Warm & Brown

Our beautiful, green-flowery desert has dried up and turned brown. The only color over the landscape is some yellow from the Palo Verde trees, and an occasional yellow, red, and orange from some cacti. Mostly, it is just brown and crisp. The winds have been blowing almost every day (some days much harder than others) and is causing the State some concern over fire danger, but so far only a couple small fires have been reported and taken care of. This last week temperatures have all been in the high 80s to mid 90s. Thank goodness it is still cooling down to the low 60s in the evening. Again, it is a “Dry Heat” after all!!

Since the last time I posted, we have only done a few caches and attended one caching event. The event was a lot of fun because it was in the west valley, and we got to meet other cachers that we knew by name only. Plus, the event was at a local pub and the food and drinks were excellent!!

Tomorrow is Ken’s last day in the rock shop. He just has to do some cleaning of equipment and making room for a door to be punched through the wall into a storage area in order to increase the size of their work area. The increase in work space will give the guys (and gals) a much nicer area to work. There has been such an increase in membership this year that they really needed it. Of course, the Lapidary shop is a huge draw for new residents and helps the park owners keep their spaces filled.

I will continue to wire wrap some of Ken’s finished stones (pendants), but Ken is taking some of his finished pendants and placing them as the central drop on beaded necklaces. Ken is doing the beading and making some very pretty designs. We hope to have many items finished and ready for the next season’s craft and art show. Plus, he is finishing up some to be donated to next season’s raffle during the rock hound chili dinner and stage play.

We only have two more weeks left here and are in process of sorting out what will be going back to Oregon with us. Seems we always end up with more than we really need here and with the cost of fuel, we are going to skinny down some of the “stuff” we are hauling around.

Once we get “back on the road” again, I will post more often and keep everyone up-to-date on our trip. Until then, we hope everyone stays safe and healthy.