The News From Here

Evening at "old #5." We just ?enjoyed? a light monsoon. A lot of wind and some rain. The rain didn't last all that long but it certainly would have drowned a toad if said toad had been looking at the sky. I was sitting out in the courtyard (under-roof & surrounded on 3 sides)and supervised the entire thing. It's a little scary sometimes when I remember what I built some of the ?structures? around here with. This picture shows the sunshade doing what it was supposed to do during the inevitably storms.
The center panel raises and allows the wind to escape without taking the entire thing with it. Sometimes it also

fills with rain. (chuckle) All is well except the tarps tend to stretch and need to be tightened till the stretch is all used up. And Then, AND Then - New tarps It's all worth the shade on the West side of the bedroom wall. I put that structure together 5-7 years ago and other than replacing some tarps It's served us well. At about $15 and an hour's work I can live with that. If I did something more permanent I'd probably decide I didn't like it and tear it down.
I did indeed attend the "Large Model Train Show." Unfortunately ,My camera batteries which tested "good" when I left the house LIED. It was neat I'll admit. By large they meant large scale model trains. The cars were about 6-8" tall and the model buildings and staging was excellent. I didn't stay long but I stayed long enough to see a lot of kids about 4-10 year's old mesmerized. That's pretty cool in it's self. I also inquired about my Library card which was about to expire and took care of that PLUS I learned more about the Mesa Room. It's only open a few hours a week but it has a lot of records of the city- phone directories going back to the first, lots of articles about whatever was happening in downtown Mesa when downtown was about all there was. I'd find it interesting to know more about his corner. I've been told it was one of the earliest lots to be built on though the current building isn't the first building here. I pretty much confirmed that when doing work around here and digging in the yard. About 1 ft plus down there is a lot of fire debris. Again relying on that "I've heard" source and construction materials and techniques I believe the adobe part was built about 1930. Believe it or not that is really old here. I'm going to see for myself what I can find out. This is all valuable stuff so I hope you retain it for future reference. There will be a TEST. (chuckle) Well my friends that's a Friday evening at "old #5." I'm here to tell you there have been better but I balance that out with there have there have been worse by far. FYI Late Breaking News Flash It's raining again. I can easily fill the dumpster in the morning with broken and "needs trimming cacti." IF it isn't still raining.