We visited Tucson to play a gig with the Banjo Blasters at the Cascades and visited with Melody, Matt and the grandsons while there. The boys are excited about Halloween and we played at mixing up a witches brew and feet painting. Wes is going to be the Wolverine for Halloween and Greg is going to be the Cookie Monster! Such adorable boys, if I say so myself......no bias here!
The Portal Irish Festival was held and the community got to be entertained twice by the talented instructors. First at the Sew What Forum and then at the Free public concert. Next years Festival is already scheduled, so it should be another fun event.
Last week we went up the mountain to scout for firewood and saw several large groups of wild turkeys and lots of deer. We got our firewood gathering permits Monday and went up to cut wood yesterday. It was an interesting weather day of clouds, sun, rain, sun, hail, sun, snow flurries, sun & thunder.......just about everything you might expect at different times of the year not necessarily in that order. :) Each event lasting just a few minutes at the most. Very unusual. Then last night a thunderstorm came through with lightning and more rain.
Bud's knee continues to improve and we're walking again, but no strenuous hikes in the near future. We're learning to accept that there are limitations to our stamina and capabilities now that we aren't youngsters any more.
We've been visiting the San Simon Cienega about once a week and the Sandhill Cranes are returning along with Ruddy Ducks, Coots, Sandpipers, Mallards and Grebes. Not a lot of water at Willow Pond, but we always manage to see a few birds there, so we're encouraged about it's revitalization. We watched a Black Phoebe catching bugs and quite a few mixed species of sparrows as well as a young Swanson's Hawk. This morning we were awakened at 6am by dueting Great Horned Owls here in our yard. Seems a little early for courtship, but these owls are residents and know the routine, so I guess they know what they are doing.
So life is good here in Portal. This weekend is Octoberfest and we're looking forward to participating with bake sale contributions, as well as helping with the rummage sale and silent auction. Whoever told us we'd get bored living here has never spent much time here or they'd know that it's impossible to get bored in Portal.