I Like It!

Employment

It's official. About 3:00 this afternoon I got a call telling me I had passed my drug test and background check. I will be officially employed again starting Monday morning. It's a temp job that will last until the end of the year (at best) but it pays more than unemployment.

Yippee.

Farmer's Market

Bet you didn't know Phoenix has a Farmer's Market. Yep. Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning. It's not as big or nearly as weird as the Saturday Market in Eugene, OR but it is fun. You can get free range chicken eggs for only $5/dozen! I'm sorry, but the hens can sit in little cages before I'll pay that much for eggs. I did get some really tasty tomatillo salsa though. Had samples of organic chocolate, ate a tamal, picked up a book at the book exchange. Had more samples, but not the granola.

This is Shannon. She makes "hand-crafted ice cream and seasonal sorbets" using as many local ingredients as possible. Yummy! And the ice cream is pretty good, too.

Fresh, expensive veggies!

Handmade soap!

Organic chocolate!

Salsa! When this guy says hot, he means it.

http://www.gagetheheat.com/

Random farm babe.

Around town

I live about a half a mile from the new Mesa Riverview shopping center. It's not really a mall because the stores are all outside. It's too big for me to think of it as a strip mall. So I guess it's just a shopping center. Anyway, they have some interesting public art there.

Here's a cute little statue of a game of leap frog.

Why statues of frogs in Mesa? I don't know either.

But it is interesting.

Plus there's Humpty Dumpty. I suspect his nose has been rubbed a few times for luck or something. It's too shiny!

Riley Elden Warner

The largest influence in my life left this veil of tears today. In the words of David Gates:

"I would give anything I own,

I'd give up my life, my heart, my home,

Yes I would give everything I own,

Just to have you back again."

Goodbye, Dad. We will meet again.

Happy Birthday!

Tomorrow the youngest of my brood turns 19. My how time flies. I regret that I don't know him better than I do. My fault, and my loss. Anyway, happy birthday, Curtis! I hope you are doing well. I love you and miss you.

Success! Well, sort of...

After a change of strategy we joined in battle with the stump once more. The new plan was to cut it off as close to the ground as feasible then burn the rest. So Andrea's husband Josh has been attacking it a little bit at a time. I went back last Wednesday. Thursday I spent 3 hours in the hot, hot Arizona sun hacking at the big ol' stump. When I was teetering on the edge of heat exhaustion I decided to call it a day and to start early the next morning when it was under 100 degrees. When I went in, Grandpa asked me how close it was to being done. So I went back out to measure it and discovered it was only held up by a strip of wood about 3" wide x 10" long. I broke out the chainsaw again. I figured I was already about as hot and sweat as I could get so why not finish the job? After another half hour, the top of the stump finally slid off the bottom portion. My arms, shoulders, and back were not happy.

I don't want to be a lumberjack when I grow up.

Then I spent about a half hour Thursday morning cutting the smaller stump in front of the house. Thanks to Uncle Seth for the loan of his truck, Paul for helping load the wood in the back of said pickup, and Anna for the round trip. The wood has been delivered to my friend Jerry and we have high hopes of seeing something beautiful come out of all this!