Spring is a-coming!

The first signs of wildflower season were seen on our five mile hike today.  These are Prairie Verbena and a much nicer lavender color than this photo shows.  Today with the hiking club we went into Oracle for one of the many hikes there.  This was a relatively easy hike.  We were expecting seven miles, but it turned out to be only five and a half.  No one complained.

This photo shows how far out we appear to be but really, the trailhead was only a 20 minute drive from our house (which is close for Saddlebrooke).  Not many cactus on this hike, but a lot of nice views, rolling hills, and oak trees.

We are expecting a bit of a rainstorm this weekend and into next week and fear our great weather will be taking a break.  One of the fun things about hiking with "the club" is that we learn to much about other things to do and see in Tucson and all over the world.  Everyone is interesting and has a lot of experience with hiking and traveling.

Tourist Sight Seeing

The last few days we had visitors from California.  This gave us the excuse to do some touristy things around town.  Of course to get anywhere it's usually an hour drive - at least to see the popular things.  But it's all worth it.

Marcie and I went to see Ted DeGrazia's gallery which was very, very interesting.  I never even knew about it.  He personally built the gallery of adobe clay.  In the bathrooms he painted on the walls.  We learned a lot about this Arizona artist.

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum was fantastic, as usual.  The javelinas were active, though we never could smell their smell.

The Raptor show was great and we had nice views of the birds.

And the hummingbird aviary was a lot of fun.  One of the hummingbirds went right up to a woman wearing a red flowered shirt and poked her, then realized she wasn't a flower.  Lots of nests, which we've never seen before, and even saw the birds building new nests.

Dave and Jim also spent a long time at the Pima Air Museum and could have spent longer but we had to move on.  During their visit they were lucky in seeing wild javelina and roadrunners near our home.  But now back to work for them and back to retiring for us.

Pickleball-gate

You would think that a bunch of 75 year olds would get along just fine in this sunny climate.  Well, there is a big controversy brewing that involves senior citizen theft and vandalism!

Apparently, certain residents can't stand the constant thwack, thwack, thwack sounds of the pickleball as it goes over the net.  The courts are outdoor and near some homes.  To show their unhappiness, someone, or some people, have cut the nets, poured honey into the ball holder (multiple times) and recently stolen the newer, "quieter" balls.  The pickleball club members are getting furious and there may be some vigilantism in the near future.  We love hearing all "the dirt" that goes on here.

And, guess HOO we saw?

Sweetwater Trail

Today we met with the hiking group for a level C hike in the Sweetwater Trail.  A hikes are the hardest and D hikes are the easiest.  I liked this one a lot, but it really was a D, not a C.  The leaders tend to stop and chat and check on everyone's well being more often than I'd like which adds a lot of time to the hike.  What could have been 2 1/2 hours ended up being 3 1/2 hours.

Notice how the Ocotillo is a bright green.  Down is southern Tucson things are warmer and plants are blooming much faster than up in Saddlebrooke.

Tons of Saguaro and Prickly Pear on this hike.

More Owls

Now the nightly "owl hunt" has become an adventure.  Last night we headed out to find the owls in their usual spot but there was nothing.  Not even any hooting.  I hooted, but none hooted back.  So we headed back to the house and there it was - a hoot.  So we followed it and soon we heard several owls hooting back and forth.

Listening lead us straight to an owl on a roof.  A few minutes later his mate joined him.  They were very active, then one flew straight towards us.  We were not afraid.  Luckily the owl was only flying to a branch on the tree right in front of us.  We had never been that close to a Great Horned Owl before.

Unfortunately, even though we were so close, it was getting too dark for any photos.  But maybe tomorrow, or the next day I'll have some.

Oracle State Park

The town of Oracle is north of us and a nice change from always heading south towards Tucson.  This is a gem of a state park and it is only open to the public on weekends.  On the property is the Kannally Ranch House.  We arrived for a very interesting hour long tour from the park ranger.  Then we did some very easy hiking through the park for about four miles.

 Quite a different landscape than what we usually encounter on these hikes.

Later that evening we attended our first "Unit Social".  Approximately every 50 homes make up a unit and they are all independent in making their own fun.  One neighbor had a cocktail party and there were at least 40 people who brought an appetizer and stayed to visit.  We are not quite ready to be hosting one of those, but maybe in a few years.

Owls and Gems

We feel like we've hit the jackpot with wildlife now.  Since we love owls we are always listening for them.  From what we have learned from others here, there are lots of owls at Saddlebrooke.  We have discovered the nesting palm tree where there are a pair of Great Horned Owls, right down the street from us!  After a few quests for them we have learned that heading out at 6pm is the perfect time to find them in the neighborhood.

I need a better camera in the future to try to get some great wildlife shots.  But here are the two in their palm tree.

Dave and I had great luck at the Tuesday night trivia - and it was luck.  But our team of six won!  That means we each earned a free drink token (well drink - which disappointed Dave as he was planning on getting a double shot of Maker's Mark).  

This weekend is the last weekend of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show (the rock show, as I call it).  Pretty hot, pretty crowded, dusty, but there were more beads, rocks, and jewelry than you could see in one day.  We didn't last too long because the sun was too bright and we needed to get back to our house where we can swim and cool off.

But it looked something like this.

Sutherland Trail

Today was another fun hike with the Saddlebrooke hiking group.  Every hike we meet new people - not many repeats, yet.  This was a 5 1/2 miler, but it was really easy and seemed much shorter.  A common expression among the "old people" here happens when they lose their train of thought.  "I'm just having a Saddlebrooke moment" is what I've heard several times now.  We are not at that point.

The reward with this hike was sitting on a large expanse of rock and enjoying the rushing (!) waters in the stream.  I so wanted to put my feet in the icy water but I ended up settling with just getting my hands wet.  The water was so cold that I couldn't keep my hands in for long.

Projects in AZ

In the master bedroom we have fairly high walls.  Also very long walls with very little art, at this point.  I don't consider Dave's free Arizona calendar above his desk to be art, but he does.  

So I realized we needed a tufted headboard.  This was a fun project and a physical one.  I'm really happy with the results.  Now we have less white wall space and more heighth to our bed.

The pool that we usually swim in each early evening is now closed for three weeks for maintenance.  It seemed fine to us, but what do we know?  So now instead of being able to walk to the pool we have to drive to swim.  We have been going to the Mountainview pool which is quite different than "our usual".  This pool is surrounded by pine trees and we feel like we are in Bend, Oregon rather than AZ.  I discovered this Elf Owl at the pool.

If you look closer, you'll see what it really is.

I still think it's charming and enjoy looking at it each time we swim.  Now if only we could discover a real Elf Owl.

Wildlife, finally!

This was a good couple of days for seeing animals that we have been longing to see.

Two nights ago on our 6pm walk down to grab some mesquite logs (that's another story), I thought I heard an owl hoot.  Then within a couple of minutes who flew by but a lovely Great Horned Owl, right in front of us, to land on a golf green to kill some rodent.  He stayed on the green for a minute (while crushing the meal, I suppose), then took off to a nearby roof.  Seconds later his mate flew right by us to land on the same roof.  Of course, we didn't have our camera or binocs with us, but at least we think we know the area where they nest so we will hunt them down again.

And this morning on our way to a very nice estate sale I yelled out "Javelina!".  Of course, Dave never sees these things, but he pulled over.  I was uncomfortable about "parking" in the golf cart lane but we had no choice if we wanted to see the pigs.  We quietly walked back up the street to where they were and I got a few pics with my phone.  They were really neat to see, but spooked easily.

I hope to get better photos next time.  This photo only shows two brave pigs but there were at least eight in the herd.

Peas in Tucson?

I'm hoping.  The beans I brought down as small plants have already succumbed to the cold mornings.  However, the Golden Peas I started over a week ago are finally sprouting.  They must have enjoyed the 2" of rain we recently got.

Yesterday we went on another new hike.  This one was down near the Desert Museum - about an hour's drive.  The hike of 5 1/2 miles lasted about 3 1/2 hours.  There is a lot of stopping, catching your breath, and eating which makes these hikes a bit longer.  The group of nine over 60s was a very fun group of people to hike with.  One of the men actually had a homemade nametag pinned on his shirt, along with his wife's phone number.  She put this on him in case he had an accident or heart attack.  Some people have professionally made nametags that they wear on their hats.  We haven't gotten to that point, yet.

At one point we could even see the Biosphere.  Look for the arrow.  Our home is only about two miles south of this landmark - but a gazillion miles from this hiking spot.

After we got home and relaxed we went to our second week of Trivia Night.  It's quite the event here on our "cruise ship" known as Saddlebrooke.  This week we actually were able to get three questions right and we met some more fun people from Seattle.

Record Breaking Rain

This is a huge puddle in our backyard after just one of the two day rain.  The ground was so saturated that the extra water had nowhere to go.  There were quite a few flood warnings around town, but we never had and trouble driving around.

Last night we went to a "real rock concert" as the 75 year old emcee told us.  It was pretty funny because I consider most rock concerts to be so loud that I wish for earplugs.  This was not the case.  At the compound there is the Desertview Theater which looks like it holds about 400 people.  The place was packed for the Fleetwood Mac Tribute band - BellaDonna.  These were musicians from L.A. and turned out to be very talented.  One lead singer and one backup singer (who I liked better than the lead).  Dave had seen Fleetwood Mac in 1977 in Portland.  He was disappointed that no one was smoking pot at this "concert" like they did back then.  This was our one show of the season.