Happy Mid-October

Seems odd that half of October is history now.  We have barely two weeks left here in Tater Nation where King Tot rules from a french fry throne.

Susun really enjoyed the symphony last night and had all sorts of tales to tell this morning.  She will miss all her social and cultural opportunities when we head south but she sure is excited to visit with her many Arizona Friends soon.

Goatherder had an uncommon day yesterday.  He actually performed as a real live Minister and officiated at a wedding.  No kidding.  Here is an account of his exploits in his own words via email:

"I did a wedding today. Real big deal. Lotsa rich persons.You think of a name in the old Verde, they were there. Tavasci, Mulcaire, Mongini, Groseta, all them (Sons of The Italian Pioneers)* who settled here first.  Big tent, catered food, twinkling lights, vineyard below the house. (Pretty woman)* marrying a real nice kid. His mom used to be my boss. I worked out a whole wedding ceremony with 7 blessings, Hopi prayers and the whole nine yards. They loved it. an old lady called me "reverend" and asked me what my church was. I told her Our Lady Of Dubious Miracles. She said "oh, how nice". A good time had by all. I charged the newly weds a case of Guinness. Life is darn good."

*Words in parenthesis are not Goatherders.  We had to substitute our own words suitable for a family blog.  Our apologies, GH.

By the way, GH made a comment yesterday that explained how sixth graders are all dialed into undersea volcanoes.  Who knew?  Speaking of volcanoes, there's one rumbling in Iceland right now that could be a real game changer.  When it erupted in the 1780's it changed the climate so profoundly that the Mississippi River froze at New Orleans!  King Vulcan rox.

Our shooting match went well yesterday.  We qualified at the Marksman level with one of our pistols and we were very happy.

Today's yet another pistol match while Susun goes for our Sunday bike ride with Dear Friend Teresa.  Later  we will continue tinkering with trip preparations and take out the last of our garden.  Stay tuned for photos later today of some really nice looking, colorful October corn.

We've been swapping some emails with Verde Valley Historian Bill Cowan.  He has a book coming out December 5th on Verde history and photos.  We are excited to actually be there when his book debuts.  Bill has been trying to pinpoint the location of The Wales Arnold homestead near our straw house.  We plan to work with him soon to finally determine exactly there the Arnold Place was situated.  Should be a real interesting project.  It was the very first, original homestead in the entire Verde Valley!

Not much else to report--the trees are only days away from their peak of fall color.  We'll roam around soon and hopefully produce a photo album.  We've learned the trick to getting photos up here is to only take a FEW photos--not a lot of them.  Somehow, we get overwhelmed trying to process giant quantities of photos and then none of them ever see the light of day. 

Have a great day & Many Cheers, jp