Almost over the trauma . . .

A Ramada in the Sonoran Desert and a K Saguaro.

What's more traumatic: driving a Hyundai Accent or the leakyhead gasket on my new love, the Pontiac? The Hyundai makes my poor old Saturn seem luxurious, stable, zippy, comfortable, large, fashionable. But our reliable reliability engineer has done his research and since The Whale has found the real problem and is taking the time to fix it properly we still have an excellent buy and I expect to put another 150,000 miles on the Torrent. It seems that when this crossover vehicle was made in 2006 cheap head gaskets were used and the coolant just rotted them away by 60,000 miles or so. With new heads, head gaskets, water pump and thermostat plus a loooooong warranty we should be good to go. Phew. I'm still uptight about this but if it works out as planned we should be golden for at least 7 more years!

Just got a call from middle child. Kiddo has a fever of 101 so I'll be going directly to her home instead of Sacred Heart. I hate it when kids get sick. I still find it unsettles me no end and I'm certainly not too calm at this point in time.

Starting my Arizona photos which were taken by younger brother's wife when she and I flew out for a visit with her very own Border Patrol Agent. Another very difficult job made even harder given the present state of our whacked out government.

Quote: Would you touch a nettle without being stung by it; take hold of it stoutly. Do the same to other annoyances, and hardly will anything annoy you. ___Hare