the day, but I did manage a couple shots to give the viewer the feel for what we see here... Looking Northwest from the rear of our lot at SKP Saguaro Co-op in SE Benson, Arizona Some moisture falling to the South of us but it never reached the park. The timing for a very red sunset like this shot is very difficult as it lasts only a few seconds .   SKP Saguaro Co-op is starting to look like a ghost town. Yeah, there are over 100 lots with residents still here. But with temps rising, those folks are starting to cling to their air conditioner rather than be outside! I do see a few folks out and about for their early morning or post-sunset walk... but not many. Today is an unplanned roast...

 ... and it seems to happen that way consistently.  And this wasn't the real so-hot-you-can't-stand-it which can hammer us here at the gates to hell. This pseudo-cremation schedule is an iffy sort of thing and very dependent upon monsoons. The NWS says monsoons start  in June-July but in reality it's very much July and it's very dependent upon the weather phenomenon which drives it. Some years monsoon rains are an occasional inconvenience and other years they are consistent and strong. And 'strong'? That means a lot of rain arriving in T-storms. And in case you've led a sheltered life, T-storm = thunderstorm.  So in the mean time we wait and watch. And that means sunrise photos...   One more thing: a few months ago I was alarmed by a news report that they were building a new electrical power substation across the mountains which border our San Pedro Valley. I've heard it called the Willcox Basin.  We recently had a ride in that direction and discovered...

We've known this was coming for a long time but I wasn't prepared for what "pavement overlay" meant. But here it is, 'done and dusted' as Michael would say. I did my part to help by offering my opinion. Sadly no one paid any attention to my extensive insight... "blah-blah-blah!" Pavement overlay turns out to be a new layer of asphalt over the old. They started down at the bottom of our street, Agave Lane, then worked their way uphill to the top of our street opposite the Dumpsters. They started the previous day on Tamarisk Lane, then we were next. Agave Lane is on the right side of the map (North side of the park).   Getting started bright (?) and early, about 0700. They had workers here before that getting the equipment running so it was warmed-up when the workers arrived. Will & Patty managed to take their white van (above) out of the park  and on the road to San Diego pre-dawn  before  they  started on our street. Agave Lane- all done and dust...

 ... 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. 

This blog started as a place for me to talk about coffee. But it didn't take long till I realized I'd settled on a single coffee origin (the place where the beans are grown) which we both liked: the state of Chiapas in Mexico.  Chiapas is the most southern state in Mexico bordering the Central American country of Guatemala.    Chiapas State, Mexico- their highlands are home of some fantastic coffee! I eventually accepted there was really only one way to roast it for us to both enjoy our morning cup: a dark roast that goes into 2nd crack by about 29 seconds. A recent typical roast of greens from Chiapas, Mexico. Life has caught up with us. For a number of years we both have had to limit our intake of coffee ( bummer! ). And I suspect the medical professionals we see on a regular basis would just as soon we stopped drinking coffee altogether! I've been told tea is an alternative but sadly tea (other than herbal tea) has more caffeine than coffee-  who'd a thunk it?! ...

 ... time to start whining about how hot it is! But maybe not this week. It was in the 80s over the weekend and into Sunday which was a nice break from freezing temps. But the 80s will disappear and we'll see a more expected high in the 70s. Hopefully the over-nite freezes are done till late fall.  In the meantime we have some pics with a tiny bit less color at sunrise than I expected. I was a little too early for a proper red/orange sunrise... breakfast chores were calling me! Early sunrise on 1 Mar... off to the Southeast. A little early for the best sunrise color. The weather happened to coincide with a change in the calendar to 1 March. Nice way to start the month! I'll take that as an omen that over-night freezes are over for the year. And a complementary peek off to the Southwest. We're in the midst of snowbird season here at SKP Saguaro Co-op with a lot of seasonal faces to try to recall. Sadly that's not happening and they all look like people I've never se...