Citrus Nirvana

Today we met with our new found citrus neighbors and helped harvest a ton of fruit.  Even after we were done picking, their trees are still loaded with grapefruit, oranges, and lemons.  Dave gets so excited I had to force him to stop picking or he would have wiped them out.

When we got back to our place we spent an hour juicing half the grapefruit and we yielded 2 full gallons of juice.  Really delicious!!  Either straight or with a bit of vodka thrown in for a nice Greyhound.  Dave still can't believe how much citrus he has.  I have enough lemons to make at least one lemon meringue pie each week (which I would love to do and eat).

The Ritz Carlton Hike

Today was our first attempt at doing a hike with the Hiking Club.  Our hike was the Tortolito Mountains and we hiked the Wild Burro Trail plus the Alamo Trail which ended up being a 6.1 mile trek.  There were a total of 20 people, of which we were the youngest.  One man talked about hiking the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon when he was 71 - and he referred to that as being a long time ago.

It's almost funny how the "old guys" are so into their hiking gear.  Everyone is fully outfitted with their hiking poles, appropriate hiking hats, and their Camelbaks.  There was no wildlife to be found on this  hike and Dave has yet to see a Javelina anywhere.

Life in General

Now that the house is running "smoothly", I have time to start tackling some of the bigger projects.   Here are the before and after photos of the hall tree we inherited when we bought the house.  I gave chalk painting a try and figured that a free piece of furniture was the best guinea pig.

It's not a bad piece, but I'm trying to make the house more contemporary and definitely more Southwest and less "old lady".

We have been trying to attract birds to the yard but only have one tree in the front yard, a Mesquite.  I have been making some bird feeders in pottery and the one I hung on the tree has already had a lot of action.  In the back yard we have the hummingbird feeders and now have a little friend, the Costa's Hummingbird - which we don't have in Oregon.  No photo of him, yet.

And lastly, I have noticed that the old people here have a hard time letting go of Christmas.  We still see lots of santa hats all over the cactus.  I think the main reason is to protect the Saguaro from frost, but it is almost February.

A Road Trip to Tucson

From our house it is about 40 minutes to get to "downtown Tucson".  There we found the visitor center and picked up our Turquoise Trail walking map.  At first it was really easy to just follow the turquoise line painted on the road.

Every block or two there would be a historic building to look at.  

Sometimes the line disappeared and we'd have to consult the map.  Sometimes the line was white with turquoise flecks.  We finally figured it out and saw everything.  After lunch on 4th Avenue we walked to University of Arizona.  Dave finally found some wildlife to pet.  We managed to "sneak" into the McHale basketball arena and briefly watch the girls team practicing.  However, we weren't able to get onto the football field.

I liked the artwork at the entrance to the science buildings.  There were dozens of sculptures of people in lab coats all working in a different field of science.

The downtown area of Tucson was very easy to get around in.  We had no problems parking or driving.  It actually seemed deserted compared to what we are used to in Portland.  This was a good field trip day.

50 Year Hike

On Tuesday we ventured out early to try out this hike.  We were going to go with the Hiking Group, but they cancelled, so we decided to go on our own.  This hike was rated a C, with A being very difficult and D being the easiest.

This hike begins only about 5 miles from our house.  We had trouble finding the exact trailhead and may have taken a longer hike than the 6.1 mile roundtrip is was supposed to be.

We learned that this trail was very popular with mountain bikers and we met about nine of them - and they were all very polite.  Just a few other hikers and a couple on horseback.

When we got home our internet was still on the fritz.  I guess everyone in Saddlebrooke was screaming at Orbitel, but we had no service all evening.  Hence, the delay in these postings.  Dave is going on a 13 mile hike with the Hiking Group tomorrow and I'm going to take care of a lot of painting in the house.

A Saddlebrooke Cook's Kitchen

While we were splashing around in the outdoor pool, enjoying the 75 degree weather, Dave happily realized that though it was a weekday he was not sitting in his office handling problems.  So far he's enjoying his 21 days of retirement.

The kitchen is not quite a cook's kitchen, but each day it gets better.  It helped to get a 1970s hand mixer from my 93 year old step-father.  He had no idea he even had it in his kitchen, and he certainly has never used it.  But now it is happily working in my kitchen.  That appliance, along with my 25 year old Cuisinart just about complete the kitchen tools shortage.

Here is a photo of the Post-its that we had on each kitchen cabinet door, identifying the contents.  After living here for 16 days most of the Post-its have been removed.  We still have a few lingering to help some people in the house find things.

Our First Arizona Road Trip

Today's big adventure was to get up early (5:30) and drive down to Patagonia, AZ to do some birding.  The morning started out on a bad note when 15 miles into the drive Dave realized he was wearing only his slippers, well, and yes his clothes too.  So we made a quick Home Depot stop so he could buy Duct tape.  Duct tape is his favorite product to solve all problems.  He reinforced his slippers and was good to go.

At one point we were only 12 miles from being in Mexico.  Though in Arizona, the highway signs all changed the distance in kilometers rather than miles.  Weird.  We arrived at Patagonia Lake Park and later met with our birding tour group.  Birds were a little sparse at 9am.  We split off from the large group and went on with a more youthful group (65 year olds) and did see more birds.  The big payoff was finding the Elegant Trogan.  Apparently he is such a prized find that when searching for him you don't dare say his name but rather refer to him as ET.  It wasn't horrible bad luck since we found him.

Photos of Lake Patagonia

 We stopped into the town of Patagonia for a nice lunch then meandered into a couple of shops that sold local art.  Here is one of my favorite quirky pieces of "art".  Camo horse, ragged clothes on doll, feathers on her back and peacock feathers for the horse's mane.

A very successful birding day and nice adventure down to southeastern AZ.

Honey Bee Canyon

 Today for our morning adventure we went to Honey Bee Canyon.  This is rated as the level D (easiest hiking) and it was really just a walk in an old wash.  We were surrounded by saguaros and rocky hillsides.  The big excitement on this hike is the petroglyphs, which we finally found.  At least we assumed these are ancient works of art and not just some clever graffiti.

Dave is on the hunt for unwanted citrus.  He scored big with a "neighbor" who puts out huge, free grapefruit every Tuesday.  They are pretty tart, but would make excellent Greyhounds.  We'll try one tonight.  Dave also has made contact with another neighbor who has an abundance of all citrus and we will be meeting them and scoring the motherload soon.

Here at the compound we were encouraged to order nametags.  This way we can more easily meet new people as we walk around like dorks with name badges on our clothing.  I threatened Dave with ordering him one, but he knows I am kidding.

Things are improving!

Today, with the help of my 93 year old step-father, we made some adjustments to the plumbing and have hot water in the showers.All these little secret button, knobs, and timers that we didn't know about, but now do.  One more thing off the list.

The most difficult part of this living, for now, is the lack of "tools" that we are used to having at home.  When I was making dessert and needed to "beat the whites until stiff" I realized, with what?  There is no Kitchenaid, no hand mixer, nothing.  Then I discovered the old fashioned, 1930s hand egg beater.  Well to use that to make stiff whites made me break out into a sweat.  Women who made meringues in the 1930s had no need for a health club using this thing.   When Dave wanted to saw a piece of wood, don't ask my why, he had to use the top of the plastic garbage can as his workbench.  So you can see how difficult living is here. :-)

At least we took a stroll and discovered this stream about one mile from our house.  I have a feeling that this water will be all dried up in a matter of weeks as the temperatures rise.  Saw a few deer, but none of the elusive javelina.

Gray Days Ahead

Looks more like Portland, but feels like Arizona.  There has been heavy, gray cloud cover and what Tucsonians call rain.  I call it "a trace".  Sun is back in the forecast next week.  On my errand run  today I discovered this interesting site at the Tucson Mall.

There is actually a train that kids can ride in that runs around the mall.  But there are no tracks.  The "conductor" just drives wherever he wants to.  He didn't look too thrilled to be driving kiddies around the mall.

Here is my sorry excuse for a cake that I made for last night's dinner party.  I think when you start resorting to bundt cakes it's the same as giving in and becoming a true old person.

At least my bush bean plants are still thriving.  I am waiting for the soil to warm up before permanently planting them.

Shopping, baking, and gardening.  This is the life of a retired person.

Taking a Break

We headed our early today to Catalina State Park to hike to the Romero Pools.  Pools of water that sounded refreshing to visit.  The hike was a bit more than we expected.  Over five miles, round trip, with lots of climbing up boulders.  As hard as we thought it was we passed many hikers in their 70s.  If they could do it, we certainly could.

Water at the Romero Pools

Here is an idea of how far we were from the city.

What's Fun About Tucson

The gas price!! I can't remember when I last paid under $2/gallon for gas.  It's almost fun to pump  your own (I remembered how) and fill up.

The house projects are consuming all our time.  Over the last two days we have really chiseled down the immediate jobs, leaving long term ones like "how to get hot water in the shower" and "what to do with the backyard".  At least our bed is made, the computers work, and the oven is finally fixed!

Weather was fantastic today and tomorrow we are putting the house projects on hold and going on a "head clearing" bird-watching hike.

State Bird

Why we came to Arizona

Spent most of our first full day organizing the house and hanging pictures.  Finally got out to take a beautiful pre-dusk walk and came across this noisy Cactus Wren.  Last night we heard owls hooting and today we heard a coyote yipping and howling!  Exciting stuff for us.

Day two on the road - not so grueling

Only ten hours in the car today.  We made it to our house around dinner time and had a feast of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Once the oven gets repaired, in two days, I should be able to get back to better dinners.  Should.

We discovered that there was still some remaining snow in our backyard.  The nights are down to low 30s and apparently there was several inches of snow a week or so ago.

Once we got into our house we were able to unpack the car, figure out (sort of) the TV and we were zombies the rest of the night.

Our First Day on the Road

We managed to drive for 13 hours and we ended up stopping for the night in Lost Hills.  We were very lucky and had no problems with snow or construction.

We did start listening to The Martian on the iPod and it was so-so.  The protagonist is pretty snarky, which we like, but being a sci-fi book there was a lot of hydrogen and oxygen references.  Space stuff.  I doubt we'll finish listening, but I may finish it by reading the book.  Bedtime at 8pm.

Heading Out

We are so looking forward to leaving our dreary, rainy and cold climate and entering the dry, wide open spaces of Tucson.  Our plan is to take two days to do the 1400 mile drive.  I've got a couple of books plugged into my ipod and my hope is that listening to these will keep the drive interesting.  Here is the car, partially packed and we head out at 5am.