What goes in must come out

Susun said several times yesterday, "I don't know how you fit in all that stuff."  Both trucks were packed to the max.  There wasn't room for another item of any kind.  We didn't really notice until we arrived here that the poor Nissan was actually way out of level the whole trip.  The back end pointed down like some low rider vehicle.

Due to the impending storm that's 100% certain to arrive today, we arose hurriedly yesterday and spent much of the morning burning our tumbleweeds.  They burn a lot better than they are dry.  The prep time for our burn actually took longer than the burn itself.  We spent perhaps 90 minutes ridding the place of our tumbleweeds.  In the times gone by, we often spent days and days dealing with those dastardly tumbleweeds.

We both worked at a very fast pace trying to "unstuff" what we had stuffed into the trucks.  We successfully unpacked the big truck but most of the Nissan remains to be dealt with today.  As more and more stuff oozed and fell out of the big truck, we both marveled at the sheer volume of items we brought south.  Luckily, there's adequate space in our house and sheds to "digest" all that stuff.

One of the fun chores of the day was hooking up the television.  We don't have satellite here.  We take whatever we can get "off the air."  There's actually quite a good lineup of channels available free.  Susun really went over the top yesterday when she got to watch "Oprah's Favorite Things."  Susun actually did a celebration dance in the front yard when she realized she could get to see the famous annual episode of Oprah's Favorite stuff.  Ah, the simple pleasures of life.

We enjoyed another fine campfire and were delighted to greet Dear Friend and neighbor Gary W.  when he and is dog, Jasper, materialized from the depths of Montezuma Wash.

Dinner was our first bowl of those fresh pinto beans from Gooding, Idaho.  People say SW Colorado "Dove Creek" beans are the best.  Heck, we said that ourselves for years, too.  Now, we beg to differ.  The Gooding beans are head and shoulders above the Dove Creek beans.  For one thing, the Dove Creek beans are dry farmed in a heavy clay soil.  Gooding's beans enjoy the luxury of Snake River irrigation water while spreading their roots in rich volcanic soils. (People really can't say "They don't know beans." about us!)

Today promises to be very windy--afternoon gusts might be as high as 50 mph.  Luckily, all our outside chores are done for awhile and we have plenty of inside tasks to tackle.  Even though the trucks are unpacked, that doesn't mean we've actually unpacked each of the boxes.  My, my, the Joads had nothing on us.

On a closing comment, we've noted that the use of the words "sucks" has really gained some creed in recent years.  It's now showing up on billboards along I-15 in Salt Lake City and popping up every where else, too.  It showed its face this morning in a headline from the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff that blares: "A research project that really sucks."

As chance would have it, the story is super-duper.  Why's that?  Well, it's about an academic research project right smack dab next door at our neighbor Montezuma Well!  We think you will enjoy reading about it even if it all about leeches.  And, trust me, leeches really DO suck!  Click here to access the article.

That's about it for this morning.  Have a Great Saturday & Cheers!  jp