Author: Steve

 

The newly planted, ten inch high, Texas Lantana had a fine time.

 

It grew all the way up onto the back porch!

 

The Dwarf Firebush which was knee-high when we left, forgot it was a dwarf.

 

 

But not while we’re on trips.  That was a long time to go without monitoring weight, but it turns out I only gained 5 pounds on the whole trip.  I think I can make that go away in the next couple weeks at home, no problem.  Judy, on the other hand, didn’t gain a pound!  What’s up with that?

 

 

I forgot to mention that while we were in Arizona, we encountered the Loch Ness Monster.  We could only see part of it, but here is what we saw:

 

That was odd-looking enough to zoom in for a closer look.

 

Yup.  That has to be the Loch Ness Monster.  Or I suppose it could have been the Creature from the Black Lagoon…

 

 

Room to spare.

 

She’s a little bigger now.

 

 

We go to bed on a nice cold winter night and what do we do?  We throw on an extra blanket, pull the covers up to our chins, then we’re nice and warm.  I saw a guy on television stepping out of a helicopter onto the frozen Arctic Sea.  It was 50 degrees below zero.  He was wearing many layers of clothing, boots, mittens, and a hood.  Totally covered from head to toe.  But he was still talking.  His face was uncovered.  When we’re sleeping on that cold winter night, every part of our bodies are covered except our faces.  Of course our faces are open; it would be inconvenient for them not to be; it would be hard to talk or breathe.  But what is it about faces that they can be exposed to the coldest temperatures, but if everything else is covered we’re toasty warm?  The skin on my face is not particularly tough; it’s not that.  Do we have different nerve endings in our faces so that part of our bodies responds differently to cold than every other part of our bodies?  Do faces perceive cold differently?  I need to know these things…

 

 

Meanwhile.  Back at the ranch.  We’re still moving back into the house (there is a lot to do), working, and reminiscing about our Alaska Trip.

 

 

To Coastal Plain.

 

To the Falfurrias Rest Area.

 

 

To the Rio Grande Valley.

 

Not that the name The Valley has anything to do with topography.  There are no mountains, so hard to imagine a real valley.  The highest elevation in this neighborhood is a freeway overpass.

 

The name Rio Grande Valley came about at the turn of the century, the 20^th century, when agriculture was just starting here.  Land developers came up with that name to make the area sound more attractive to potential settlers.  Apparently the ploy worked because this whole area is filled with agriculture now.  Probably the fact that agriculture works here had more to do with the area’s growth though.  Anyway, this flat floodplain area that drains into the Rio Grande continues to be known as The Valley.

 

And here we are, back to our cozy little house.

 

And nice little yard.

 

It all survived our absence.

 

One more line to draw on the map.  Seven months on the road, and one more line to draw on the map and wouldn’t you know, I can’t get the map to take it.

 

The heading home part of the trip map

 

One more line to show we made it home.  Maybe the map is suffering trip-withdrawal and doesn’t want it to be over…