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Arizona is a state of contrasts. Most people when they hear the name 'Arizona' automatically think...

"OH. Cactus. Rattlesnakes. With a few scorpions thrown in for fun."

Hearken y'all. Tis not true! We may have all those things, but we have so much more. Like cowboys. (Know why the 2 step was invented? Because most cowboys can't count to 3! ~sigh~) But read on and I shall explain my latest misadventure...

I love spring. It is with a heightened anticipation I look forward to this season, mainly because I am a gardener. Yes. Here in the Arizona desert, you can grow ANYTHING as long as you are willing to water it. But there is a sign you must wait for to plant and it isn't told in the Farmers Almanac. You must wait for the Mesquite trees to swell and leaf slightly, for then you are assured that no more killing frost will occur.

Here in the high desert, we have a lot of mesquite trees. Most don't ever make it to TREE status around my house and they remain bushes because MsKate here yanks them outta the ground and plants something that will provide shade. But only because I live in a part of Cochise County that is FLAT and has few shade trees. 20 minutes from my place though is the 'river', such as it is, and there we have beautiful HUGE trees. 

Now most people laugh when they see the San Pedro River, because it LOOKS like a creek. But it was not always that way. There are photographs in the Bisbee Museum that show the ferry boats ON THE RIVER that once took pioneers across in safety, but an earthquake actually sent the San Pedro underground and now it only surfaces as it is now. Until monsoon season and then daaang is it fun to tube!!! But you have to be careful or you could get sucked down through one of the places that it goes under. You may not come up for a mile or two and rarely are you breathing when you do. Who says danger is no fun, eh? HA. I laugh in the face of danger!

Until it comes to this next sort of danger. Let me tell you, if I am not having problems with ONE Gary, (naked Gary), then I am having problems with another. (Gary JR....not SR)

Now Gary Jr. is something of an oddity. Through no fault of his own though. But when he was a youngster, he was kicked in the head by a horse, and although he survived he has a deficit in the brain department. Now if you were not aware of this incident, you would think he was just a raunchy guy, and I have seen women just treat him really nasty. Which makes me treat him with respect, because dude. It isn't his fault. Being an occupational therapist makes me more aware of the whole thingy. And it hurts my heart to see anyone treated poorly. Male or female.

But unfortunately, being nice to Gary Jr., when no one else is has made him think fondly of me. Arrggghhhh! I found myself in untenable situation when he saw me arriving home last week in the early morning hours and he immediately jumped in his truck and followed me home. (This isn't the only time he's done this, and it is darned uncomfortable for me). He proceeded to ask me out to dinner. I had to think of a way to let him down kindly....soooooo I went into an unintelligible spiel and explained that I am not really a nice person, men don't REALLY like me, I don't date and he should think of me as sort of a nun....

At which comment the poor guy blanched white.

"I didn't know you were a NUN!" he exclaimed.

And I looked at him and thought about the way to go about explaining the mistake to him, but then it hit me.....Might be to my advantage NOT to explain. And so I didn't. I am so rotten.

So like...just call me Sister Katherine.  YAR.

kate