Pete's Birthday continues...

Before Pete knew we were planning a festive weekend to celebrate his 80th birthday...he invited everyone to the Native New Yorker for a dinner at his expense!! What a special guy! Tonight was the night and 23 of us enjoyed his hospitality.

One waitress served all of us and did a great job!

Here he is (also in the first picture). We're ready to go, carryouts boxed to go.

Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Barb and Ron, we missed you! Glad it all turned out OK!)
P.S. I took all the pictures with my cell phone!

Pete's Birthday Weekend Part 3!

Finally! We had a pot luck on Sunday afternoon at our place...and as usual, the winds blew! Heidi had to chase down this wayward umbrella, but she prevailed.

The same crowd gathered and waited for the food to be ready.

The line formed quickly and Joey and I served the pulled pork sandwiches prepared earlier in the weekend.

Here we are taking a break. I love it when people use my camera when I'm busy being a hostess, because I get in some of the pictures!

I'm watching Pete and Winona get plenty to eat.

Ron is obviously pleased with his pulled pork sandwich.

Nobody is shy in the food line!

That almost empty pan had a recipe of "Better than Sex" dessert and it was a hit!

And last, Barbara took this picture of our house. You can see my garden in the left side of the picture and the posts for our new electric fence. It was necessary to keep the hungry cattle away from my garden and the tasty new aspens and maple trees.

Stay tuned!!!!Who knows what I'll share with you next time!

Pete's Birthday Weekend Part 2

Saturday evening, after the afternoon Happy Hour, Ted and I invited everyone over for a "Concho Candle." (The idea began as a Magruder Candle, morphed into a WIN Candle and ended up here as a Concho Candle!) Here's Ted sitting down on the job. He needed to cut the candle into 8 pieces without cutting through the log! You can see he cut several logs so we are ready any time in the future we want to do this again. He was covered in sawdust and very tired when he finished.

We lit the candle early in the evening because they burn for a long time. To light the candle you need a duct tape wick. Be sure the tape is burnable then insert it in the middle of the cuts...and light. In a little while...you get this!

...and later...this.

It gets even more beautiful the longer it burns.

Winona, Joey and Heidi are having a blast.

At the end of the evening, we were fascinated by the design created by the cuts and the burn pattern. It was hard to leave.

Stay tuned....Part 3 is coming!!!!!!!!!!!

Pete's Birthday Weekend Part 1

Here he is...the man of the hour, or weekend as it turned out. Pete is turning 80 today and all weekend we celebrated his birthday. It started Friday night when Ted and I had Pete, Winona, Joey, Heidi and Sally over for dinner. After a lot of hilarity, the women moved into the kitchen to clean up the dinner dishes and prepare the pork butts for the crock pots. The meat needed to cook all night so the pork could be "pulled" on Saturday morning. Pulled pork was the main entree for our Sunday potluck. But, back to Pete. We received over 40 cards and emails from folks who could not be present for the party. We gave them to Pete on Saturday at Happy Hour and he got his first clue as to what the weekend would be like. I included way too many pictures, but enjoy the ones you can and scroll through the others!

Joey, Jon, Heidi and Winona prepared a hot dog feast for the Happy Hour.
EVERYONE was having fun!

Recently, Pete bought a new work hat. Heidi went "dumpster diving" to reclaim his old hat and Joey sprayed it with bronze paint to preserve it forever!

Pete's family sent some real treasures. This canister was covered in historical pictures.

Joey and Heidi took a picture of a sign on the highway outside of Overgard, AZ, and had it mounted on a board for Pete to enjoy.

I'm starting to look pretty tired here and the weekend was just getting underway!

Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ice Cream Social

Every year, we host an ice cream social. We provide the ice cream and everyone else brings "toppings." You wouldn't believe the variety! Here's Donna, Sue and Buck.

Don and Patricia are sharing a good laugh!

I'm just checking around to see if anyone needs anything...before I make my own "creation."

Here's Pete. He is celebrating his 80th birthday next week.

And Patricia is always having fun.

Joy and Jo Bada sure are into this conversation. I missed it.

And what was I talking about??????? (See my creation?)

Then the rains came down. Remember those monsoons?

Good thing we have the carport for shelter. We're tough up here. Only the worst weather can keep us home, or cancel any activity!

Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and thanks to Joey who took all these pictures.)

CASA Fundraiser

A couple weeks ago, July 24 to be exact, Ted and I helped facilitate a Horseback Poker Run with the proceeds being donated to CASA. This is the article published in our local newspaper. It just about says it all...
The homemade highway sign...

... Well, not quite all. We may be in Arizona, but it is monsoon season and the skies opened up. You can see people sheltering under the awning, and in the truck.

I was walking around after the storm passed and couldn't resist a picture of the mud on my shoes. (They are washable!) The joke around here is the mud can make you 6 inches taller!

Twenty-two hardy riders left for the poker run. I took a few pictures because the horses were so beautiful. This was the only stallion, and he had a temper! When the rider returned after a 3 1/2 hour ride, he kicked the heck out of the inside of the trailer. He was making a statement of some kind.

This mare was as gentle as could be. The halter was embroidered with "Nice to Mice" and I had to question it. Seems she is former race horse and her call name is "Mouse."

This rider's name is Chance. He needed to use a straw bale to mount and he had not ridden in a year. Unfortunately, he was bucked off just outside the gate. I don't know how he managed to mount again, but he finished the run. When he brought his "hand" to me, it was terrible. I don't know if his name was prophetic or not.

We had a bag dinner provided for us. It had a wonderful pulled pork sandwich, chips and a drink.

And last, here I am with my CASA coordinator, Diana. We arrived at 11 am and left at 8 pm. Long day.

Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!