An Arizonan Get-Away

We started our little get-away on Thursday when we drove to Tuscon to see the rodeo. This rodeo has been happening since 1924.

This was team roping. We were pleased to see several SD cowboys participating. Bull riding is my favorite event and yesterday the bulls won.

We drove to Benson last night and started our morning with a tour of Kartchner Caverns. The caverns were only discovered in 1974 and not opened to the public until the 1990s.

The two rather large caves are located in the two hills behind the buildings. Our cave tour was unlike any of the caves we have seen.

Then it was on to Bisbee where we saw what was left of the Lavender Pit, a large open pit copper mine that is no longer producing.

We took a tour of the non-operating Queen Mine, also a copper mine. This is an underground mine that at one time produced copper, gold, silver & zinc.

Our tour took us 1500 feet underground to learn about mining from the early 1900s to about 1975. Our guide was a retired miner. We wore yellow slickers, mining helmets and had battery packs with lights. That is what is in the ladies hand. We are passing through a timber reinforced section of the mine.

Then we drove onto Tombstone. We walked the streets with the other 100 people in town. Not many people were visiting Tombstone today.

We stopped at Big Nose Kate's Saloon for dinner and the local entertainment.

The Shed

They finished framing the shed from the 8' walls to the awning on Tuesday morning.


In the afternoon they added the walls to the awning. This angle is from the front of the house.


That is the loft; the storage for the Christmas trees. The loft is 8' above the floor of the shed.

A look from the back of the house. Yes, it looks disorganized. Again!

Ms Thomas' Lovely Tea House

Eight of the Canyon Vistas Vixens went to Ms. Thomas' Lovely Tea House for lunch today. We had a lesson on the correct way to pour and drink our English tea. I had a cucumber sandwich, which was delicious, along with quiche, a scone, other "little" sandwiches, and sorbet. It was a fun afternoon.

Today's Hike

Curt went hiking this morning with the "club" to Fremont Saddle. Although the temps have warmed up a bit, the the mid 80s today, the scenery makes it all worth it.

Thanks to Hans for the pictures.

Another Work Day on the Shed

Herman's "length" was most helpful today when the guys put the loft in the shed. The loft is the Christmas tree storage area.

Dennis should be very pleased with the strength of the deck railing 'cause he used it several times today as a perch while getting the loft just right. The eight foot ladders were very handy today.

The last wall was installed before 10:00 this morning. One more work day this week. I believe the walls will reach the awning tomorrow, which is a resort requirement.

Saturday's Shed Progress

I was sitting on the deck this morning with my cup of coffee when a wall began to move in.

I quickly grabbed the camera and caught the team of guys setting the south wall in place.

They kicked it, pulled on it, braced it, and did other "manly things" to get it just right. I am so thankful a few good men were standing around here this morning just waiting for something exciting to happen. That way I could enjoy my coffee.

Thanks Herman & Bob.

Then the east wall was pushed into place. The hole for electrical & plumbing was cut. And they began building the north wall.

And before noon the north wall was in place. I was so happy I gave them the afternoon off!

Wait 'til next week...

The Shed

"The Boys" decided to start the shed this week. This was Monday's work; floor framing and buying 2x4s. Curt is on a first name basis at Lowe's.

At the end of the work day on Tuesday, there was the floor...

and more lumber from Lowe's.

They began building walls on Thursday. Because one wall will "butt up" to the deck and another will "butt up" to the house, Thursday was more of a challenge. The resort codes and guidelines also add to the complexity.


Curt has to do some painting before Saturday when the plan is to put up the two partial, 8' walls.

The Completed Deck

I did not realize that I had not posted any pictures of our deck once it was completed. Sorry about that. We have certainly been enjoying the outdoor space for the last two weeks. Our favorite time is around sunset. This morning I sat outside with the computer doing some work and later completed a craft project outdoors. I love it!

It was hard to find a time of day that did not have shadows on the west side of the house. This was the best I could do on a rather cloudy day. The three framed doors below the deck are storage areas.

The two pictures give you a really good idea of the size of our winter home. The first windows are the kitchen area. The patio door area is the "living room", and the rest of the house to the left of the back door is the bedroom. The bathroom is across the hall from the second door. We now have house numbers, but no desert plants, yet.

Wednesday's Hike

The wild poppies began making their appearance along the roads this week.

Curt led Wednesday's hike to Canyon Lake Trail head.
This is just one of the many views along the way.

Notice how green the mountainsides are. Awesome!
It is a beautiful time of the year here in AZ.

Zipper Art Projects

For the last month I have been doing zipper art on Wednesday afternoons. My projects are now home and hanging on the walls. You are probably wondering what zipper art is. It is one side of a zipper, with the cloth trimmed away, then glued onto an object. (That is the shortened version.) In this case I made two pictures, one for the kitchen and one for the bathroom. The outline of the zipper makes a design. The spaces between the zipper outline is either filled with colored sand as in the case of the chili peppers or painted with a "sandy" textured glaze as in the case of the pot.

Horsehair Ceramics

Last week I made my third horsehair ceramic vase. In this sequence, I am taking pictures of other people's artistic endeavors. The ceramic pieces have been fired once and are in the bisque stage. On this day the pieces were fired to 1100º and when taken from the kiln, pieces of horse hair were applied. The hot vase acts like a magnet and hair burns onto the hot surface leaving really cool black lines. If too much hair is placed in one area, it just burns a dark spot.

Then ostrich or emu feathers were burned onto the surface. We placed the top of the feathers onto the vase and Musette used the tongs to hold the feather in place so the imprint would burn onto the surface of the vase.

The third substance to be applied was sugar. We sprinkled sugar to add more detail. You can see what happens when sugar hits that hot surface. The entire process takes 40 seconds or less.

This is my wedding vase before it was cleaned. You can see the dark imprint of the feather, the strands of horse hair. The speckled area is the sugar burns. Once the vase cools enough so it can be touched, it is cleaned with a towel, carefully brushing off the chard substances. The room stinks like singed hair and burned feathers. It reminds of of butchering chickens.

This was my first vase made two years ago. I think I used horse hair and some dog hair. Very coarse hair works best.

This was my second piece that I made last year. The vases are above the window on a ledge in our AZ home.

And this is the wedding vase all cleaned up and polished. Applying a gloss finish was the final step after it was cleaned. Isn't the burned feather really cool? There is a feather imprint on the other side, too.

Raku Pottery

Musette is a guest artist in our resort this year. One Friday last month she brought 2 outdoor kilns to "bake" the ceramic pieces we had painted the week before. The ceramic pieces were painted with metallic glazes, mostly copper. At this first step everything looked quite ugly, to be honest.

That is my vase that has just come from the kiln. It was heated to around 1200º. Yes, it is black and glowing. Notice the garbage can setting nearby.

The garbage can was filled with shredded newspaper. The "baked piece" is placed in the garbage can...


...and then lid is placed on the can. It burns in the can for 8 minutes. When the piece is removed, I immediately sprayed water (from a squirt bottle) on the vase.

This is my vase. Pretty cool, huh?
It is orange-red with cooper lines.