I want some coffee!

... 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...