One day, I tried going south on the Arizona Trail. When I passed by the Duck Pond, the ducks were busy feeding and instead of the usual quick move away from me, they were busy feeding and ignored my presence.
After the Duck Pond, the trail goes uphill. When I got to the top of the hill, this was the sign for mountain bikers who would be going down that hill.
Once past that hill, the trail was through the woods except for when crossing under the power lines. At one point the trail crosses where they have recently put in an underground natural gas pipeline.
Because I was in the Coconino National Forest, I was in the woods most of the time. I saw these two interesting snags at one point.
This section of trail is well worn and easy to follow. I then turned and went through an area that appeared to be recovering from a forest fire several years ago.
In my walks around the neighborhood, I am always surprised at how people think the rules do not apply to them. In this case, parking next to the no parking sign.
The Tuesday Docents from the Desert Botanical Garden are back to meeting weekly. This session, Louise gave a 15 minute presentation called "Eat the Desert" in which she described many of the foods that can be harvested from plants in the Sonoran Desert. The week before, I presented on yucca plants, and this week, Yvonne and Carolyn presented "Desert Birds and Nests." I have started recording the presentations so that other people can watch and learn from the programs.
Our townhome was built in 2007. That was before security systems were wireless, so in both bedrooms, both hallways and the dining room, there was a wired connection in the upper corners for motion detectors and/or cameras - but no system was ever installed. So one of my DIY projects was to remove those connections, patch the holes and paint over the patch. Here is what a couple of them looked like. And because the ceilings here are either nine or twelve feet high depending on the room, it meant getting up on the ladder to do this.
The one in the downstairs hallway was the most difficult to access - fortunately, one of our ladders adjusts so it can be used on stairs.
Here is the finished product for that former connection.
That is not snow, it is hail - we have had several afternoon thunderstorms and some of them included enough hail that it looked like snow - in August!
The ceiling in the stairwell is eighteen feet high, so I bought this set of three brushes with an adjustable handle that allows me to clean dust and cobwebs in all of the corners and windowsills without needing a ladder. One attachment is for doing the ceiling fans - a big help.
Ben and Martha attended a live concert by Michael Franti and got us tee shirts that say Work Hard & Be Nice on the front and info about the concert on the back.
We have had problems with rock squirrels in our back yard; they were digging holes and attacking plants. After catching and removing four of them, we removed the bird feeder from which birds knocked a lot of seeds on the ground - the exterminator suggested that was the attraction for the squirrels. We kept the cages for a few more days and then we also caught a skunk.
Covid 19 numbers are down in Arizona and so the governor has allowed different businesses to start opening again. I suspect that with k-12 schools and universities opening up, we are going to see another spike in cases. People are tired of wearing masks, keeping socially distant and washing hands, and I predict will quickly abandon all the good things they have been doing and we will continue to have more people get sick.
After the Duck Pond, the trail goes uphill. When I got to the top of the hill, this was the sign for mountain bikers who would be going down that hill.
Once past that hill, the trail was through the woods except for when crossing under the power lines. At one point the trail crosses where they have recently put in an underground natural gas pipeline.
Because I was in the Coconino National Forest, I was in the woods most of the time. I saw these two interesting snags at one point.
This section of trail is well worn and easy to follow. I then turned and went through an area that appeared to be recovering from a forest fire several years ago.
In my walks around the neighborhood, I am always surprised at how people think the rules do not apply to them. In this case, parking next to the no parking sign.
The Tuesday Docents from the Desert Botanical Garden are back to meeting weekly. This session, Louise gave a 15 minute presentation called "Eat the Desert" in which she described many of the foods that can be harvested from plants in the Sonoran Desert. The week before, I presented on yucca plants, and this week, Yvonne and Carolyn presented "Desert Birds and Nests." I have started recording the presentations so that other people can watch and learn from the programs.
Our townhome was built in 2007. That was before security systems were wireless, so in both bedrooms, both hallways and the dining room, there was a wired connection in the upper corners for motion detectors and/or cameras - but no system was ever installed. So one of my DIY projects was to remove those connections, patch the holes and paint over the patch. Here is what a couple of them looked like. And because the ceilings here are either nine or twelve feet high depending on the room, it meant getting up on the ladder to do this.
Here is the finished product for that former connection.
The ceiling in the stairwell is eighteen feet high, so I bought this set of three brushes with an adjustable handle that allows me to clean dust and cobwebs in all of the corners and windowsills without needing a ladder. One attachment is for doing the ceiling fans - a big help.
We have had problems with rock squirrels in our back yard; they were digging holes and attacking plants. After catching and removing four of them, we removed the bird feeder from which birds knocked a lot of seeds on the ground - the exterminator suggested that was the attraction for the squirrels. We kept the cages for a few more days and then we also caught a skunk.
Covid 19 numbers are down in Arizona and so the governor has allowed different businesses to start opening again. I suspect that with k-12 schools and universities opening up, we are going to see another spike in cases. People are tired of wearing masks, keeping socially distant and washing hands, and I predict will quickly abandon all the good things they have been doing and we will continue to have more people get sick.
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