Three weeks in May, May 3 - 23, 2021

It has been a busy month but one that has also been quiet.  Busy with finishing up my four classes that I taught at NVU and VTC, but still quiet with only starting to go out to do things.  

Ben and Martha bought us a digital photo frame and sometimes we see photos about which we have questions.  So we take a photo of the photo and email them to ask about it.

For the past year, I have been the host and emcee for our weekly Tuesday Docent zoom sessions.  As a thank you, one of the docents did this water color drawing of me.

Another docent does pottery and made this for me.

The docents also made a donation in my honor to Habitat for Humanity.

Patty and I built a small raised garden bed in the back yard.  To keep it from moving, I had to anchor it to the beams below it (the beams below are partially buried and are from the prior owner).  So I had to get lag bolts and washers.

 

 

Patty likes making and l like eating gnocchi.  So we buy a couple of different brands depending on what the local store has in stock.

This is Patty's favorite lotion - the local store is out, so it has to be ordered from the farm that produces it.

One of the key fobs for the car needed new batteries.

Wicked winds on the 21st, enough to uproot a 20 foot tall aspen tree in the HOA next to ours.

Now that we have been vaccinated as have many of our friends and family, we are getting out some.  We have gone to Phoenix a couple of times, for projects (ceiling fan and electrical outlet on the patio, hot water circulating pump and new spigot), for dentist appointments and to visit Megan and family friends.  We even went to a restaurant yesterday for lunch - Moscato's Italian Restaurant in Camp Verde is half way between Prescott and Flagstaff, so Anne and Shawn drove from Prescott to meet us there.  It seems as if things are slowing getting back to some semblance of the old normal.

 

The End of April and start of May, April 8 to May 2, 2021

After those new/redone posts from 2011, it is back to the present of 2021.  After getting the second dose of the Covid vaccine, Patty found a cute tee shirt - I GOT MY FAUCI OUCHIE!! 

She got a surprise belated birthday gift of some cute socks - TOO SEXY TO BE 70!!

On the 17th, we bought some plants at Warners Nursery - these are inside plants using the grow light I got Patty for her birthday.  We saw this cute sign while we were there.

When we got home, Patty found this picture of bacon flowers!

 

On the 18th, we hiked through Buffalo Park and out on the Arizona Trail.  We had done this hike a couple of times before, but on the return route we saw lots of trees that were blown down in the recent windstorm.

We had warm sunny weather, including having drinks with neighbors out in the sun while sitting in our driveway on Friday the 16th - temps in the 60s and bright sunshine.  But then we had nights with below freezing temps, requiring us to bring plants inside over night.  And twice we had snow, including on Tuesday the 27th.  This was at 8:00 a.m. in the back yard.

And this was at 10:00 a.m. looking out the front window.

On Saturday May 1, we went half way up Mount Humphries to hike.  My elevation app showed us at a bit above 8,500 feet elevation.  While there was snow further up the mountain at the Snowbowl Ski resort, there was no snow and no water on our hike - it is very, very dry here this spring.  We were in the Lamar Haines Memorial Wildlife Area on what an online guide referred to as the Veit Springs trail.  It goes out about a half mile, then goes around a mile long loop before returning over the initial half mile.  Out on the loop, there is a short 1/4 mile out and back trail.

This map shows the route we took.

One of the first things Patty found was part of a deer's leg.

We saw some huge snags.

While the trail had some ups and downs, it was used as an access road by the forest service for the small flood control dam and the power lines that run through this part of the national forest.  It was very easy to hike.

At the start of the side trail, there is a memorial marker.

 

 

About 50 yards beyond the memorial was this sign.  We walked the quarter mile to where this side trail ended at a cliff which had a small cave - we did not see anything that resembled a cabin, or pictographs or any of the springs or ponds listed on the map at the start of the trail.

We came across some odd shaped trees and gnarly branches - it is amazing how plants can adapt.

 

 

On Sunday afternoon, after doing some yard work, Patty worked outside on her needlepoint project and Paulie rested next to her.

And now we head into summer - we wonder what this year will bring us as we start to venture out more now that we have been vaccinated.