mountain macarena

Today was a fun day. My husband's work van need some work done at the dealer. Instead of only taking an hour or two it ended up taking all day. Without his van he couldn't go to work.

We spent the morning and early afternoon going to garage sales. One of the garage sales we visited was right next to the tail head to the foothills of the mountain near our house. When I mentioned my desire to hike that trail with my husband he suggested we do that later today.

(no, we didn't buy the rocking horse but we did find plenty of other stuff we needed)

Jay is an excellent garage sale shopper and can out shop me. Somewhere between one and two my stomach started complaining. We happened by a restaurant I had been wanting to try.... a place featuring Native American fry bread. After a yummy lunch of fry bread taco we headed home to make a quick transition to hiking mode. In our recently purchased rummage sale hiking packs we put water, camera, comb and pliers (in case of Cholla cactus crisis), and a small shofar. After collecting the dog and her leash we headed to the trail head.

Note the rocky trail....you really need to keep an eye on the path.

We stopped to admire this octi-catci (eight armed cactus-we make that up).

Because we got a late start we only walked about thirty minutes up the trail. As we walked my husband kept commenting on the danger of wild animals....coyote, bobcat, mountain lion....and how we should really have some type of protection when walking in such a place, especially as dusk was quickly approaching. This fact was reinforced by the hiker we passed who had a handgun in his pocket. I did ok with the lions and tigers and bears talk but when he started talking about snakes I was ready to head back to the car.

What a handsome dog...Lily loved the trek despite the abundance of cacti.


As the sun began to set the mountain changes to a golden hue.

A perfect end to a perfect day.

desert hula

There is an Arizona barrel cacti growing near our patio. I believe this cactus also goes by the name of Fish hook cactus.


It has fruit on the top that look like miniature pineapples.

The fruit are eaten by rodents, deer and javelina as well as some silly dogs.

desert stomp

These photos are from a walk I took on the reserve land just down the street from my house. They were taken on an overcast day that allowed better photographic color than a typical sunny day in Arizona.
The reserve is surprisingly full of sounds.... insects buzzing, birds singing, quail flapping their way out of a shady brush, lizards scurrying to hide. There have been times that I've come upon a flock of quail without their detection. They make a funny whistling sound when they are huddled together under brush that reminds me of guinea pigs.

Sometimes I can find flowers in bloom.


Always lots of rocks in every size, shape, and color.

My least favorite cactui... ugly and mean

Interesting trees but many have thorns secretly hidden on their branches.

so many things to discover....treasures in their uniqueness...peaceful in their solitude

date dance

Over the weekend we visited friends on a date farm in the desert. On the way we encountered this interesting tree decorated with cooking pots.

The entrance to the farm was line with date palms.... a welcome sight after miles of desert shrubs.


Another shadow photo for you Amy...


We all had a wonderful time...including Lily...isn't she just as pretty as all the other flowers?

dancing in the clouds

picture this:
Thanksgiving morning... still wearing my pj's, talking on the phone, climbing on the roof in order to shoot the clouds on the mountain that look a lot like an avalanche.

dancing in the rain

I climbed onto the roof for these shots...the first was taken a week or so ago when there were storm clouds on south end of the mountains while the sun was shining on the northern section.


The next two were taken late morning today after the rain stopped but the sun hadn't shown up yet.


l



it was a rainy morning in the desert ....the first rain we have had for a couple of months. The clouds are so thick you couldn't see the mountains in the distance.

Cactus Polka

Last week I took a hedge trimmer to a cholla (cho-ya) cactus in our back yard. It is rather spindly and has arms that stick out in every direction in order to catch anything that happens near. The cactus is on the way to the back fence where we are training Lily to go to the bathroom. I was concerned that she would brush the cactus as she passed by and end up stuck. I carefully cleaned up the area of the small prickly balls that cause people to nickname this the jumping cactus. The joints are so loose that it is only necessary to lightly brush the plant and a section breaks off and attaches itself to you.


The next morning as I was putting on my tennis shoes my foot came in contact with one of the laces on which a ball of jumping cholla had secreatly attached itself. In a split second it was attached, quite painfully, to me. Although I was able to get my fingers on the imbedded needle it caused too much pain to pull on it for me to remove it myself. After a couple of tearful phone calls I hopped on one foot across the street to the neighbors. Nancy came out and easily removed the barb with a tweezers (all the jumping must have loosened it as she hardly touched it and it came out painlessly).

My cactus encounter and first hand understanding of the pain made it worse when, over the weekend, Lily flushed the birds out of the shrubs near the mailbox and ended up with a ball of needles from the chain fruit cholla attached to her.



Having lived in town as an inside dog the desert plants and animals are new to her. She did what seemed natural...tried to remove the cactus from her leg with her mouth. By the time Jay and I reached her she had a large prickly ball attached in several places inside her mouth. I calmed her while Jay went for the plyers. It wasn't fun for any of us but we eventually rid her of all the needles. I was thankful that Jay had been home as I wouldn't have known how to help her on my own.


I thought Lily was a smart dog but am reevaluating today after her second encounter with the same cactus. At least this time she knew not to put her mouth on the needles and she just stood and waited for me to come get her. I don't know if it was because I had to hold the dog and remove the cactus by myself but it was a more difficult and painful procedure this time.

This afternoon I carefully removed many of the fallen cactus chuncks and deposited them in the trash. Hopefully this will be our last cactus adventure for a long time.