On Friday we were eagerly awaiting a visit from some friends who live in Ramona and Saturday we were not disappointed. They took off from the Ramona Municipal Airport, in Vickie and Bob’s Piper Matrix, Saturday morning at 7:01 PST and arrived at the Sierra Vista Municipal Airport at 9:56 MST, that’s a total flight time of 1hr and 55 minutes. Not bad! I picked them up a few minutes later and we began our whirlwind tour of Sierra Vista, Hereford and the farm. 

We did the highlights, you know – Safe-way, Starbucks, Sierra Vista United Methodist Church, SE AZ Realtor® Association – the important things. Then headed out Hereford way. We took a really quick side trip out to the end of Ramsey Canyon where the Nature Preserve is. We passed by the Bed and Breakfast that’s for sale there, and went over the perpetually running stream; well, at least I’ve never been up there when the stream wasn’t running at least a little bit. Showed them the cabins we stayed in for our second visit to this area and pointed out a few other interesting landmarks – like the Arizona Folklore Preserve – and saw a little observatory that Caylor noticed in the yard of one of the homes. I always like showing people this area, because it’s completely different than what most people think of when they think of Arizona.

Our next stop was close to home. We actually passed right by the farm and headed up to “Our Lady of the Sierras” shrine. Another great place to take guests who are short on time. You can see everything from up there! And it’s a beautiful chapel and the cross is magnificent. People are always blown away by the vista views, and you can look right down on the property and see the layout of everything below. You can also see the Arizona/Mexico border and follow the wall as it disappears into the horizon. People can get an idea of their surroundings. You can say, “Bisbee is nestled over in the Mule Mountains there. Those mountains are the Dragoons, which are the other side of Tombstone. Past the Dragoons are the Chiricahua’s. Tucson is that way.” It just gives people a bit of perspective.

Lunch is served. After we took in the view – had some selfie and other photo ops, we headed back down the hill to do the farm tour. Sue met us at the gate and ushered us in the drive. Everyone climbed out and went in the house to deposit bags and goodies, and groceries. I turned the guests over to Sue for the tour while I made blueberry muffins for dessert. Sue showed them all around and introduced them to the chickens. Talked about plans and hopes and dreams for the future. Talked about the trees and what we were hoping to accomplish with them, our gardens and the different things we’ve tried, the successes and the set-backs from wind, dryness, and/or grasshoppers. Just a little bit of everything. I did a horrible job of documenting their outside activities, but I do believe everyone hopped the fence – at least on the littles’ side to take a peak in the coop. So much to see! Finally it was time to eat some lunch! I had asked Vickie if they wanted a farm meal, or to go somewhere local for lunch – she said “Farm meal!” So we were preparing for lunch since the morning. We cooked some of the recently dressed roosters, from the previous weekend, over carrots, onions, and garlic sprinkled with freshly minced herbs from the herb garden. These were served along with roasted potato bits, and butter braised broccoli from the gabion garden. I wanted to make bread, but just didn’t quite get there. Instead I made buttermilk blueberry/lemon muffins and used a Meyer lemon from the tree.  So, not everything was off the farm, but some very tasty bits of it were. Everyone seemed to think it was yummy.

By the time we were done lingering over lunch and dessert, it was time to do the chores! Caylor wanted to help with the chores, and Vickie said she was going to do dishes. Wow! Cool. So that’s what we did. Caylor helped Sue haul feed, in the wheel barrow, over to the goats, and take care of those boys. Vickie stayed and made huge headway on the dishes for us! And I took care of the Chickens right quick. We had hoped to get over to see the Coronado National Monument, but the weather had begun to change on us and it started raining while we were doing chores.  Knowing that the winds can pick up quickly, which can be annoying in a small plane, Vickie called Captain Bill to see what he thought.  He was already headed back to the airport, so we all piled into the car to do the same.

It was time to say good bye. The day seemed to pass so quickly, but it was wonderful to get to spend a few hours with our really great friends. Exciting to have them fly in especially for this visit, and truly hope they can return very soon! They took off at 4:11 p.m. MST and, facing a head wind on the return flight, didn’t land in Ramona until 5:46 p.m. PST – a total return trip of 2 hours and 35 minutes. I was happy to see that they were able to land in Ramona at all, because the weather there had been iffy and Captain Bill thought they  might have to go all the way to Montgomery Field. We’re thankful that they had a safe journey. We had a wonderful time sharing the farm and the towns with them. I know that we say this a great deal, but we mean it every time – if you want to visit, we want to have you here! We can’t really put you up, unless you’re traveling in an RV, trailer or camper – we’ve got electricity, water, and even a place to drain your holding tanks! There are some fine hotels in the area and great things to see and do while you’re here. We welcome you and your family – just give us a heads up and I know we’ll be able to work things out. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!

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Today’s Weather: a bit colder than yesterday, but still nice. Currently, at 5:48 p.m., it is 79° under partially cloudy skies. As mentioned, we did have .01″ of rain here on Saturday, not really enough to do anything, but sure smelled nice; it seemed to have been rainier in Sierra Vista when we were there. High today was 85° and low tonight is forecast to be 48°. No more rain any time soon.

Egg Report: Still getting good egg numbers, actually climbing higher and higher, in jumps and spurts. Saturday: 18 chicken eggs, plus 1 broken. Sunday: 24 chicken eggs. Today: 3 goose eggs – she must have been hiding them really well, cause we didn’t see any at all – even when we sifted through the straw looking for them (3 goose eggs are the equivalent of 6 large chicken eggs – just sayin’); 18 chicken eggs.

Cool Thing: Caylor brought us these cool chicken mugs – they had yummy goodies inside them. Sunday morning, it was great to have coffee in the new mugs. What a great way to start the day! Thanks, Caylor!