Tucson - Sunshine, Saguaros & Scones

Desert Dog

SUNSHINE, SAGUAROS & SCONES (AND MUCH MORE)

    Sheila and I are settled in and happily pursuing our chosen desert lifestyle - write, hike, read. Most mornings we are at our writing table after breakfast, each pursuing their  current project. (Today, the blog.) After lunch we find a good hike and set off. Most trails are off limits to dogs, so Barkly stays home to "guard the house."  There are a few trails, however, that allow canines, and Barkly has had a couple of desert adventures. He's pretty good at avoiding cactus, although he did have quite an adventure yesterday.

BARKLY, NO! A CHOLLA IS NOT A TOY!

    We have occasional walking companions, Chris and her Labradoodle Spirit, on our neighborhood walks. The neighborhood streets are pretty quiet, so we let the pooches off leash and let them chase and pummel each other. 

The other day, we meet Lisa and her pooch, about as big as a box of Kleenex. While we chat, the dogs play. One of the women yells. I look. Barkly is chasing a four-inch long piece of cholla! I grab him before he can take a bite. (I can't imagine what would ensue if he got a prickly cholla in his mouth.)

    I notice, however, that he has two similar cholla chunks on his driver side rear leg. He is not happy. I grab him and hug him tight to immobilize him and calm him while Lisa runs to her home to get a comb. A comb is best, but in a pinch you can use two rocks to grab and remove the offending cactus. (Right! Hold a panicky 70-pound dog with one hand, and use your other two hands holding rocks to pull off the cholla.) Lisa returns and it is quickly evident that none of us knows how to do the job any better than we could perform surgery.

    Then, the cavalry  arrives, disguised as a circus. Three adults and two dogs, Danny (a black lab) and Palomita (a yellow lab), two of Barkly's new friends. Palomita goes a bit crazy at seeing her pal and tugs on her leash, barking frantically. Lisa and Chris begin to yell to Larry for help. Dogs barking, women yelling and Larry (my age and as hearing-challenged as I am) is yelling, "What? What?"

    Barkly, firmly in my embrace, is the calmest at the scene, except for the other adults with Larry, who seem too bewildered to speak. Larry approaches while I hug Barkly and hope like hell the other two dogs don't come any closer. Larry sizes up the situation, takes the comb from Lisa, bends down and before Barkly can react, quickly gets the comb close and flick both cholla chunks off Barkly's leg. 

Barkly's Nemesis - Cholla

 SUNSHINE

    There's a lot of sunshine in the desert, of course. That's why we made 1,600-mile trek from Minneapolis. We are happiest when hiking under the desert sun or sitting on our south-facing patio absorbing the sun's warmth even on "chilly" fifty degree afternoons. Under the intense southwestern sun, fifty degrees is the new seventy. I totally get why the rattlers like to stretch out on a sunny rock.

    A week ago, a rainy cold front moved in for a few days. We adapted our routine - no hiking, but a lot of writing and reading, and one cool cavern tour. (More on this in a bit.)

For two days, the Catalinas had left the area...

...and then returned!

 

 SAGUAROS

    Saguaros are everywhere! Our home for the winter is surrounded by desert dominated by the majestic cactus. They'll obviously appear in my photos, but I promise not to go overboard. Here's my homage to the saguaro.

One Tall Saguaro!

 

Yikes! Alien!

Young saguaro in the embrace of its "nurse tree."

Your desert fun fact for today: Young saguaros thrive in the nitrogen-rich soil of its "nurse Tree," the palo verde.

Three Amigos

 

That's a lot of arms, all the better to hug you with.

 

Saguaro National Park

 SCONES

I began traveling in retirement, first to California and now to Tucson for the sunshine and warm temperatures in January and February.  But there's another story. I also travel to Santa Barbara for raised glazed donuts. Eller's bakery makes a raised glaze like no other I've had. Their raised glaze is as light as a Parisian croissant, without sacrificing the sugary thrill. (I have searched for a better donut, to no avail.) So although the climate draws me, I feast there (and nowhere else) on Eller's offerings.

And in Tucson? Scones! On Sunday mornings, Sheila and I take our New York Times to Raging Sage for their very good coffee and their out-of-this world scones. They have a crispy outside surrounding a light chewy inside, with a large variety of delicious flavors. Jalapeno sage jam with pecans, blackberry with toasted almonds, and so many more - every one baked to perfection. How do they do that? I'm not much of a fan of scones to tell the truth, but a Raging Sage scone is as great a highlight here as a hike in the desert. (A nod here to my friend, Jan MacKenzie Polanski, in Minneapolis, whose scones I never pass up.)

There is always a line at the Raging Sage, so get there early. Sitting outside on their patio in the sun by the orange trees isn't heaven, but you can see heaven from there.

Blackberry with Toasted Almond

A Raging Sage Kind of Smile!

 

A Raging Sage Scone, A Cuppa Joe, and the NY Times

 

 

PACKRATS, JAVALINAS & BIRDS

I hesitate to include birds in this section. Their presence is a delight. Jim and Adam have the patios sprinkled with feeders, and Sheila and I dutifully keep them filled as directed by our hosts. (I am the hummingbird specialist.) Cardinals, quail, hummingbirds and a bunch of others constantly cruise the airspace and the desert floor and sing to us. When he is inside, Barkly watches the birds through the glass as if he were watching Animal Planet on Dog TV. When outside, he leaps and chases, forever hopeful of catching one. He and the hummingbirds taunt each other (playfully, I'd like to think). 

On the other hand...

...There are the javalinas and the packrats. I haven't seen a packrat yet, and I don't want to. They (like some particularly nasty squirrels back home) like to climb under the hoods of cars and get into all sorts of mischief playing with wires, etc. Adam warned us and told us that raising the hood  and sliding a string of lights under the hood is an effective deterrent to the critters. So far, so good. Fingers crossed.

Packrats be gone!

And then, there are the javalinas. They are regular visitors. Cute critters. And pests!

Cute Javelina

Not-so-cute Javelina Vandalism

 

Javelinas are not our friends.

 

FELIZ PASEOS PARK

Loosely translated, I think this translates into Happy Trails Park. Dogs are welcome in the park if the dog and it's human friend obey the rules. It's my regular morning walk spot with Barkly, about a mile and a half of connecting of trails in the desert only three minutes from the house by car. 

Yesterday we discovered a path next to the parking lot that was not marked as a trail, so, of course, we went exploring. It wasn't long, maybe fifty yards, and led to a road outside the park. We followed the road a bit and were rewarded with our first coyote sighting.

A great place for morning walks with the dog.

 

Barkly poses in Feliz Paseos Park.

A view from Feliz Paseos Park

 

You've been warned!

 

DO NOT ENTER WHEN FLOODED

And a word about desert arroyos, also called washes - dry creek beds that fill dramatically and rapidly after local rainstorms. The highway department has liberally placed warning signs on roads that cross arroyos. DO NOT ENTER WHEN FLOODED. Still, like the people who have to touch the stove top to see if it's hot, there are many who think, It's only a couple of inches...

'64 Rambler That Didn't Make It Across the Wash During a '65 Storm

The driver of this 2,600-pound car somehow lived to tell her story, even though her car was carried a mile downstream by the current. Later, the woman's briefcase was found another mile down the wash. Six inches of rushing water can knock a person off their feet. Two feet of rushing water can carry a car away.

 VISITORS - PETROGLYPHS & CHOCOLATE CAKE 

Sheila's son and grandson, Ethan and Foss, paid us a visit for a three-day weekend. She had promised Foss to take him to the desert for his 7th birthday, but since we're already here as his 6th birthday approached, she decided, why wait? They arrived a couple of Fridays ago, bringing with them a lot energy.  

Foss and Barkly quickly became great friends. They played fetch and hugged a lot. One morning, I was awakened by a soft whisper in the predawn dark, Barkly! Then, Barkly! Barkly slept on at the side of our bed. Barkly! Barkly remained still. Finally, a small silhouette of a child tiptoed into the room gand got down on the floor with the dog for a few moments. Then two shapes, six legs, silently glided out of the room.

 

Pals

 

Ethan and Foss squeezed in a lot of activities in their short visit - the Desert Museum, a long hike in Saguaro National Park, finding petroglyphs ("I see art!" Foss would yell.), a Kartchner Caverns tour, a lot of Mexican food, and finally, Foss being sworn in as a Junior Forest Ranger after completing his workbook. When the swearing in was completed (with Foss wearing the park ranger's Smoky the Bear hat), many of the people in the Visitors Center applauded.

Kartchner Caverns - not to be missed! If you're down this way, set aside a day for this excellent experience.

After our petroglyph hike, they all went into town to a Mexican restaurant for a big lunch. I begged off in favor of some quiet time at home. Very early that evening, both Foss and Ethan headed off for an earlybedtime, but not until we sang Happy Birthday to both of our guests and ate chocolate cake to celebrate. They barely stayed awake for cake before both father and son headed off for bed.   

 

 

Ethan, Foss and Sheila

   

Petroglyphs

Leaving my mark for future millenia.

More petroglyphs (not mine).

A Very Happy Sheila with Ethan and Foss on the Trail

 

BEFORE I SIGN OFF, A BIT OF THIS & THAT

The Sonoran Desert - Grand View...

...And up close

I woke up a couple days ago to see snowflakes falling from the desert sky. I got up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling glass door to make sure my sleepy eyes were not playing tricks on me. They were not. All I could do was laugh out loud.

A few days later, I walked Barkly in 28 degree temperatures and learned that 28 degrees in the desert is quite a bit different than 28 degrees near the Canadian border. At home, I bundle up to fend off the cold. Here, a sweater and my down parka suffice, since the southern sun's rays are quite a bit more direct. By mid-walk, I have unbuttoned my vest and am enjoying what I think of as spring weather.

From a trip into the city:

Sheila admires a mural of Diego Rivera & Freida Kahlo

Diego Rivera  & Freida Kahlo Mural Detail

Another Desert Fun Fact for the day:

I was gazing out from our picture window at the nighttime city lights in the valley one evening. Thousands of lights twinkled and I wondered, Why do distant lights twinkle? And stars, for that matter? You may already know that the twinkling of lights occurs because of differing air temperatures and air density between the lights and your vantage point. But do you know what the phenomenon is called? It's called anomalous refraction. 

Last Light

That's all for now. Already planning my next blog. Stay tuned.

Feliz Paseos to you all. Be well. Be strong. Be kind.

WINTER ROAD TRIP 2023

ROAD TRIP 2023

(FOUR) LONG DAYS' JOURNEY INTO

A DESERT RETREAT

(A reminder: a double click on any photo brings it to full page.)

It's morning on the first day of the new year, the first full day in our desert home for the next two months. We arrived yesterday afternoon. Twenty hours ago we sat on the patio of the home of our new friends, Adam and Jim. We sipped chilled white wine and surveyed the stupendous view that would be ours far from the hardest part of Minnesota winter.

 

The view from our patio - stately saguaro, Tucson and the Catalinas in the distance.

 

After a tour of the house and a review of our house care duties, Adam and Jim treated us to a delicious meal of homemade turkey vegetable soup (Adam) and homemade sourdough bread (Jim).  Then, a walk through the neighborhood with Barkly and a short rest before we headed off to a New Year's Eve party at the home of Sheila's good friends, Penny and Sylvie. Nice party, interesting people. We lasted for about two glasses of champagne until our long day caught up with us and we headed home to bed.

Walking the dog in the desert dusk.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The New Year's Eve party was the culmination of a day that had begun in Albuquerque, a 500-mile drive away. (Google had promised us only 460.) Albuquerque itself was at the end of three days of driving from Minneapolis. 

What We Left Behind - My Front Yard Flamingo.

Day #1 began with a pre-dawn stop at Starbucks before driving 650 miles in a straight line more or less on I-35 to Wichita. In the first hour of driving in the dark we passed a dozen or more cars, trucks and semis in the ditch, a silent warning to drive with care. The most dramatic case was when we got to watch a semi-tractor trailer plunge off the northbound lanes directly toward us and into the median, plowing up a huge plume of snow before coming to rest.

 

That was the only excitement of Day #1, our longest day of driving. Well, not the only excitement. At our first gas fill-up and dog-walking break we were able to shed our winter coats (and never put them on again).

 

We talked a lot in the darkness - about our trip to Maine this summer, our plans to visit Sicily in the fall with our friends Jay and Claire, who introduced Sheila and me. We talked about our relationship, still new, challenging (as it should be) and thrilling (as it should be). As we talked, faint streaks of light in the eastern sky offered gentle hints of daybreak. 

 

We spotted an Arizona license plate. Near Des Moines, Clanton Creek snaked beneath the highway, a crooked line painted white with snow. We were a hundred sixty miles from Kansas City. A billboard proclaimed, Attention Hunters! 30% Off Retail! We crossed Squaw Creek, leaving behind for a while the prairie for a stretch of hills and forest. First, acres of baby firs; then miles of adolescents.

We entered Kansas and crossed Cowskin Creek. Kansas has a western feel, like Colorado, a bit wild. Then, Wichita! Wichita: home base for Cessna and Beechcraft, a clean hotel, a pretty good Italian meal with a couple glasses of pinot grigio just down the road and...

 

...a morning visit to the Wichita Museum of Art! With a short drive to Amarillo ahead of us, we treated ourselves to a culture break.  A fine museum, not to be missed if you're in the neighborhood. 

 

The museum's current theme is story. "We all have a story. Our stories describe who we are and how our identity took shape. They connect our past to our present and the personal to the universal. If, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, then art is the most direct story teller. Every work of art has a story."

 

Thomas Eakins, N.C. Wyeth, Diego Rivera, Jean Marin, Edward Hopper, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O'Keefe, Dale Chihuly. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let some of the collection do the talking. You can imagine for yourselves the stories they tell.

 

 

 

Leaving Kansas, it looked like the Kansas I've always imagined - rolling prairie. We passed through Suppesville, KS, home of the House of Terrors. (We didn't investigate.) Then, Sawyer, KS, pop. 124, where signs proclaimed (loudly, I think) WE ARE PISSED! And, TRUMPSVILLE!

 

 Down the road, the town of Medicine Lodge seemed a happier place, with signs that the locals honor the history and culture of the local indigenous people.

 

Finally, Texas, where the highway seemed pulled tight by invisible hands into an unbending and unending straight line. The wild sunset entertained us for the longest time until we reached Amarillo.  In Amarillo, we had steak, because it seemed like what to do in Texas.

Highway to the Horizon

 

 

 

The highway that was so entertaining at sunset became mind-numbing as we left Amarillo. Traveling at 80 mph, we felt as if we were standing still. After a few hours, we actually cheered at the sight of the sign proclaiming, Welcome to New Mexico, Land of Enchantment. Hills sprouted up, the road curled. A billboard (the first of many) advertised Pistachio Land, Home of the World's Largest Pistachio. (Believe it or not, we skipped Pistachio Land.)

Barkly, as I had expected, lay down and slept most of the time, lulled by the hum of the tires on pavement; but occasionally I saw him in the rear view mirror sitting up and staring out the back window, as if taking in the sights of a strange land. What was his doggy mind thinking?

In Albuquerque, we checked into our La Quinta and headed for the home of Sheila's longtime friends, Mark and Marla. Mark and Marla have a charming desert home which they share with three happy dogs. The yard is populated by chickens. Mark and Marla are excellent,welcoming hosts. As Mark prepared a delicious dinner and as we sat down to eat, we enjoyed far-ranging conversation on topics great and small. A great evening. When we left, I felt as if I had known them for a long time, and hoped it would not be a long time before I saw them again.

 

 The directions from Albuquerque to Tucson are straightforward, literally and figuratively. Get on I-25 south. Drive for a looonnng time to Las Cruces. Turn right onto I-10 west. Drive for an even longer time to Tucson.

 

Not too far down the road from our Starbucks stop, sun and sky created a scene worthy of its own place on the wall of the Wichita Art Museum. A roadside rest stop appeared. I pulled in and got out my camera. The photo tells the story.

Early Morning on the Road to Tucson

Other than the length of our last day's drive, the trip to Tucson was unremarkable. Except, perhaps, for the road signs every twenty miles or so advising travelers of what to do in the event of dust storms, the southwestern version of blizzards.

 

After the hours traversing the flat expanse of desert, we entered the mountains and soon were surrounded on both sides by Tucson's sprawl. The sight of Tucson's modest downtown cheered us. As soon as we left the interstate, we recognized street names and understood that we were a few minutes' drive from our winter retreat! We had completed our journey from snow-covered sidewalks and sub-freezing temperatures to saguaro-speckled desert and endless hiking trails.