I want some coffee!

I'm not sure I qualify for using this not-very-kind title. I was not the top of my class in anything science or arts related, but I do enjoy techie subjects. These days my tech efforts are limited to too much detail about roasting coffee. In the past that also included brewing coffee. Over the last couple years I've accepted that I keep doing things the same way cuz I like what I'm tasting and I don't want to change anything. The Admiral's tolerance for this 'same-ness' has proven to be remarkable! For perhaps the last 2 years I have been buying green (unroasted) beans - what we coffee nerds call 'greens' - from Coffee Bean Corral in Jackson, Mississippi . These organic (!) greens are sourced from the state of Chiapas in Mexico. Chiapas is the most southern state in Mexico and it is also (at upper elevations) a coffee growing region. I gave it a try a few years ago and decided it was good enough I didn't care to keep experimenting to find somethi...

 ... but no follow through!   We seem to be getting a lot of this: what looks like the promise of some moisture but no follow-through. This is a shot roughly Southwest from our site. The 'threatening' clouds seemed to promise moisture but no joy! And 'moisture'? A phrase I picked up from relatives who were cattle ranchers in Wyoming. Al Smith insisted they didn't get 'rain', they got 'moisture'. I guess because it came in such limited amounts the term 'rain' overstated the actual results. Maybe. I guess.  We are plodding our way thru August in expectation of cooler days to come in September. Or at least that's what history tells us to expect. Monsoons are essentially non-existent this year. We get a tiny sprinkle and that's it. This year we had just over 0.5" of rain in July where we would expect about 1.5" in a 'proper' monsoon season. The reason? Neither  ' La Niña ' nor ' El Ni ñ o ' currents are e...

... but only a little bit. Close to sunset looking due South from our lot in SKP Saguaro Co-op. We had a bit of rain before I took the shot above. It cleaned the skies to the South of our park and left us with nice blue colors ahead of sunset. And the RV with the giant BandAid on it? A visitor to the park who had a right of way dispute with a permanent concrete structure in (I think they said) Tucson. They're still waiting for the repair guy to get started. An aside that perhaps no one but me seems to have noticed: as I type this on 18 July 2025 we have about 102 leaseholders in the park. Compared to say 2019, by July that number would typically be down to 50-60 and would hit a low of about 45 in mid-August. A lot has changed in RVer's travel-lives since the start of the COVID pandemic. 

Well, OK. Maybe only a *little* bit wet. We had a goodly downpour on 5 July but that doesn't count. 'Why is that?' you ask. Wellll... My magic day for the start of monsoon season is 6 July as related to me by the weather oracle. The 'oracle' was a waitress (does that make her an oracl-ess?) at the no-longer-there Cloverleaf Diner. Unfortunately the rain we had happened one day early on 5 July. Clearly that means either there is an error in the calendar or more likely the weather gods aren't paying attention to the required start of monsoon season. I'd gladly send them a copy of Dave & Carrie's annual photo calendar but the weather gods don't seem to want me to know their mailing address. I guess weather gods are like that. Probably afraid of that addy getting in the wrong hands! Nonsense aside this time of year offers a lot of sunset photo ops. Here's the best I can offer from this week... Sunset 8 July 2025 looking out our back door.  Sunse...

... monsoon season is almost upon us! Gratuitous sunset photo here at SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson, AZ...  nothing to do with the monsoon forecast. I suppose if you made your home in India or Thailand you would find our use of 'monsoon' a little- mmm... overstated. But our summer weather pattern meets the criteria: prevailing winds that originate over the Pacific Ocean then travel inland before turning a little North to follow loosely the East-face of the Rocky Mountains toward Canada while also spreading East to Great Lakes. This annual occurrence is the primary source of moisture for those of us living down here in the San Pedro Valley of Eastern Arizona. Well, the monsoon and the San Pedro River which flows North out if Mexico into the USA.  And fwiw*, the San Pedro River is the only river to flow North out of Mexico into the USA. So now you know. This is what NWS (National Weather Service) has to say about 2025 monsoon here in Arizona- 2025 NWS forecast for Arizona. Tucson ...

Just the thing to cause heat stroke in June! Looking East down the 300 Row (lots 302 thru 324 are on the left) toward the Dragoons.   As my old cruising friend Michael would say "it's bloody hot!" June is the worst month cuz monsoons haven't started and, as of 13 June as I type this, they are still about 23 days away (yeah, they're usually that predictable). A local told us about 15 years ago that monsoon season starts here in Benson on about 6 July so we have a few weeks left to whine. And naturally I'm doing my best to play the part! Early mornings have been spectacular- clear and in the upper 60's. But the morning walk needs to be done and dusted by 0800 cuz it's gonna get pretty ugly after that. In preparation I tried to get ahead in my coffee roasting but I only was able to do about 8 extra pounds. At 3 lbs. per week it's not enough. Bummer. So I need to brave it one morning and do a few more lbs. Life in the fast lane that is Benson, AZ. 

I'd bet a nickel I've used that title before. It's a no-brainer- it's always getting hot in the San Pedro Valley! Or at least that's how it feels. And sunsets are still spectacular even when snapped from the porch with a cell phone- Sunset from the landing outside our front door. Temps are creeping up as they do in the latter part of spring. We will probably see our first 100°+ day before this posts at the end of May. It's actually been milder than we have seen some years so there's no room for complaint. Well... unless I have a specific request to whine. I can certainly do that if needed!! Snowbirds started heading toward the travel-door well before the end of April. Not sure what those folks found when they got back to their home turf but I suspect it was not terrible weather. Well... unless you live in Telluride, CO (a ski area) where a friend is spending his summer: they had more snow a few days ago (19 May?). But then that's Colorado at over 10,000...