Spring Is Here!

The calendar and people in most areas of this country might not agree, but Spring is here. How do I know? It is getting into the 70s every afternoon. All of us living in the VIP compound here at Casa Grande are sitting outside, getting together to talk or share a glass of wine. This is the weather we come to Arizona in January and February and March to enjoy. And it has finally arrived.

Also, the Mourning Doves are courting, the Great Horned Owls that live in the roof over the Great House are tending eggs in their nest, and the Round-Tailed Ground Squirrels have come out of their burrows and are running around everywhere. This last evidence of Spring isn't something to celebrate. Sometimes they build nests under the hoods of trucks, cars and RVs, or just feed on the wiring they find there. All of us living here have one or more strings of Christmas lights glowing under our RVs at night. I don't know if that works or not. We haven't had any trouble with the critters either last year or this. Last year we didn't have the lights--just borax and moth balls. This year we have the lights. So do both kinds of cure work or don't we need either? We don't know.

Saturday we had two visitors. Fellow Montana 5th-wheel owners, David and Jo-Anna Kikel, stopped by. We first met them at Klamath, California. They were on their way to Alaska and we were headed to Oregon. They volunteer at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, where we visited them last year. Saturday we gave them a quick tour of Casa Grande, then visited for a while.



We have been quite social recently. Last week we drove to Surprise, on the northwest corner of Phoenix, to have lunch with Bill and Ellie Pendleton. We talked so long at the restaurant, I'm sure they were about to kick us out. It was a very good visit.

This weekt we have had some real competition while giving tours of the monument. An archaeological construction crew--I guess that is what you would call them--are correcting the drainage pattern in the southern half of the compound where we give tours. As you look at the equipment they are using, you can see why it is a real test. But the visitors here are good sports about it and very interested in what they are doing. Note the heavy equipment on the left and the tour group next to the Great House at the right.