Romero Pools Hiking Adventure

We ventured out with a small group from the Hiking Club to do this moderately difficult hike.  The ice cold pools are the reward from all the climbing it takes to get to them.  And there are waterfalls.

The sky was such a beautiful blue.  We started the hike at 8:30 a.m. in order to be done by 12:30 and beat the heat (and the other hikers).

Ice water.

This is me cooling my feet.  Then the trouble started.  Somehow I carelessly bumped one of my hiking shoes and next thing I know one of our hikers said "Hey, there's a shoe is the water!".  The men made a mad dash to the stream to catch it.  But it kept on moving, along with my hiking sock.  Two men went ahead to scout out the river below and our hiking guide poked into some brush.  Just when he was about to give up, he saw it!!!!  The sock is gone forever, but I was able to safely walk the three miles back without tearing up my foot on the rocks.  Lesson learned!

Benefits of Helping Others

My 87 year old aunt-in-law lives nearby.  She wanted some help with her liquor cabinet.  Since she rarely drinks and her husband died a few years ago she didn't know what to do with all that liquor sitting there.  Since she was just going to throw it out.....

Now it has a new home where it will be used and she has regained cabinet space.

New Wheels

When I say "new" I don't mean new, exactly.  Nothing in this house is new.  But new to me!  We now have a golf cart!  Coincidentally, this golf cart was made the same year that our house was built, 1997.  There are definitely no bells (not even a horn) or whistles on this thing.  But it is Oregon Duck green and it never reaches speeds faster than 10 mph.  And it can make it up hills, though it literally crawls.  First it belonged to my mother's brother-in-law, then it went to my mother's brother.  Now me!

The other wheels belong to my "new" bike.  There are lots of paved bike trails that begin about eight miles from our house.  Apparently, we can ride 20 miles into Tucson without ever seeing a car.  Once we get the bike carrier we will be ready to explore!

The Pup

Here are just a couple of shots of the only dog in our family.  This is Lauren's dog, Hudson, who is a one year old Labradoodle.

He is very sweet and friendly to everyone.  Even at our family dinner of eight, he spent time with each person's lap as he kept near the dinner table, quietly begging for a bite.  Everyone loved how he would rest his head on our legs.

David Yetman Trail Hike

After a long drive, over an hour with a couple of stops, the hiking group ended up in the Saguaro National Park West for our 6.3 mile hike.  We started at 10am and finished by about 1:30 as the sun was starting to get too warm to hike.  For me anyway. 

I love this view of downtown Tucson from our hike.  One 81 year old fell down twice and one 65 year old tripped into a Cholla plant, but other than that there were no problems.  These hikers always come prepared with bandaids and tweezers!

Javelina by Morning

I am hoping to take much better photos one of these days.  But this was a 7 am, accidental run in with a herd of eight.  There was even a young one, but the lighting was still too dark to get good shots.  There is a Javelina in the background if you look closely.

My New Project

Just repainting some estate sale patio furniture.  The black on the wrought iron fades so badly in the AZ sun that I got some spray paint and am working on the pieces.  Once the paint is done I will tackle  some updated cushions on the seats.

Before the spray paint.

After the spray paint.  I like how the shadow still thinks the chair is black, rather than bronze.  Soon we may actually be able to sit on the patio and enjoy an evening sunset as the weather is getting great!