birthday boy

Mr. D turned seven today. I think he has inherited my fashion sense! I am bringing cupcakes to school this afternoon, then his choice for dinner is Babe's Roundup hot wings to go. They are right up there with Buffalo Joe's. We are headed to San Diego on Thursday-he wants to go to SeaWorld instead of having a party.

Fall

The trees are beginning to show signs of fall here. This is our Mesquite outside the front door. The photo above is of some trees across the street. I'm hoping the trees along the Verde River will have some more reds and oranges. We'll see.

When we first got here, quite a few people told us that October was the best month weatherwise. So far, that has been true. It is chilly in the morning(40), but warms up to 80ish by 1:00. We saw a few clouds today :) Haven't turned on the heat at all yet. We thought about it last week when we had a few chilly(65) days, but it warmed up again.

befores and afters

I keep talking about how busy we have been working on the house, so here are a couple of projects we've got going on.

This is outside the guest bedroom patio door. I pulled all the grass(yes, it grows here) Friday. Yesterday the fun was had all day. Here is the before picture at 9:30am when we got back from Mario's Landscaping Supply in CV.

At about 2:30, we finished planting everything. A couple of nice boulders and some flowering plants should finish this off nicely. Gardens are always a work in progress, but I think this is a nice start.

What a change from Chicago gardening! Cacti are quite a challenge to plant. Spikes went through our leather gloves. The Saguaro on the right got Eric pretty good. He said it was like a bee sting. We might have to move it too. I'm not sure it will get enough sun there against the wall. The camera is pointed to the south east. We'll give it a few days :)

Another project I am working on is the countertops. The blue ones came with the house. My original plan was to keep them while we made our own concrete counter tops. A huge undertaking, but the thought of working with the concrete was intriguing to me, and they look so darn cool! Then my good friend Tracy A.(THANKS!!!) sent me a link to this cool stuff called Skimstone, a portland cement based product that goes right onto laminate countertops to create the look of concrete. So after a little research, and a trip to the paint store in Sedona, we decided that the Skimstone would be the way to go. Before doing the kitchen, I practiced on this counter in the pantry. It is sanded and ready for the base coat.

OOPS! I uploaded the wrong photo and didn't have the patience to figure out how to delete it from the the blog. This is in the parking lot of Hayfield Draw, where the boys ride their dirt bikes. The two calves just came walking through, then big daddy followed. That is when I backed off!

OK, Here is the after pic of the counter top. I looks way cool! There are three different materials that get skimmed onto the surface. Two coats of bonding primer, three(or more) coats of the colored cement mix, then five coats of clear topcoat. It comes in about 20 different colors, but you can mix them and layer them, so the possibilities are endless. I kept mine fairly simple, using an espresso and a red, mixing them together to get the redder brown color. Different shades can be achieved using more or less pigment in the cement. Actual work time is not that long, it is waiting for the coats to dry that takes all the time. Two days for this, with about 2 hours of actual work time

I am cooking up plans for the shelving and walls in this pantry. New hardware is in the plan too!

fun weekend

I know, another sunset. I couldn't help it. Who knows, I might have to start every entry with one :)
It was a fun filled weekend in CV, being Fort Verde Days and all. We started it off with a softball tournament Fri. night and Sat. morning. Eric and I got onto a coed team for the weekend. Since we had never played together as a team(that's the excuse I'm going with), we could have done a lot better. We got slaughtered in all three games we played, but had a lot of fun and met some nice folks. It was fun to swing the bat again.
After our games on Saturday, we watched the kids rodeo. We missed the really little(2-5) kids doing sheep riding, but made it for the calf, steer, and junior bull riders. OH MY GOSH, this is the wild west out here, and this stuff is for real. Even the calf riding is hairy. When the riders fall off, they can get stomped on, kicked, or run up against the fence. It is a little like watching a car wreck, but way more entertaining. No one got hurt(knock, knock), and only two people had to get looked at by the paramedics(I think they got their wind knocked out). Between riders, the announcer and the guy who sets up the Bull Bash(all proceeds go to the wrestling team) do a nice little comedy act. Quite witty really. All the pics of bull riding are the juniors.
Let me digress for a moment. I refuse to go to a circus, because I feel they are cruel to the animals, so it may sound strange that I enjoyed the bull riding so much. I'm surprised myself. They are such powerful animals, and the people that ride and handle really respect them. I think the bulls even enjoy the fear they bring to humans a little. I guess it seems a little more fair this way. It also beats being on a dinner plate :) I'll probably have more thoughts later on this.
There was also a carnival going on, so after the kids rodeo, it was off to spend large amounts of money on stupid games and mediocre rides. The boys had fun, so I guess it's all worth it. Good food, and craft booths are also part of the weekend, so there was not a boring moment. It was not exceptionally crowded either.
At 6:30, we headed back to the bleachers for the professional bull riding. The opening ceremony was very impressive, with a colonel, a couple soldiers, lots of flags, all the riders lined up, and a girl on a horse riding around the ring, carrying a flag while someone sang The Star Spangled Banner. I had taken the D70 home and exchanged it for a jacket. One of these days I learn to bring it everywhere!
Sunday we went back, to check out the mustang and burro adoption auction. People can adopt the wild animals for an opening bid of 125.00 at the silent auction. I am not in the market for wild animals, but they were cool to see. The horses. were gorgeous.
The auction took place on the grounds of Fort Verde, built in the early 1800's, to protect the settlers from Indian attacks. Now there is a museum, and a couple of original buildings. People dressed in period costumes are around to offer information and demonstrate various tools and weapons of that era. Pretty cool stuff. The boys liked the weapons. Did I mention this is right in town, about a mile from our house?


These guys have got to be crazy!

At least some of them wear helmets

The clowns are also heroes

That's the head honcho in the stripes

This bull is more our speed!

This was their favorite ride!

Now, onto the softball

Joel, our captain(sucker!), getting warmed up. Max is getting warm too.

We have to watch HOW MANY games?!

In the dugout Saturday morning

Joel and I traded between the mound and behind the plate. I think it was my first time playing catcher

Eric played third base.

October seems to be filled with outdoor activities around here. Now that the weather has cooled, everyone is out of hibernation. I'm looking forward to checking out more fun events, and will be sure to keep my camera with me.

maybe next year

When we were eating dinner in Jerome last night, the Cubs/D'backs game was on. 4-1 top of the eighth. I couldn't believe the Cubs were gonna get swept at Wrigley Field, but at the same time I could. And also at the same time, I was thinking that they could still win. Being a Cubs fan is a weird thing. For me, the emotional roller coaster of watching is sometimes too much. When they are in the running, it is just so intense. When they are in last place, or there is no hope of playoffs, watching a Cubs game is so much more relaxed for me. No pressure. No fantasizing of a World Series at Wrigley. No hope. Even last night, 4-1, top of the eighth, there was still hope for the Cubs to come out of that slump and win the series with the D'backs. Bottom of the ninth, 5-1, two outs with Soriano up to bat, there was a glimmer of hope. Then lights out, glimmer gone, and the Cubs we know and love are back again, getting swept in the first round of the playoffs at Wrigley Field. Maybe next year.
Go D'backs! (I think)

Jerome

Yesterday, I took the boys and a friend to Jerome, an old mining town turned artist colony built about a mile up on the side of a mountain. It is also known as America's Ghost Town. I thought there was a Ghost Walk(tour and info on five ghosts) yesterday, but we were a week early-OOPS. It was Art Night however, so a bunch of the galleries were open late. There is also a bike show going on in Cottonwood, so there were a ton of cool home made bikes and choppers to check out.

Before and after dinner at the Haunted Hamburger, we checked out a COUPLE (boys and shopping-not so much) of galleries. Mostly I looked in the stores and they stayed outside, yelling at the bikers riding by, trying to get them to honk their horns. A man who made zoetropics(sp?), those old moving picture things that you spin around was able to hold their attention for a good long time, while I browsed in one store. The guy made them out of the round plastic boxes that the 50 pack of CDs come in. Pretty cool.

I really enjoy going up to Jerome, and think about working in one of the galleries there sometime, in addition to selling my work somewhere up there. It is about 45 min from our house, but a gorgeous drive up a mountain, with lots of curves and switchbacks. Very popular with the bikers. I have not ridden up there yet, but plan to someday!

The following website has much more info on the funky little town: http://www.azjerome.com/

Next year is here

GO CUBS!!!
We were contemplating going to tomorrow's game(tickets were available), but couldn't bring ourselves to see the Cubs somewhere other than Wrigley Field. Maybe if there is a game 5, we'll head down to Phoenix with our Cubs gear on and cheer on the best baseball team ever.