One more day

Yesterday we took lunch and drove down to Madera Canyon to do a bit of birdwatching.     We keep trying to find the Elegant Trogon in the mixed woods there.     S.E. Arizona is the only place to see these magnificent birds and Madera Canyon (about 25 miles south of Tucson) is one of the "big" siting spots.

It was a clear, cool day and there were very few leaves on the trees yet.   We drove down Proctor Rd. (in the Canyon) to it's end and sat quietly and ate lunch.....No birds.    We moved to walk along the beautiful Madera Creek.

Dave has his winter jacket on...and he's still cold!

The wind was stiff, out of the north.    We kept walking and enjoying the clear racing creek and looking up into the bare canopy for birds.

We saw a couple Acorn Woodpeckers and a number of pretty little Grey-Headed Junco but no Elegant Trogon.....

The chilly wind prevailed and we gave up once again.   There are three ways to travel the 25 miles back to Tucson.    We came down on I-19 which is most expeditious but pretty boring.   One is a dirt road through acres of fairly boring mesquite and grasslands and the one we chose was Mission Road.   It took us north through the miles and miles of open pit copper mines and then into the San Xavier Indian Reservation.     The mines were interesting to look at, the machinery used in them was HUGE, unbelievably huge.    No traffic, interesting scenery, good choice.

Mt. Wrightson in the background - an edge of one of the Twin Butte mines in the foreground

Helmet Peak

mine tailings

Today was Daytona 500 Day in Beluga.  We watched and cooked and did laundry in preparation for our move to Catalina State Park in the morning.

I borrowed this photo from the internet to show you what we were looking for -
The Elegant Trogan!   Isn't it beautiful?

What we've been up to

The weather has been up and down here this year.   As I said before, we've taken advantage of the nasty days to take care of business but there have been far too many of those days for my taste.

We ordered a new water pump for Beluga and it took 10 days to get here.   When it finally arrived, it wasn't a water pump at all....D amn!    Not only did we not have the part we had been waiting for, but we had to run around and find a UPS store to return the trailer inverter control panel that GoGoRV evidently thought we needed.   Grrr.    We did see a fantastically fantastic crested Saguaro in our travels that day so all was not lost.

this beauty was replanted right next to a busy road....
we wondered why it was moved there and from where?

Nature is strange and beautiful

And drove past this really cool reflective building while we were out doing errands one day.

You can tell Spring is around the corner when you go into the pet store to buy dog food and you find rows and rows of sweet little chicks for sale.....

 The poodle mowing went well also.   Lewis is now all neat and fresh and smelling of lavender.   I don't know if he likes that, but we do.

Lewis loses a full pail of hair each time

Second Cup outdoors happened most days this week because we were able to find a tiny sliver of sun behind Beluga and, if we wore sweatshirts or vests, we could enjoy an hour or so there with Lewis and his rug.

fully engaged in his favorite game of hide the fish......

Gay and Joe came over for dinner on Tuesday.   It was nice enough to sit outside for awhile but as soon as the evening cold came creeping in we moved inside to eat and visit.    Gay made a knock-out Kentucky Derby Pie for dessert and the dear woman left the rest here for us to gorge ourselves on the next day (or perhaps later that evening?).    No pictures, gone too fast.

Wednesday Vivace's Seafood Soup called for Dave.   He's been trying to finagle a time to be in the area so we could "drop in" for lunch.    Wednesday was the day and he thoroughly enjoyed himself.   My lunch was yummy too but did not illicit the same level of happy sounds I heard from across the table.    Again, no pictures, gone too fast.

Friends Allison and Jim (http://retiredbicycle.blogspot.com/) invited us to their sweet new Tucson Estates house for dinner on Thursday evening.    We had a lovely time, good food and conversation and.....once again, no pictures.


Today Dave and I drove down to the wine country around Sonoita.   We didn't do any wine tastings, but did take a nice long drive through nearby Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.

this 45,000 acre area consists of 5 of the rarest habitats in Arizona, but my favorite is the beautiful
semidesert grassland.

We were looking for birds, black tailed prairie dogs (they have been reintroduced since being totally eradicated in the 60's - due to over hunting.....) and the resident Pronghorn that populate the beautiful tan grasslands.

beautiful but deadly Shrike, aka the Butcher bird

We saw hawks soaring, hovering and hunting, shrikes and kestrel seemed to pose for us.    We heard birds (Flickers, sparrows, cardinals, etc.,) everywhere but couldn't put our eyes on many of them.

the Creek flows through the Cottonwood/Oak woods behind the Jeep

We walked along the perennially flowing Cienega Creek until the footing got too squishy due to the recent heavy rains.

Once back out in the grasslands we spotted lots of the sweet faced Pronghorn grazing peacefully.

Until I put my window down and began to speak to a few that were close to the road.....they were very curious.

Only two more days before we move up to Catalina State Park.   See you then!

field of California poppies near Allison and Jim's house

fun in between

In between boring, but quite necessary chores (i.e. gather tax information, fixing the toilet, washing and mowing the poodle, fixing leaky gutters, ordering stuff, etc.), we took time to spend an afternoon at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.

Gay and Joe (good-times-rollin.blogspot.com) are a few sites down from us and we've been wanting to get together with them.   Gay suggested an afternoon at the Botanical Gardens and lunch so we picked them up yesterday and headed off.

Origami flowers flutter in the breeze at the entrance

Friday was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and we soon got rid of our jackets and vests.

The gardens were lovely and the docents very available and informative but two areas really blew me away.   

One was the Butterfly and Orchid Pavilion and the other was the Cactus area.
It seems I only took out my camera in these areas!   The butterflies are all non-native and to enter the Pavilion one must pass through an intermediary zone and receive a "talk" by a docent so as to be sure not to allow any of these beauties to escape into the desert.

Dave and Joe discuss the instructions
before entering the Butterfly Pavilion

The heat and humidity hit us first, then the riot of color.    Orchids everywhere and floating bits of color swirling through the air.   Remember to watch your feet, they land on the ground in front of you also!

the little beauties land where they please, even on Joe's shirt!

Gay enjoys the table top cactus gardens

the Baseball Plant was smooth and thornless.
it looked like it was made out of fabric

which are rock, which are cacti?

the gardens were punctuated by beautiful rocks

Although the parking lot was full when we arrived, we saw very few people.  We were followed. however,  as we moved through the gardens.  Various sparrows, Thrashers, Cardinal's and the little jewels that are Broad Billed Hummingbirds flew along with us, giving us their own special tour.

bad picture of a beautiful broad billed hummingbird

We checked out the menu at the Garden's little cafe and, while the atmosphere was charming, the menu didn't capture either Gay or I so we finished our exploration of the Botanic Gardens and headed off to Mi Nidito Mexican Restaurant for a late lunch. 

When we arrived, there was an hour's wait to get in.   We were all hungry so we walked across the street and enjoyed a very delicious lunch at their competitor, Guillermo's.

back in Arizona

Lewis said goodbye to his next door friend, Hank, and we left Borrego Springs on Friday afternoon.    His Gramma Pamma and John left early that morning also.

Hank and Lewis

We drove partway to our next destination that day and stopped for the night in Gila Bend, Arizona.

We're now settled in Tucson for the next month.    We'll divide our time here between the Tucson KOA and Catalina State Park.      We pulled into our site at the KOA on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed Happy Hour under the fragrant lemon tree.

I wish you could smell these lemons!

It's pretty much been raining ever since.   We don't really mind too much because we've been here many times before and we've planned to do a number of small jobs while we're "in the city".    We'll take time and enjoy ourselves and the beautiful scenery in a few weeks when we move up to Catalina State Park. 

Lew always enjoys the rainy mornings because it usually means Dave spends more leisurely time at the laptop.    Years of having one dog or another at his feet has taught Dave to type with only one hand, leaving the other free to provide pets and scratches......and that makes our Lewis a happy boy.

Lew takes full advantage of that hand.....