"Go West Young Man" The Tucson Chronicles (part 1)

We weren't around for several days in case anyone was wondering. Last Tuesday we flew off to Tucson, Arizona for a week of fun in the sun! Upon arrival we picked up a rental car and headed straight for a little Mexican restaurant for some lunch. After that we headed straight for the antique stores since we couldn't check into the Bed & Breakfast until the late afternoon! We did really well. After looking in some 5 or six stores we hadn't spent a penny!

Then we headed north west on Oracle Road to the Oro Valley, some 15 miles from the center of Tucson on our quest to locate "The Cactus Quail" which was the name of the B & B. When we found it (if you pass the Catholic Church you've gone too far, and we should know. Twice!) I made sure to take some pictures.
Here is the sign;

and the view from the sign;



This is even harder at night! There are restrictions on light pollution in this part of the country but it may already be too late. It is hard to believe that an entire generation of Americans will never see the real night sky. Unless you are somewhere like the Rockies you may never see the Milky Way.
Here are some more pictures from the B & B;



I was really intrigued with the tile roof, this picture shows how it is constructed. Just in case anyone was interested.


That is mortar under those ridge tiles and at the base of the chimney, you know, lime, sand and Portland cement.

I also thought this was a cool thing to do with bricks!



Now the best thing about the place (besides the fact that it costs $130 a night) is the view from the back yard;





That is all State and National Park land back there so I expect this view is good for several administrations!

The distance to those mountains is 3 miles as the crow flies. Tomorrow I will explain how I know that (and why we never got all the way to them.) You will also learn about my experience with the "Jumping Cholla" (pronounced choya) which is a particularly nasty cactus plant and YES we did meet up with some other housebloggers while we were there so I can tell you all about that too! Since I haven't done this in a while, if you want to know how to keep a house blog reader in suspense CLICK HERE!

The Revenge of Winter

Here is something that has plagued me for a while;




Next to that dormer is a chimney that I have to add about 10 feet to. The box gutter is shot and that piece of plywood is to support my weight when I have to stand on that ledge to tar the roof in that area every year until I replace the slate. The water that runs off gets sucked up by the brick and is the reason why my bathroom wall is damp and peeling and also the cause of that ceiling mushroom that I showed you several months back. Well, this has caused another problem now. Below this area is a stairway to the basement that isn't covered with a cellar storm door. The doorway is boarded up and the side walls have bulged for years due to the heaving of the ground due to freezing and thawing in the winter. Not any more though. Today they looked like this;



Now isn't that special?

New House Accessories

This weeks auction netted us a few things. Besides an Eastlake wood top parlor table for $45 and two oak school type chairs for $15 we got these Griswold cast iron mail boxes for $40.



When I get bored I can whack these with a wire brush and spray paint them black so they can look as good as new. I haven't figured out what to do with the second one yet. Maybe I'll save it until Elizabeth is a teenager. I can attach it to her bedroom door to put her mail in after I ground her for a year when she has a hissy fit at Meijers and gets the police called on me.... wait, she has already done that!

Damn Spammers!

Even though you might use word verification to prevent spambots from zapping your blog it won't stop spammers! When this site gets spammed, I just delete the post. Lately some of my earlier posts got spammed in the comments. Upon a little research I am finding that the spammers are searching Google for blogs with specific key words. In all cases the searches were for words related to the subject the spammer was promoting and in my case the words searched were sexually oriented. Once again "Farmhouse Sex" was one of the searches and another had to do with spanking! The common thread that links the spammers is more interesting. They are located in India. I guess this is the penalty I pay for calling my site "This Old Crack House" and having a potty mouth. On the other hand, some poor bastard is sitting at a computer during a monsoon season searching aimlessly for something pathetic in a language they don't fully comprehend. Think how sad it would be if someone in India who loves cats searched the internet using the key word "Pussy".....

Oh Crap! That's going to send my google hits through the roof.

Guess What?

I did something today that I haven't done in 10 weeks. Since the inside temperature was up to 54 degrees I actually worked on the house! I just started right where I left off before the temperatures dropped below freezing inside the building. That's right. I assumed the position of being on my knees on the floor, bent over a heat gun with a paint scraper in my hand while sluggishly plodding away at the timeless task of stripping paint and goo off a floor. I had truely forgotten just how much I missed it! Some things I'm afraid, are best forgotten.

Springeth Hath Sprungeth

Spring officially began at 8:07 PM last night. So in good Olde English tradition lets all sing a round! Repeat after me...

Svmer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!

Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!

Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!

Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu, cuccu;
Ne swik þu nauer nu.

Pes:
Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!

What? You didn't understand a word of that? Hmmm well I guess the English language has changed somewhat since 1260 AD.

Here is a Modern English translation but it doesn't fit well with the melody.

Summer has arrived,
Loudly sing, Cuckoo!

Seeds grow and meadows bloom
And the forest springs anew,
Sing, Cuckoo!

The ewe bleats after the lamb,
The cow lows after the calf.
The bullock jumps, the billy-goat farts,
Merrily sing, Cuckoo!

Cuckoo, cuckoo, well you sing, cuckoo;
Nor cease you ever now,

Sing cuckoo now. Sing, Cuckoo.
Sing Cuckoo. Sing cuckoo now!


There is a sound clip of the first version if this sounds familiar.

So what have you learned today? I am completely off my rocker (cuckoo, cuckoo) and goats have been farting since the Middle Ages!

My Life as Barbie and Lawn Thatching

Once in a while I actually get to sit down and watch This Old House Hour on PBS. Several months ago I saw an episode of Ask This Old House that involved lawn care. Roger pulled out a tool that is used for "thatching" a lawn. When I saw the tool I said "Hey, I've got one of those! It's been hanging in the garage for years!"

This week, between dealing with day to day life and playing "Barbies" with Elizabeth (which is kind of fun because my character looks like Barbie but sounds like Ken...) I have spent a few moments thatching the lawn and getting blisters. Fortunately the lawn at the resident home is smallish due to flower beds that look like crap as you can see;

"Oh, and here is the kewl tool. It kinda sorta looks like a rake, only different" (he says, looking like Barbie but sounding like Ken);



Maybe I should start "Ask This Old Crack House?" On second thought, maybe I shouldn't.

Anyway, did you know there is a new "Divorced Barbie" set? Yeah, it comes with all Kens stuff!