FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND

Woke up this morning and enjoyed morning coffee outside.

Surrounded in Yeshua's love, refreshed in the Ruach HaKo'desh, & covered with Elohim's grace.

In the sunshine.

In warmth.

I enjoy drinking my morning coffee, waiting for the cactus blossoms to burst out in flower.

Without feeling crowded - watched - monitored - irritated and annoyed.

With my husband.

With my dog.

This could not have happened in WA.

In WA State, I lived in a mobile home community where homes were 6 feet apart … too close for my comfort.

I don't like having my every move watched.

I don't like being monitored.

These things irritate, and annoy me.

Plus the weather in WA is always heavy with moisture - if it isn't raining continually for 9 months out of every year, it's indecisive when it comes to hail and snow. None of this is good for weak lungs.

The landscape here is basically gravelly grit desert:

I had walked barefoot over the gritty ground surrounding our patch of desert - and left my footprints behind. It was gritty, but not hot. Not sharp.

But so far there hasn't been any dust-ups … and when a vehicle does pass that kicks up a dust storm in passing, our lungs do not seize up. Both of our lungs are doing much better here, in Arizona :-)

Our currant location is the second hottest … and the most wettest … desert: the Sonora Desert in Arizona, USA, where daytime temperatures may exceed 40ºC (104ºF - 118ºF) in summer and where rain fall is 120-133 mm (4.7-11.8 in) annually. This desert is unusual in that it experiences two wet seasons: one from December to March, and a second from July to September.

It is the only place in the world where Saguaro Cacti grow.

When a saguaro reaches 35 years of age it begins to produce flowers. I noticed today that there was a sweet smell on the air - it kinda smelled like honeysuckle, but there is no honeysuckle vines here; so, I'm thinking it was the saguaro blossoms sending off their scent.

It's loaded - and I will literally get to watch it bloom while sipping coffee on my astro-turf {patio}.

Saguaro flowers start to blossom in the first week of May and continue through about the first week of June (however - it is now October, and we are seeing cactus blossoms ;-)). Saguaro flowers bloom for less than 24 hours. They open at night and remain open through the next day. They only have that very short time to attract an animal to be pollinated. Saguaro cacti grow their first arms anywhere from 70-90 years old, so a saguaro with many arms may well be older than 100.

This blossoming cactus is the one we saw driving to this site; Holland's draw was the bushed wash … my draw was the cactus ;-)

This morning I was up early with Bleu, and we both were startled when we heard and felt something hit the backend of the bunk room; it was dark, so I didn't investigate … but I did mention it when Holland woke up. He checked it out: there was no damage, but he did see tracks in the sand that gave evidence that a rabbit had been under the R.V. So, we are thinking a coyote was chasing the rabbit and ran into the backend of the bunk room when the rabbit took refuge.

By noon today, we were all wearing cool wet bandana's around our necks to keep our body temperatures from overheating.

And Bleu was stretched out in the coolness under the RV.

Lunch was very light: a chilled salad.

I pulled my hair back because it was soaking wet by noon. We all wore soaked, cooling, bandanas.

Salad for lunch - too hot for anything else.

Bleu mimicked the rabbit … and took refuge under the RV.

Holland is taking pride in the fact that the beast generator started right up this morning and ran smoothly through the day. We need the generator to keep the 'fridge at maximum capability; the beefy generator can handle the 'fridge, air conditioners, and other things that make large draws on power. The baby generator works well, too, but I'm glad the beefy generator is finally working like it should; the baby generator keeps the power on, but Holland was concerned it couldn't handle the 'fridge draw. Holland is taking pride in the fact that the beefy one has been running steadily since early this morning, keeping e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. in our home running smoothly.

The generator is running at full capacity since this morning; it hasn't choked up at all. YAY!

We're still debating the solar panel topic; if the generators keep operating correctly, we won't need the added encumbrance.

We can't turn the generator on until 7 A.M., and have to turn it off at 10 P.M., but that's okay - temperatures are not as hot before 7 - and begin to cool down around 10, with a slight breeze that feels good.

We ran the beast generator until about 6 P.M. tonight, then switched to the baby generator for evening use because it is quieter in operation.

The loud beast generator was shut down for the night, & the quieter baby generator was hooked up.

Sunset was around 6:30 P.M., and we all enjoyed sitting on our oil-cloth/astro-turf patio, watching the desert sky light up with oranges and yellows - highlighted by flamingo-pink clouds.