June 2010

My daughter Bailey K and I have returned from the June excursion with tales of heat, humidity, and infestation! Five weeks ago, Bailey K, R. Ayrton, an artist named Ryan and myself arrived to find the adobe had been transformed into a beehive. Between the bees, the flying ants, the flying termites, conenose beetles and a large number of moths, scorpions, spiders, grasshoppers and the appearance of "the wind scorpion" or as I call it "the wind fury," we had our hands full. The ever intrepid Ayrton dispatched the rather large and perfectly formed bee hive on the first night, with the aid of a hillbilly bee suit we fabbed up on the fly. The remaining days and weeks were spent defending the adobe from further infestation. We got some work done too. Adding metal to the sides of the pole barn to enclose the trailer and water tanks was done to further achieve the "old tin building" effect. More work is required there. On the next trip, I guess. Ryan and Ayrton left after the first week. Bailey and I forged on. Bouyed by a party at Phil and Regina's, visits with Casey and Sara, a pot luck at the Ranch, and various distractions to Study Butte and Alpine, not to mention the Grub Shack. We survived the record temps and produced some watercolors to boot. Found the parts and assembled " Travis" and "Mouscorpion." We have trapped over 5000 gal. of water and it is the beginning of rainy season. So after a rough start, we pulled it out on the big end, and were glad to return to our respective loved ones. Ayrton and I wrecked out wood from the Rock house to use on the tin bldg. Soon the work will begin in earnest on the "Rockhouse".............R