Real?

 On Sunday we did a mini hike called an Extended Walk.  The normal daily walk is one hour around "the Brooke".  This one was two hours and goes out towards the perimeter of the compound.  It was really fun.  We came near these two matching cacti high on a hill.  Can you figure out what they really are?

Mountain Lions

 For  the past four days we have been receiving messages about people spotting a pair of mountain lions within a half mile of our house.  Dave went out in the golf cart to scout them out.  I am only interested in seeing them if I am driving by in the car.  No sightings for us yet.

However, our neighbor shot this quick video of a bobcat family this summer.  Apparently the mother and three kittens were living in our backyard.  They are playing in his water feature in this clip.

Tucson Botanic Garden

Many usual Christmas events have been canceled in Tucson.  However, the Botanic Garden has Christmas lights in the garden for an event.  Turned out to be a really nice evening for a stroll and not too cold.

 

Morning walk

Christmas Day was pretty bad weather.  Cold and rainy all morning.  This weekend, however, is going to be sunny and in the 70s.  We took a nice walk up a big hill.  Dave and my sister don't look happy getting their portraits taken.

This little cactus is unusual in the length of his needles.

Unnatural desert palm tree.

 

Local Animals

Still working on getting some good shots of the "big five" - coyote, jack rabbit, javelina, cardinal, and rattlesnake.  Well, I don't really care about rattlesnakes.

Ubiquitous bunny.

This is a Cooper's Hawk that was patiently sitting on a branch of our next door neighbor's tree.

This violet throated hummingbird was in our backyard.

 

Fair weather pickleball

 With my sister visiting we had to go to the neighboring property, The Ranch, to play pickleball.  I reserved a court and we went there.  However, it was a cloudy day with highs only about 58.  And windy.  Which is a death sentence for pickleball.  The Ranch is notoriously windy, but we are having a bit of stormy weather in all of southern AZ.  We'd love to have courts like this in Tualatin.

How Retirees Spend Their Time

Here are some usual sights we see around the neighborhoods this time of year.  Some people will still keep this going into late January.

 

Arizona Christmas

Some of these decorations are at the Clubhouse, which is quite spectacular.  Some are at homes here.  A few residents really love to decorate!

There's no such thing as too many Santas.

 

Seen Around the "Brooke"

 Almost a week here and we are now adjusted and settled in.  The weather has been about 10 degrees above average so that means we've already spent time swimming outdoors.  So lovely.

We have seen lots more wildlife than normal; coyotes, huge packs of deer, cardinals, and javelinas.  We have seen a lot less cars and people out and about.  Maybe there is a correlation.

Trump in AZ?

At a local Mexican restaurant, this Trump bus has been parked for three days.  I finally got down there to see it up close.  No one came out so I didn't talk to anyone, but it was quite elaborate.

A bright spot in a dreary week, huh!

Javelinas

Yesterday was our hottest day, about 80.  We worked hard in the afternoon installing new pathway lights.  This morning I woke up to find one light uprooted.  I knew it was a Javelina's doing.

This is one of Dave's cactus paddles that was planted and had a chickenwire cage around it.  The Javelina pulled up the cage, grabbed this out of the ground and did some munching.

Then I found the guilty party by checking the animal camera.

This shot shows two Javelinas, and I'm sure there were more.  Now we just have to outsmart them.

Saturday activities

Finally a sunny day!  Went to the gardens of Tohono Chul to see art by Tucson potters.  Also there were interesting metal sculptures in the gardens.  Not much in bloom yet.

Then we had an evening performance at SB.  We saw Gunhild Carling from  Sweden.  She has toured with Post Modern Jukebox and she was very entertaining and talented.  I felt like a lot of the music was similar to what you hear in New Orleans, very jazzy.

Here she is with two band members, out in the lobby, after the show!

Billiards

The Coopers' Hawks have been really active.  Now I know their call.  There were two this morning and one had a dead mouse.  I couldn't get very good photos with my phone.

We finally, after six years, checked out the Billiards Room.  It's pretty nice and there are four tables.  We played for a while and it was actually pretty fun.

This is an actual glazed ceramic donut.  Now I am working on making clay pastries.