Where's Waldo

This was taken out at Fantasy Island, which is full of mountain bike riders. What do you see in this picture? Cows. There are three of them. Jim and I are such city people, we rode away from them. They probably aren't dangerous, but why take a chance?

I saw this bird sitting on a cholla. If I were to touch it, thorns would leap into my flesh, imbedding themselves for all time. Yet, there he sits, untroubled by the cholla stickers.

Here is Jim, repositioning the cow bones along side of the trail. They had been moved, and their symmetry disturbed.

Today was a day of aggravation. We came home yesterday to find the internet down. We called it in, Qwest told us the tech would be out between 10 and 2. So, no riding for us! The tech came out and fixed the problem. There is a panel in the main building that has wiring for telephone and internet service. The last phone guy that was out apparently didn't recognize the function of the internet wire, so he unplugged it and took it away. The internet guy came out today and put the wire back, and labeled it with a note that says not to unplug it. Somebody needs a process improvement.

Interesting Cactus

This is a saguaro in the RV park. Look at how interesting the rows of spines are becoming. He has split into 2 major sections at the top. The right side is bifurcating.

It's a pretty cool specimen.

Look - my sous chef is chopping! His knife skills are improving. He's making a rosemary infused marinade for the chicken. I love my sous chef.

As you can tell, we have nothing of import to report. On a happy note, our neighbor returned from the hospital and appears to be doing very well.

A Shooting in Tucson

Yesterday our neighbor had to be transported to St. Mary's hospital. His wife could not go in the hospital because it was in lock-down. It was locked down because a deranged individual shot Congresswoman Giffords in the head and killed 6 other people. They were on high alert until details of the shooting were available.
Congresswoman Giffords was having a meet and greet in a Safeway in the affluent end of Tucson. The gun man walked up to her with a semi-automatic and started firing.
One of the justifications for Arizona's very liberal policy on who can own and carry guns is that if everyone is armed, things like this won't happen, because all of the good people carrying guns will stop it. In this case, two brave unarmed citizens tackled the gun man and sat on him. I've fired a handgun, it's really hard to hit anything, I'm grateful that he was subdued with a tackle and not another gun.
It's just hard to fathom how this can happen. We are profoundly sad for everyone touched by this incident.

Heart Attacks in Women

What does it feel like to have a heart attack if you're a woman? It's different than if you're a man. This is an amazing article describing what it feels like for a woman. Read and remember.
Live long and prosper.

A New Year's Rant and Ride

Welcome to my first rant of the new year. In November we signed up for Qwest DSL. They said there would be a one time charge of $9.99 for something called the Support Squad; they were there to help with the install. I didn't need to talk to them, but ok. Today I was looking at the Visa bill online and there is a second $9.99 charge from the Support Squad. I called, asked them what it was, and they said I should have been told I was signed up to pay them $9.99 per month forever. I was good, I did not yell. Told the guy I didn't want it, and to credit me the money for December. He tried to tell me I was insuring all the electronics in the house (I don't own a house), then he tried to tell me they'd give me PC speedup software worth $79.99. I kept repeating I don't want it. So, he canceled the "membership" and then tried to get off the phone without giving me back the December charge to my account. Since WHEN did it become open season on people's credit cards? This is like the scam ProFlowers used to run. How many people don't notice this charge and how much money is being stolen from the public? Grrrrrrrr.

Later we drove out to the Sarasota trail head into the Tucson Mountain Park. It's next to a 55 plus mobile home community. They like to golf cart down to the trail head with their dogs.

This is an area heavily used by equestrians, bicyclists and hikers. Does it seem like a good idea to throw people with bows and arrows shooting at wildlife in to the mix? I don't think so. I'll be glad when the season ends.

Tucson Mountain Park riding is different than Fantasy Island. It's rockier and there's a lot of up and down. We rode a major up to the intersection of Rock Wren Trail and the Yetman trail. I was very surprised that we were there, since that's one of the trails we didn't think we would ever ride. There was hike-a-bike but we rode the majority of it. Going down was way more fun.

The camera is sitting on a platform whose purpose is unknown - but it's a good place to put it for taking our picture. That's the brown band across the bottom of the photo. If you're looking at Jim's legs and wondering, no those are not thigh high stockings. Those are his knee pads.

I really want to see someone ride through this. It won't be me anytime soon.

It's harder riding out there, but there's skill building to be had. I think we'll add it to the repertoire of rides, with the exception of the trail out to the 36th Street Trail head, we still hate that section.

So - that's what we've been doing.

New Year's Eve

Greetings from the desert where it is cold. Yes, yes, I know that you are colder. However, it's Arizona, it's supposed to be warm here. Expectations are not being met!
Wednesday I had an outpatient procedure that necessitated general anesthesia. So, the last couple of days have been pretty low key. Yesterday we drove out to the Pima County Fairgrounds for what was advertised as an RV show. It was pitiful. Apparently La Mesa RV felt the urge to haul most of their inventory out to a large, unheated building. We went through a few of the 5th wheels, but it was colder in the building than it was outside, so we left.
How cold was it? It was this cold!

The truck was trying to communicate our imminent peril with ice warnings.

So, to combat the cold and keep the cactus from being damaged, one is supposed to cover their tips with styrofoam cups. This keeps the part of the plant that grows from damage. I found this picture on the web.

Snow on the Catalina Mountains.

Now we will revisit my cuter than cute curio. Look - he's full. I gave Jim the horned toad on the bottom left, and he gave me the pair of badgers bottom right. Cute, cute, cute.

Jim also gave me this bracelet. This is part of the inventory Morningstar Traders bought from the old store in California. I like the turquoise a lot and the fact that it fits me.

Today was also quite cold, but the wind was down from yesterday. We stopped at Coyote Pause for a sandwich and headed out to hike in the Tucson Mountain park.

It was cold, but it was just beautiful out there. We saw very few people.

We went back over the west side of Gates Pass. There were two people climbing it and they were really moving. We were both impressed with the speed at which they were riding.

One of the two people we saw, working hard and climbing fast.

They were off the back! Poor two, they had been dropped by the main group. They're riding for the US Air Force Service academy. They're down for training camp and freezing their tooshies off. Here is their Facebook page. So far they've been up Mt Lemmon, Madera Canyon, Kitt Peak and Gates Pass.

We will do our usual New Year's Eve activity of not doing anything. It's a good tradition and one that we enjoy. We hope you enjoy your evening as well.