I want some coffee!

 ... and I have the proof. It's our first freezing temperature for this Fall 2024. Time to get out the Long Johns! Oh... and it's a 'new moon'. Check this from a couple mornings ago. Yes, up for my walk before dawn (your laughter is rude!). Just in time for Halloween. (Almost a) New Moon- 29 Oct 2024 Life in the fast lane that is SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson, AZ. And in keeping with the arrival of October it appears the snow birds are starting to return to the park (without the snow birds there would be no SKP Saguaro!).

... is much like watching grass grow. For those stimulated by change it's probably not too rewarding. And this year is more of the same but exaggerated. On the bright side there have been a few nice sunrises to enjoy as I plod around the park pretending I'm awake. I can make it about 1/4 mile then I have to stop till the cramps in my hip subside, then I stomp along like everything is 'peachy keen'. Mmm... to non-octogenarian readers, 'peachy keen' is like 'just fine' but with a sarcastic bent. I can think of several more self explanatory word choices but I'd probably offend someone. And, just so I don't look too conspicuous standing in one spot like I'm waiting for a handout, I get out my phone and pretend I'm reading a new text message or checking my BBC News feed. I'm living in a place with people much like myself so I'm probably not fooling anyone but it's what I do. Getting the phone out is also an opportunity to point one...

We're witnessing summer fighting to the last gasp. We might see 100°F today here in Benson. But we won't be here to 'enjoy' it since I have some tests to complete before I see the ophthalmologist next week. Instead we'll get to enjoy upper-100s in Tucson. Oh joy. But I definitely had a nice morning walk this AM. This shot was taken looking East across San Pedro Valley toward the Dragoons... Post-sunrise as the sun paints a nice start to a Fall day.

I was afraid we were going to go thru all of September - the last month of monsoon season - without a drop of rain here in Benson, Arizona. Monsoon season most often brings us at least 1.5" of rain each month in July, August and September. But Mother Nature came thru for us... Proof-positive we had some rain in September! 0.19" of rain is not much but it beats zero !

... it's turning hot again! Well... maybe not so much 'hot' as dry! This was a typical September head-fake that summer is over. But instead of genuinely cooler weather from the approaching Fall season. the monsoons dry up which means no clouds. No clouds = hotter weather.  8 days out of 10 with no rain means no clouds to shade us from the sun. Ugh! I occasionally note the number of leaseholders returning to the park. We have 113 here compared to a mid-summer low of about 105. That's 113 leaseholders on-site compared to a maximum of about 300 leaseholders. There are also about 23 annual 'renters' plus another 27 six-month renters (renters don't get to vote at board meetings but are probably on the Hot List to get a lot when one becomes available). There are something like 400 leaseholders and renters combined, though not all return every year- travel plans and health issues make it variable. So the annual migration of snowbirds to Southeast Arizona hasn't...

It sounds like wishful thinking as I sit here typing away while pretending the blast from the mini-split AC above my head is 'normal'. Could we be feeling the effects of the annual weather transition from summer into fall? Seems too early as it's just the first week of September and Fall is still a couple weeks away. Yeah... it's actually Labor Day today. Broken clouds over the Dragoon Mountains of San Pedro Valley not long after dawn. And yes, Mrs. B's lazy husband really was out of bed before dawn.   The colors in the photo above make the morning look cooler than what we've been experiencing. A couple hours later the temps were back into the 90s. But the good news is it was the 90s and not the 100s! Life is good here in Southeast Arizona.

Straight out of my memory of a Western radio show episode of perhaps Red Ryder or the Lone Ranger or whatever. I was a big fan of anything with a Western theme which involved a 6-gun, galloping horses, cattle, stage coaches and talking like a cowboy.  Of course in 1959 I got a dose of reality. My paternal grandfather had lived in Buffalo, Wyoming around the time of the Johnson County Cattle Wars. He might have stayed and lived happily ever after except Margaret Lothian declined his proposal and instead married the guy with the ranch. Decades later when they both were widowed he asked again and this time she said yes.  That was in 1956. My recently widowed grandfather sold his property in Santa Cruz, California and moved lock, stock & barrel to Buffalo where he married Margaret and lived with her in the rear apartment of the Occidental Hotel. Margaret had owned and operated the hotel since her first husband won it in a high stakes poker game. It was a resurrection of sorts:...