Hiking the Red Mountain Trail, northwest of Flagstaff, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021

It has been an exceedingly dry winter, and while we had cold weather with lows of 5 - 6 degrees and some days with highs only around freezing, we are also have warm sunny days with highs in the upper 50s.  Wednesday was one of those days with a high of 58.  So we made the 45 minute drive out to the trail head and then the 3 mile round trip hike out and back.  There was one other car in the parking lot and we met them later, a mom with her son who appeared to be about 9 or 10 years old.  A very pleasant break while we continue to deal with Covid-19.

We came across these very small cacti - still do not know what they are.

The trail is virtually clear of all snow and ice.

I had to search some shaded side areas off to the side of the trail to find snow.

Once we got to the end of the trail inside the volcanic cone, the last 100 yards was the only part of the trail which still had some packed snow on it.  We had Yak Trax with us but did not need them.

We had fun exploring a few of the hoodoos, sat and had mini-muffins and water, and then headed back out to the car and on to our home.

Another week at home with Covid-19, Jan. 5 - 12, 2021

We moved my office from the small space in the hallway into the guest bedroom.  One part of that was moving these pictures to the blue wall.

On of the gifts Megan gave me for Christmas was a New York Times crossword puzzle calendar - each day I get to do one of the crosswords and it makes me think of Megan.

Patty ordered some new baking dishes, including this ceramic pie pan that she used to make a scrumptious apple pie.

To make more room in the guest bedroom for my office, we converted the hinged doors to sliding doors.  This involved removing the hardware from the doors.

While letting paint dry, we hiked in Picture Canyon.  There was no snow except for the shaded north side of things, and even that was very minimal - did I mention this has been one of the driest winters ever?

Here are the sliding doors finished.

Here is a closer look at some of the new dishes.

On the 12th, there was beautiful sunrise but it was only 6 degrees when I took the dog out - this required a sweatshirt and coat, both with hoods up over the winter hat with flaps down over the ears.

An hour later and more than two miles along, it was warm enough to lower both hoods, roll up the ear flaps and partially unzip the coat and sweatshirt - it was a toasty 15 degrees!

We continue to avoid people and when we go out, it is to hike.  If I must go to the store, I am there when they open at 6:00 and I get in and out as fast as possible.  Whenever possible, we order online and have things delivered.  The numbers of infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise and Arizona stays at or near the top in the USA.  I had my first telemedicine visit - my annual physical with the VA was done using their video system.  I am on the on call list for Covid-19 vaccine - if someone at the VA cancels or if they have an open bottle of vaccine that needs to be finished, I will be called to the VA for my vaccine.  Locally, they are vaccinating group 1B which includes people age 75 and up - Patty and I are both in group 1C, people age 65 and up.  My guess is that we will get vaccinated in the next month or so.  We continue to wear masks, sanitize hands and maintain distance form others.  This, too, shall pass.

Another couple of weeks at home due to Covid-19, Dec. 18, 2020 to Jan. 4, 2021

 On the 19th, we went to Buffalo Park to watch the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter.  Believe it or not, this is a photo I took with my cell phone - both planets and four moons of Jupiter were easy to see with the naked eye.

 

The moon was pretty amazing as well.

On the 20th, a neighbor organized a gathering with telescope to view the conjunction - with the telescope you could even see the rings of Saturn.

We received many cute Christmas cards - this one was from Megan.

On Christmas morning, we spent three hours on Zoom with Megan, Ben and Martha, as we all opened gifts at our three locations.  We had way too many gifts under the tree.

We continue to have some amazing sunrises, often preceding some sleet and snow later that day.

This is one of the ornaments made from Scrabble tiles that Patty found on Etsy.  This one was for Megan and it is on one of the placemats Megan made for us.  Patty ordered six of this type of ornament, but they did not arrive in time for Christmas, so I mailed them the day after Christmas.

As with vanilla extract, Patty wanted orange extract for one batch of muffins she was making - no orange extract at any grocery store in town.  We substituted frozen orange juice concentrate.  Muffins were excellent.

More stunning sunrises - I just love walking the dog in the early morning to see the sky.

 

One of the many thoughtful gifts from our kids was this collar and leash with lights - perfect for those early morning walks with the dog, as can be seen from this short video and photo.  Thank you Megan!

 

We finally did get a couple of inches of snow.
 

 The new bird feeders I got for Patty have attracted many birds - in this case, it was a northern flicker on the suet and a Steller's jay on the fence, in the second photo the jay was retrieving pieces dropped by the flicker.

We took another hike at Thorpe Park and this time passed by the bridge with tile art.

 On the 4th, we went to Kendrick Wildlife Watching Trail - we saw and heard nuthatches, but we only heard chickadees, ravens and crows.  Only a few other people, it was a quiet walk in the woods.

 Arizona continues to set new daily records with Covid-19, nearly 18,000 infections today, hospitals statewide are running out of space, with some running at 120% of capacity.  And they cannot find enough people to work, including vaccinating people.  What a royal, continuing mess we are in.  We continue to avoid people, wear masks, wash hands, maintain distance, etc., etc.  Such is life as we start 2021.