I want some coffee!

... 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 ...