Facts about Arizona Life

One of the downsides of living in Arizona is the hair issue.  Normally I have pretty curly hair.  You
wouldn't know that if you saw me now.  Between the hard water in our shower, the dryness in the air, and the wind, I have flat, straight hair.  I finally got a haircut yesterday and the hairdresser tried to bring the curls back but I think they are gone until I see Oregon.

Dave's hair, on the other hand, is getting long.  No haircut in three months - and that's a record! He is starting to look like he did in high school.  He's still got a ton of thick, dark hair.   I think he is turning into one of those old men who sport long, gray ponytails - except he doesn't have any gray hair!  I can see now that we're going to be one of those couples where when we go out people will come up to Dave and say "oh, it's so nice that you are taking your mother out."

Golf balls - my aunt Tina and Dave are both ball hogs.  Now on Dave's daily walks he brings a stick to help retrieve balls that have gone into the brush.  One day he came home with 33 balls.  He can't help himself when he sees a lost golf ball.  My aunt has garbage cans full of rescued balls.  It's a bit like an Easter egg hunt for those two.

This is one part of our front yard where Dave planted three new cactus plants.  We spent some time at Bach's Cactus Garden which was a fantastic nursery.  It was part research facility, part store.  The kind of place where you go crazy buying too much.  Starting to love cactus now.  We're hoping when we come back next year we will see definite growth on these guys.  They may be too young to flower, but that would be nice.

80 degree days are in the forecast!  Hope we can handle it.

Barren v. Abundant

Just walking the neighborhoods is a lesson in cactus varieties and landscaping.  We have been evaluating what plants we'd like to have in our yard, which ones bloom in spring, and which ones can survive without us for many months.  Here are two "opposite" yards. The first one doesn't even "say" Arizona.

 This one is on the deserted, sparse side.  Not our favorite look.

Here is a flower from the Argentine Giant.  This is the plant we hope to get a few of when we go to the cactus nursery - today.  We love these fantastic flowers!

Yesterday I went to the smaller of the two libraries in Saddlebrooke to pick up some books.  As my books were being checked out I noticed a sign on the "for sale" book cart.  It said 

$1 for a book

or

$1 for two books

It struck me as so funny.  Being the shrewd shopper that I am, I bought two books.

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.