Stucco Finishing

We are finally having “normal” Arizona weather–lower than normal temps for this time of year but warm, nonetheless!  And not much of the “w” word!

Monday I spent the day in preparation for my being gone and our North Ranch ATV gang arrival.  It’s always nice to have a meal prepared for you when you’ve traveled all day and if you’ve ridden ATV’s all day–both those meals are now in the freezer.

At least twice a day one of us will say, “just look at those gorgeous poppies!”  And my dear Cowboy corrected me–our flowers are probably Mexican poppies rather than California poppies.  The yard is literally a carpet of yellow, orange, white and now even some light pink poppies.  And we aren’t the only ones with flowers–the poppies are everywhere, even out among the tumbleweeds and grasses, along the roadsides–all the rain this winter has created this “super bloom.”

Monday afternoon the stucco crew arrived–they taped a few windows and were gone but came back again Tuesday morning bright and early.  By days end they had applied the color coat to just past that black screen door on the right and to all the “bump outs” around the windows and doors.  Hard workers those guys!  Today our friend/neighbor/well driller stole our stucco crew–;) 😉  Brian has been struggling to get his shop built–he had issues obtaining the extra lots and when that finally happened, all hands were on deck to get the concrete poured.  It’s a huge shop and Brian is tired of working on equipment outside on the ground, in the mud and wind.  So, he can borrow our stucco crew. 😉

Wednesday morning we installed some of the final insulation–hallelujah!  But we ran out of insulation and made a flying trip to Sierra Vista for insulation and another mirror for the half bath–the first mirror we purchased was defective.  We stopped to have a look at the new 50 inch wide CanAm side by sides–Bombardier took out the center console which our 58 inch CanAm has and put the engine in the rear instead of in the middle under our seats.  Pro–the engine in the rear might make the cab a bit cooler–the engine under our seats makes for one hot menopausal woman at times! 😉  And, we would fit on USFS 50 inch trails.  Con–no place to put Emmi’s perch–she rides on a pad we place on the console.  Our CanAm is a 2017 with less than 1000 miles–don’t think we will be trading any time soon!

This warm weather has me thinking–flowers–and I brought home two geraniums and some African daisies from Lowe’s.  The Cowboy just rolls his eyes–oh well!  Tonight we were at Dan and Louanne’s for happy hour–Louanne has been gone for a few days and it’s great to have her back in the neighborhood!

About those citrus trees we purchased–no one seems to think we can grow citrus in this valley at 4500 feet elevation.  There is a lemon tree across the former golf course from Louanne and Dan–it produces pithy lemons because no one waters the tree but it produces lemons and is alive.  The nursery owner and our friend/neighbor/well driller/life long resident Brian both tell me citrus will not grow here.  Now one of the stucco guys is getting in on the act–I walked outside the other morning to see him fingering the lemon tree leaves.  I said, “those trees are going to grow.”  He replied, “somewhere!!”  Dan is hopeful I can grow lemons–he likes lemon in his vodka tonics–but just in case the trees don’t grow he wanted me to have lemons and purchased this just for me!