Inside The Oven

Good Morning Arizona!!  Let's face it ... it's an oven.  Now I know what it's like to be a cake.  At least not a convection oven on this day.  Instead, just for giggles, the monsoons are trying to come in, making it quite muggy.  I guess Mother Nature thinks we should have a nice hot bath and clean up our act.  It's predicted to be 102 with thunderstorms and patchy rain for the next 8 days.  Won't THAT be fun!!  The clouds are rolling in as I type.  

 At least I have a nice view.  I never get tired of looking at this sight.  And if you look VERY close, you can actually see about 20 blades of green grass!!  Okay, off to Ace Hardware I go once again because I STILL don't have the right parts to fix the sprinkler.

What's in the bag you ask?  Well let me tell you the OTHER reason I go to Ace, besides the MEN.  Not only do they have the biggest and best store in the West, but they have free POPCORN.  That old fashioned popper puts out some of the best I've ever eaten.  They even had pyrex dishes.  NO ONE carries these any more that I know of.  

You will be shocked, I know, but I've finally given up the paper bowls for reheating my leftovers.  The price has just gone through the roof.  Truly wasteful you might say, but so far they were cheaper than paying for the water to wash the dishes three times a day.  Of course my other motivation was I HATE doing dishes.  Guess I'll have to learn to like it a little better.

I picked up the sprinkler riser I needed (still thinking it wasn't going to be enough) and went to talk to the guys in the back.  Yessirree .... THIS Ace Hardware has a lumber section.  Not only that, but I swear there's a very handsome man standing in almost every single aisle to help you out.  Okay, I admit, some of them are grandson age, but that's okay ... they are all nice as can be!

I landed THREE on this trip ... three nice men helping me find some wood scraps for Jonathan to chew on. Talk about service ... probably cuz I'm an old lady ... but they even cut them up for me in perfect portions. To make it even better ... they gave it all to me for free when they learned what it was for.   I may just have to visit them weekly for the good looking nice men.

On the way home, I stopped in at the Four Arrows Garden that just moved in about a mile away.  Do you not LOVE this gate?  Sadly, they were closed.  I was hoping to get some idea of what to plant in my back yard that might survive in spite of me.  

Back home I actually went out in the heat and fixed the sprinkler.  It's not the permanent solution, but it works just fine.  The quail and thrashers are happy to now have DAMP ground to dig holes in.  I love to watch the Daddys teach the kiddos how to do it.

Lunch was one of my all time favorites that I rarely have.  Since it seems I need more salt, I picked up some pastrami and Swiss cheese.  Completely disguised under the cheese is a piece of bacon.  Oh my great Aunt Louise ... THIS was delicious.  I only made half a sandwich since this is probably equal to the calories of an ENTIRE sandwich.

Looky here ... do you see it?  GREEN grass blades coming up.  I'm sure the dandelions will follow.  Now I can get to spraying the oleander that is trying to regrow over the septic tank and cleaning up the dead stuff.  When it gets COOL ... I'll do it when it gets cool!!  It's hard when you only have 30 minutes in the morning to get all your work done before Mother Nature hits the BROIL button.  

On one trip outside with Mr. Cooper, we heard this terrible racket.  I know that sound because my ex-husband crashed one of these things many moons ago.  Basically they have a lawn mower engine running a big fan that pushes them through the air.  He ran out of gas.

Why these guys would want to do this in this heat, I've no idea, but there were two of them flying down the valley towards Tucson.

I thought they were pretty picture worthy.  I'm guessing they went maybe four miles before landing.  I hope it wasn't in the desert!  That could be pretty ouchy!

More news ... on the way home I ran into my neighbor and HONEST truck repair guy that's as nice as they come.  I remembered lots of banging around their house, so I asked if he got a new roof.  He got solar installed, along with that roof.  He said the roof came to about $15,000, but it was the solar company who contracted the roof replacement.  At least I now have a better idea of what's a good price.

One more company will be coming out this week.  As much as I'm in a big hurry to get this done before monsoons begin, it's just a slow process.  I have to learn to be more patient.  Yeah, that's me alright ... Patient Petunia!!

The rest of the day was spent cooking some roast beef for Cooper.  Believe it or not, it's much cheaper than buying canned food for him.  I snagged a good chunk of it for myself, and even made SALSA to go with it.

You might think that is a modern day thing, but back on the ranch, we made our own salsa almost every day.  All that beef we cooked?  Many times it was boiled on the stove, sometimes deep pitted in the ground.  Any way you look at it, it could be very dry.  

We made this tomato, onion, cilantro and jalapeño salsa to add a little moisture.  That's probably because we grew all the ingredients.  This really brought back a taste of the ranch!

And so ended another day in the oven.  

Today I'll be working on that door lock.  At least I'll be HALF inside!!