Miscellaneous happenings

The month of March is when the smaller cactus start to bloom.  The blooms only last a couple of days so everyone is kind of on the hunt for taking good photos.

There are also white and pink blooms, but I didn't get those pics in time.

On our hike to Madera Canyon we rested at the Santa Rita lodge.  It's an area known for birding.  At the lodge there were benches set up to view about 40 bird feeders and it was fun to watch the many different, colorful birds who fed there.

A late stroll around the compound last night and this is the moon starting to come over the mountains.  Really fun to watch it rise.

And this morning as I was heading to the grocery store I noticed that Oracle Avenue was "on fire".  There were two men trying to put out about six small roadside fires.  It eventually was contained by the FD, but kind of spooky to see something like that.

Uncle Update

Oh, no good news.  Kevin has been having a lot of problems and now he has finally had a bunch of invasive tests.  Looks like he has a large tumor in his esophagus and something else that is causing a blockage.  They are driving back to CA tomorrow to meet with doctors and surgeons.  He has been in discomfort and pain for months.  I'll know more later this week once he sees more doctors.

It's so sad to see him this way since he's been feeling bad, not sleeping, and has lost a lot of weight.  He's much too young (82) for all this.  He definitely not been his usual jovial self.  I don't think there will be any good news.

Just an unhappy FYI.

Picacho Peak hike

The other day I went on a "D" hike with the hiking club to Picacho Peak.  "D" means it is flat, short and easy.  This was not the case.

We had a lot of elevation gain and it was very rocky.  It felt like we were just walking on bits of shale.  Going downhill it was easy to slip and fall - a few people did.

I rode to the hike with an 80 year old Austrian man named Bernie who is a nice friend.  He fell as it was too slippery for him.  And our hike leader is a little goofy.  This is my last organized hike of the season.

During our lunch break I saw all these baby Jumping Cholla plants growing on the ground.  It's easy to see how these plants repopulate.

Some of the hiking group.  No one is young.

Too Much Food, Old Food

We had a nice dinner at Tina and Kevin's for St. Paddy's Day.  Of course, I had to check out the ever growing laundry room of food and useless junk.  Don't let this happen to you.  This is not just after one shopping trip - this is every day.

Then I visited my sister.              

This is a can of Baking Powder from her pantry.  Notice the date on the bottom of July 1996.  That's when it expired.  So it was probably made in 1994 - as old as Gillian.  I think it's time to throw it away!

Sort of Lucky Bingo

Monday was our third Bingo night of the year.  You can see everyone is looking very intense, and not necessarily happy, at their Bingo cards.  However, Tina (on the left) did win one game ($60) and the raffle prize.  So a good night for her!  We'll try again in 2019.

Wednesday Night Out

Last night we ventured into downtown Tucson, which is a good 45 minute drive.  I think we've only been down there once this year!  We are so busy up at Saddlebrooke, it's hard to leave sometimes.

We met Holly and Dave for dinner at a famous 1922 Mexican restaurant.  Probably the best Mexican food we have found so far.  Then we walked to the Fox Theater to see a band called Classic Albums who performed the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, plus a few other Beatles songs.

A very enjoyable show.  However, we didn't get home until 10:30, which is really late for us!

Naughty Javelinas!

This cactus is called Indian Fig.  They grow really fast.  In fact, people were giving away the "pads" and we took them.  When we got home we just planted them in the ground.

Next year, there were a lot more pads.  And the year after, even more.

However, they are the right height for the Javelinas.  A couple of weeks ago we noticed that the "pigs" came through and munched them badly!

You can see where they have eaten.  Good thing we didn't spend a fortune on these cactus just to have them destroyed.  It's easy to spend a lot on cactus as some are really expensive, but beautiful.