Patriach of the pueblo enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the sun.

Monsoons

You can't live in Arizona and not hear about "monsoons". People talk about them like they are some mysterious, alien that blows in for 3-4 months and then blows out until the next year. You can't really appreciate rain until you don't see a single drop for months! Then magic happens and it rains daily, or at least every few days for weeks along with thunder, lightening, high wind and flooding - just like in midwest. You don't just wake up one day and wonder if it is monsoon season. The TV stations, radio stations and news papers track them and there is not doubt when they have arrived - that's all you hear on the news. They have officially arrived when the dew point (whatever that is) had been 54 (something) for 3 consecutive days. This monsoon season was expecially wet as the usual rain fall is about 6.5 inches and we got 10.5 inches at the airport. Now, parts of town got several more inches but the airport measurement is all that matters... Since the rain is only for a few months a year, they don't build roads, etc for rain run-off with culverts, etc. The roads just have a dip in them and become impassable during the rain. Flooded streets around here are serious business. Rose Hill Wash runs through the golf course behind our house and normally just an low spot with a dry creek bed in areas. However, 2 days after we moved in there was a big rain and the dry, low spot became a raging river in just a matter of minutes. This picture was taken from our patio. The rain stops and within an hour the wash is dry again. The monsoons in southern Arizona is one of the seasons like spring or winter is in other places. Sure beats snow....

A Friend's Trip To Africa

Joe, a friend and former co-worker who lives in Nebraska, went to Africa for 2 weeks in late August on a church sponsored trip. Here are a couple of pictures he took while on the trip. I volunteered to create a presentation for him to use during his speaking engagements when he talks about the trip at churches and schools around his home town area. Joe kept a journal of the trip and did a good job - for a guy... The group included farmers, doctors, nurses, teachers, ministers, computer technician, general contractor, sales manager (Joe), loan manager, x-ray technician and business entrepreneur. The ages of the group ranged from 22 - 78. Part of the group was from Nebraska and the rest were from their sister church in Hawaii. After he got home, he sent me a CD with 3,141 pictures on it that I culled through to select the ones to use in the preventing presentation. The pictures are just incredible and don't need much text to tell the story since they speak for themselves. Besides the schools they visited, they also set up clinics in some of the villages where hundreds of people came for medical care. The group went on a safari before coming home. I have spent hours on the presentation and thoroughly enjoyed it. He is writing the text for it and the first presentation is at his church on Nov 12th.

The Joys of Home Ownership

Slowly but surely the stumps in the back yard are being dug out and Larry can now be considered an expert in stump removal. We knew there would be suprises when we bought a 25 year old house and yesterday during stump removal we found one... Once the tree was cut down, we could see wet dirt and a week later it was still wet - not good! Larry started digging yesterday morning and the bigger the hole, the faster it was filling with water. He uncovered the water line going to the sprinkler system, cleaned the dirt away, tapped the 25 year old rusted galvanized 3/4" pipe and it broke in half. Now the hole is really filling with water and we don't know where the main shut-off valve for the house is yet. But by the end of the day the shut-off valve has been found, the line is replaced, it works and now Larry qualifies as plumber in addition to " expert stump removal person". And when it is all done - you get to set and read the paper.