10th Anniversary

I almost always miss anniversaries, and this one was no different. I still want to celebrate it, though. 

The first post on The Zees Go West appeared 10 years ago this month on July 5, 2007. It was called Aux Arcs and Beyond and was about our trip by car when we moved from New Hampshire to New Mexico.

We traveled 2000 miles through 14 states in four days; used 11 tanks of gas; and saw license plates from every state but Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota, Alaska, and Hawaii. We traveled in three time zones, saw the World's Largest Cross, and lots of kudzu. We saw signs for parks named Hungry Mother, Frozen Head, and Toad Suck; we passed by Pickles Gap Village and Dollywood; and we drove by exits for Little Skin Bayou and Mount Magazine.

We traveled with two dogs (one of whom is still living) and three cats (one still with us; the others are buried out back in the pet graveyard) and lots of houseplants.

Gracie loves chicken TV

I wondered at the time what I would write about next. It turns out that wasn't such a problem after all, as there have been 1135 posts since then. Good grief, 1135! And 381,695 page views...

When the Clouds Echo the Shape of the Mountains

This is what I saw from my front porch last night. Too bad about that pole, but I can't complain about the view. 

After dark there was lightning aplenty, then a wonderful drenching rain. We got an inch of rainfall--big excitement in desert country. That's maybe a tenth of what rain we'll get all year. I'm sure there were dangerous flash floods somewhere, but here our scraggly back lawn will turn green in a few days. The pecan orchard manager won't have to worry about irrigation for a while. All our flowers in the raised beds will perk up because there is a huge difference for them between the rare rainwater and the usual groundwater from the hose. 

If children still played outside they'd be dancing in the puddles.

As for us, we are grateful that it is well and truly monsoon season. Oh, we'll complain about the 40% humidity. But we know that, once again, we have lived through the hardest season of the year--the days and days of triple digit temperatures. From here on out the weather will be just fine.