what is the weight of the oranges i just picked from two of the trees in our complex?
there are more out there, i just can't reach them.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
march madness
march is tim's birthday month. its also wildflower month here in AZ. you can see some pictures of our wildflower outings here. the first bunch are from usery mountain park, one of county parks not far away. there were lots and lots of poppy and lupine. we saw a feral bee colony, the first one tim and i have seen, most likely africanized. fun!
last weekend for tim's birthday we took a little trip. we went hiking to seven falls down near tucson with john, allen and shu-ching. then tim and i went down near the mexican border to the ramsey canyon preserve and the san pedro riparian area. the whole time were were in ramsey canyon, there was a huge white unmarked blimp hanging up in the sky above us. i suspect that it was up there spying for illegal immigrants, since its like 10 or 15 miles from the border, but i didn't get to ask anyone. it was slightly creepy. we saw some pretty cool birds there, although i think its still a little early for the best. we saw acorn woodpeckers, vermilion flycatchers, a bridled titmouse, mexican jays, a pygmy nuthatch, a hermit thrush and spotted towhees. and maybe a rufous hummingbird.
then, we went to tombstone. we were in the area. i had asked my friend teresa about it and she said it was pretty touristy. she was right. it was like a wild west version of bourbon street or something. just a strip that people walked around, and there were wagons and people dressed in wild west costumes. i tried to think what i knew about tombstone from the movies, but all i could think of was the 'back to the future' where they went back to the wild west, and then that made me think of will smith and his wild wild west whatever, and then i was on to tommy lee jones and 'men in black' and i finally concluded i have never seen a movie about tombstone. all i know is there was a gunfight. and the high school mascot there is the fighting yellowjackets.
the final stop on our tour of southeast arizona was kartchner caverns state park. it was kind of a pain. we tried to go there on saturday night. we arrived after it closed, but expected to still be able to camp there. oh no. there were big gates that were LOCKED. have you ever been to a campground that was locked at 7pm??? so we learned our lesson and got back there before closing on sunday night. to get tickets to go on the cave tour the next day, we had to get up and get a little card thing with a number on it, then buy whatever tickets they had left. we got #3. oh yeah. they made it out to be like a million people would be waiting to buy the 100 walk-up tickets available for that day, but they were totally exaggerating (the advance purchase tickets were sold out til the 25th or so). we were a little skeptical that it would be worth the $18, but it was actually really cool. its a relatively small cave, but it had some really cool formations. and who knew there was enough water in the desert to make a cave? we could hear the water dripping when we were in there, and apparently there is sometimes a slight flood. my favorite part was the bacon drapery. we weren't allowed to take any pictures, which was good and bad. we didn't go in the big room, that's a different tour and no tickets were available. that tour is only available at certain times of year, when the big room isn't serving as a maternity ward for bats.
...and its still citrus season here. i'm right now making a (belated) strawberry-lemon birthday pie for tim. we've got some oranges on the trees in our complex that need to be eaten, so i think next i'll be trying a caramelized orange tart.
last weekend for tim's birthday we took a little trip. we went hiking to seven falls down near tucson with john, allen and shu-ching. then tim and i went down near the mexican border to the ramsey canyon preserve and the san pedro riparian area. the whole time were were in ramsey canyon, there was a huge white unmarked blimp hanging up in the sky above us. i suspect that it was up there spying for illegal immigrants, since its like 10 or 15 miles from the border, but i didn't get to ask anyone. it was slightly creepy. we saw some pretty cool birds there, although i think its still a little early for the best. we saw acorn woodpeckers, vermilion flycatchers, a bridled titmouse, mexican jays, a pygmy nuthatch, a hermit thrush and spotted towhees. and maybe a rufous hummingbird.
then, we went to tombstone. we were in the area. i had asked my friend teresa about it and she said it was pretty touristy. she was right. it was like a wild west version of bourbon street or something. just a strip that people walked around, and there were wagons and people dressed in wild west costumes. i tried to think what i knew about tombstone from the movies, but all i could think of was the 'back to the future' where they went back to the wild west, and then that made me think of will smith and his wild wild west whatever, and then i was on to tommy lee jones and 'men in black' and i finally concluded i have never seen a movie about tombstone. all i know is there was a gunfight. and the high school mascot there is the fighting yellowjackets.
the final stop on our tour of southeast arizona was kartchner caverns state park. it was kind of a pain. we tried to go there on saturday night. we arrived after it closed, but expected to still be able to camp there. oh no. there were big gates that were LOCKED. have you ever been to a campground that was locked at 7pm??? so we learned our lesson and got back there before closing on sunday night. to get tickets to go on the cave tour the next day, we had to get up and get a little card thing with a number on it, then buy whatever tickets they had left. we got #3. oh yeah. they made it out to be like a million people would be waiting to buy the 100 walk-up tickets available for that day, but they were totally exaggerating (the advance purchase tickets were sold out til the 25th or so). we were a little skeptical that it would be worth the $18, but it was actually really cool. its a relatively small cave, but it had some really cool formations. and who knew there was enough water in the desert to make a cave? we could hear the water dripping when we were in there, and apparently there is sometimes a slight flood. my favorite part was the bacon drapery. we weren't allowed to take any pictures, which was good and bad. we didn't go in the big room, that's a different tour and no tickets were available. that tour is only available at certain times of year, when the big room isn't serving as a maternity ward for bats.
...and its still citrus season here. i'm right now making a (belated) strawberry-lemon birthday pie for tim. we've got some oranges on the trees in our complex that need to be eaten, so i think next i'll be trying a caramelized orange tart.
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