Routine Days Of January

After all the holiday excitement January always seems routine to me.  By the time January 1 rolls around I am ready for people to go back to work, kids to go back to school and for life to return to normal–routine.  And for us to stop eating so much junk!  My Cowboy is addicted to Chex Mix made from Chex cereals.  He likes his made with just cereal–don’t be adding pretzels or nuts to his Chex Mix.  I only make the mix during the holidays and we went through way too many batches!  Today marks one week that the Cowboy has not eaten any beef–for him that might just be a record! 🙂  I did have a beef taco in Willcox on Thursday but that’s the only beef I’ve eaten this week too.

Saturday I finished sanding the beam in the main house and cleaned up the mess–sanding brown paint makes for lots and lots of dust.  I wear a TB mask–at least that’s what we always called this mask in the operating room.  It’s a mask which needs to be fitted although I think Home Depot sells only one size.  The masks are N95 made by 3M.  The mask has two elastic straps, one goes over the top of your head, the other around the base of your ears.  It fits VERY tight and if the room is warm as were some of our operating rooms, the mask is claustrophobic.  But it works and is necessary when caring for some patients such as those with TB.  It also works when sanding if you can stand to wear the things!

The Cowboy has been bouncing around–wiring, hanging insulation on the living room ceiling, plumbing–he’s my jack of all trades!  Sunday was “make a list” day and he spent time doing just that while I was at church.  We are gearing up to make an order large enough for Home Depot to deliver.  Home Depot of course charges to come here from Sierra Vista with a semi and forklift–the Cowboy likes to load everything he possibly can onto that truck!

I recently became a member of the Facebook group, Cochise County and Its Wonders.  The snow and rain we’ve had lately have made for some stunning photography.  This photo was taken by Jennifer Eastman Damato and when I asked questions about the location of this canyon, she kindly sent me GPS coordinates.  Water in the desert is an amazing thing to see!

In the wee hours of Sunday morning it began to rain and rained until late morning–a lot of rain.  After the rain we skirted the puddles and walked Emmi but spent most of our time inside, relaxing.  I finished a nativity scene worked in wool for my sister–it’s good to have it finished–I’ve only been working on it for over a year I think! 🙂

Lots of steam rising from the power plant–not much wind that day but it was chilly.

Sunday night at some point in my sleepless time, I looked out the window and saw stars–exciting, maybe it meant we would have sun on Monday.  Well–not exactly.Pea soup!

Off to Sierra Vista we go. The fog was incredibly thick–I don’t like to drive in dense fog and neither does the Cowboy–thankfully there is not a lot of traffic out here and we stayed alert.  By the time we got to our turn-off to Tombstone–Gleeson Road–the sun was shining and the views were incredible–the fog was hanging over the mountains and over both Tombstone and Sierra Vista.

First stop of course was Home Depot and by the time we walked out of there two hours later we were both in a daze.  It’s the luck of the draw as to which person waits on you at the Pro Desk.  We didn’t get very lucky today–we will just leave it at that! 😦  For lunch we found some fast food which unfortunately included beef as in burgers to go and made a quick stop at Fry’s–the grocery store.  It was a relief to finally reach our quiet home in the desert.