THE LAST DAY OF DECEMBER 2008

Can you believe this is me sitting outside reading on New Year's Eve. We have been having amazing weather the past few days (high 70's). After a cold spell, where we had to cover our plants at night; it got down to 26 degrees one night (what was that about?), it has warmed up again, and it is beautiful.Boomer decided to get a little sun too! He loves to be outside and loves to crawl around on the lounge chair.

We had a great Christmas; hope you did too. Kent and Lesley came and spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Christmas Day with us. They went home on Friday because of a frost warning. They had to cover their plants as the frost warning extended up to Phoenix and surrounding area.

Kent and Lesley gave us a Pomegranate tree for Christmas, and on Wednesday, Kent and Bob planted it. They had to move another plant and extend the drip line to plant the tree, but

we are so excited to have one in our own yard.

The first time we saw a Pomegranate blossom was at the Tumacacori Mission just South of Tubac. (picture below)

The blossoms were beautiful. They look like a carnation and were a dreamsicle color. We can hardly wait for ours to bloom. When it finally gets Pomegranates and if you leave them on the tree, they will pop open and the birds love them.

We are going to freinds for dinner tonight, but will probably be home by 9. We haven't made it to midnight on New Years Eve since Y2K! Happy New Year.

OH, THE WEATHER OUTSIDE......

The weather outside where you live might be frightful, but here it is DELIGHTFUL. We went birding on Saturday, December 20 with friends, Stein and Colleen Siminson. The morning started out chilly, but the sky was blue and it was a beautiful day. We started out at the Green Valley wastewater treatment ponds and saw lots and lots of water fowl.

Then we went up to Madera Canyon and birded along Proctor Trail. We then came back to our subdivision (where Bob changed into shorts and t-shirt) and birded along the Anza Trail. Colleen had seen Bob's "Devil's Claw" pods, and she wanted some so we picked a bunch along the trail. I took this picture next to some Burrowing Owl nest sites. No Burrowing Owls yet, but we are hoping they will return to nest here in the spring.

The next day, Sunday, December 21, Bob and I went up to Proctor Trail again. We had heard from friends that an Elegant Trogon had been seen up there the day before. We hiked all the way up the trail, but unfortunately we didn't see the Trogon. We saw a number of other birds and it was a great day to be out.

We are amazed at how green it still is here. On our way up the trail we saw such diversity: cactus, pine trees, ferns growing in rocks, and flowers that are still blooming.

As Bob says, "Another great day in Paradise!"

JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS, ETC., ETC.

On Sunday, we were invited to the Denzer's for Scott's birthday. We had such a good time although it was a little chilly sitting out on the patio, but we're in Arizona so on the patio we sit!

As you can see by the pictures, the men sit at one table and the women sit at the other. I don't know who made up that rule, but we follow it religiously!!!!

On Monday we decided we needed to get in the Christmas spirit, so Bob put up some Christmas lights, and he bought his "dream" Christmas tree. (notice that he is doing this in shorts and a t-shirt.

This is his dream Christmas palm! He loves it and has decided he will leave it up all year and just decorate for every holiday.

I just put this picture in so that everyone can see what beautiful sunsets we have down here. Both the sunrises and sunsets are amazing.

Last Friday, December 5, we went with friends, Linda and Jim Gleason, birding to Sonoita Creek near Patagonia, Arizona. We had been to Patagonia Lake birding before but had never gone to Sonoita Creek. We arrived there about 9 a.m. The sun was shining, but it was cold -- I'm guessing about 43 degrees.

I had on a long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt and Bob's fleece jacket. Thank goodness Bob's thermostat runs high or he'd have had his jacket on instead of me!

Besides seeing a few birds, it was too cold for them also, I took this picture of a gray squirrel eating berries while perched precariously on the branch of a bush.

These strange looking creatures are the husks of Cicada's. The Cicada lays its eggs on the bark of a tree and then when they hatch they go down into the soil and live there until they are ready to come back up the tree (this is a simplification) where they shed their skin and fly away. Their remaining husks are left hooked to the tree -- it looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. If you have never heard Cicadas when they are in full voice, it is amazing. Some articles say they can be as loud as 120 dB. (That's as loud as a jet taking off)

After lunch in Patagonia, we made a trip by Patagonia Lake to see what was happening there. There were lots of water birds-- a highlight being a Common Moorhen -- plus we saw a Ladderback Woodpecker; Orange Crowned Warbler; Roadrunner; Gamble's Quail, and a Sharpshin Hawk hunting the aforementioned.

In all we saw 39 different birds, and we had a great day. Can't wait to go back.

After eating so much Thanksgiving day, the four of us decided we needed to get out and move so Bob suggested we go birding (surprise, surprise). Lesley and Kent stayed with us when we were here in April and Lesley got the birding bug; and Kent bought a new camera, so all agreed and away we went to Arivaca. We had a great day walking and birding and taking pictures. We saw some great birds and just enjoyed the 70 + degree weather.

When Bob birds, he never stops so Lesley and I decided we had to have a snack just to keep us going.

Kent took a lot of pictures with his new camera. This is a great one of a Red-tailed Hawk in flight and another resting in a willow tree.

He also took one of a female Cardinal

and a Black Phoebe

We decided to stop at the Stockman's Restaurant in Amado on the way home and have a late lunch -- we weren't quite up to turkey again.

We ran into Santa at the restaurant, and being the Christmas person that I am (ha ha), and wanting to get in the Christmas spirit (again ha ha), we had our picture taken with the old fellow.

Soooooo, it's official the Christmas season has begun!

Thanksgiving in the desert

Everyone who knows me knows that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love to cook, and I don't feel like Thanksgiving has been commercialized like other holidays. This year, our first in Arizona, my brother Kent and sister-in-law Lesley came from Casa Grande to spend the holiday with us. We also invited Shirley and Cliff Jantz to join us.

Bob happily made Shirley and Lesley martinis while Cliff waits for the turkey!

Bob, Kent, Shirley, and Lesley visiting before dinner.

We had a wonderful dinner and for dessert the neighbors down the street and their company came over and we all enjoyed desserts together.

Bob, Scott, Boomer, and Norm are engrossed in a football game.

Yvonne, Shirley and Cindy smile for the camera.

We miss our family and friends in Idaho, but we have made so many nice friends here and having Kent and Lesley and these friends helped me not be quite so homesick on my first Thanksgiving away from Idaho.

Critters, we have critters

While taking our morning walk yesterday (11-22-08) along the walking path, we heard some coyotes barking or wailing or whatever they do. As we came around to the golf course side of the walking path we could see a coyote barking and her young (we think) answering. We have seen others near there and can hear them at night when they put up quite a ruckus.

We knew when we moved to Arizona that there would be "critters" some different from what we'd seen in Idaho and some the same. Here are a few of the ones we've seen since moving here.

We are usually looking up to see birds, but sometimes we do look down and we find interesting things there also.

We came upon this Tarantula while on a walk one day.

Below is a Diamondback Rattlesnake that was in front of a house just three doors down from us. All the neighbors came out to look at it, and some of us (Bob) took pictures. It was the first rattlesnake we'd seen since moving here.

When we first moved here, we found this beauty in our backyard. It is called a Coachwhip snake. These aren't poisonous, but they will bite if cornered.

We've had three scorpions in the house. Just small ones; one was dead the other two still alive and kicking or whatever they do. Bob just got them on a piece of heavy paper and put them over the fence. I didn't even think about getting a picture.

We've seen a number of lizards while we've been here. Some really large and some really small. We haven't seen any Gila Monsters yet, but we would like too.

Some of the "critters" we've seen are beautiful. There are dozens of different butterflies here, but most don't stay put long enough to get a picture.

And there are thousands of grasshopper. This guy was sitting on the back of a chair at the pool. We have heard of Bobcats in the area but hadn't seen one. The picture below was taken by a neighbor from their patio window.

We haven't seen a Havalina yet, but they are around. We see their scat everywhere.

Today (11-23-08) on our walk, we saw one of my favorite birds, the Roadrunner. Again, I didn't have my camera. When I have it there's nothing to see if I don't we see all kinds of neat things.

Our Whipple Tour

If you look out our back patio door you see Mount Hopkins, and at the highest peak of Mount Hopkins is the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. So on a sunny September day, Bob talked me into going on a tour of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. We needed to make reservations to go on the tour about two weeks in advance; so after making said reservations, I began talking to different people around the subdivision. All the women I talked with said they wouldn't do this tour if their life depended on it. But being the good wife that I am (ha ha), and not wanting Bob to have to go alone, away we went. We met the rest of the tour at the Whipple Visitor's Center and loaded up on a bus--a big bus. The bus holds 38 people, but on our tour there were 15. Keeping in mind this is Green Valley--Bob and I were the youngest people on the tour and this includes the bus driver and his "assistant"! Yes, assistant bus driver--my mind played awful tricks on me like what if the bus driver has a heart attack as we're chugging up the mountain, does the "assistant bus driver" throw him on the floor and hop in the seat to keep the bus from careening backwards down the mountain. Needles to say I was frightened to death, so I put my ipod on and only looked at the mountain side not the side that was the scene of my imaged death. (Bob took this picture looking out the bus window back from where we came, I didn't look that direction)

We finally made it to the top and our tour guide, Ben, who was 85 (yes, 85 years young) and a fountain of information, gave us an interesting tour of the telescopes and grounds. He talked about gamma rays and looking for planets that are 460 billion (yes billion) light years away! Wow, my mind can't fathom 100 light years let alone billions of light years. Bob asked the question, "What will you do when you find a planet that many light years away?" No one had an answer for him. (Bob--always the trouble maker.)

I took a picture of this multiple mirror telescope. Look carefully and you can see me in the mirror holding my camera.

You can see forever from up at the top of Mount Hopkins, and as long as my feet were on solid ground I was okay. It was an interesting day and we learned a lot, but BEEN THERE DONE THAT!