This week I have been very happy to live where we do. It is peaceful living in the desert with few neighbors. There have been many times I have gone outside and all I could hear is animals. We can usually hear doves and quail for native animals. We also hear the neighbors’ horses, dogs, chickens and peacocks.

We have been blessed with unusually cool weather. Typically, by now there will have been some 90 degree days. The hottest we have had is around 85 and many days have been in the low 80s.

The last few weeks there has been some rain in the forecast for our area. Unfortunately, it all missed our property. One of the interesting things about where we live is how far we can see. From our back porch we can see rain cells 15 miles away. On rainy days we like to look out in the distance and hope the rain makes it to us; I think that is a desert thing.

Finally, we got some rain on Saturday. It wasn’t a lot for most people; we ended up with about .16 inches according to our rain gauge. That should be enough to get the cactus and desert shrubs to bloom. Next week we should have flower pictures to show.

Most of the rain fell in the afternoon, but there was a rainshower at sunset. That made for a beautiful sunset and rainbow combination.

Wednesday was one of those days that seemed like rain, but we got nothing here. We did have another beautiful sunset that day. It was also very windy. We had a pile of branches and boxes in the yard that needed to go in our trailer. I had to chase a bunch of those around with the older boys and weight them down to keep them from blowing away.

I did plant a variety of seeds on Sunday. So far the only thing that has come up is arugula. That is one of Lynn’s favorites so hopefully they do well.

I have some squash seedlings that are doing well and are ready for me to transplant them into a garden bed.

On Saturday, most of my time was spent working on the playground area before the rain came. We had a good setup in California, but I haven’t gotten it all together yet. We removed a bush so we could slide the set over and add the monkey bars. It isn’t garden work, but it does help to keep the kids active and happy.

I hope you all are staying safe and healthy in these times.

-Joshua