get out

Spring and its tolerable temps are quickly fleeting here in Phoenix. Pair that with a masochistic desire to tear up our yard and there's not much time left to get out and explore the desert.

Our last hike was over 3 weeks ago. We drove 40 minutes out to Usery Mountain Regional Park which is right on the edge of Phoenix's suburban mega-sprawl. We didn't quite make it all the way around the mountain (7 miles) and even still, the poor doggie was wiped out on our way back to the car. I think she really appreciated the cheese I shared with her during our post-hike gorging at In-n-Out. It made the hike completely worth it.

Ocotillo flowers.

Shade is hard to come by out here.

I love me a dead cactus.

Craaaaaazy arms.

I walked a bit further than our turn-around point to catch a glimpse of the Four Peaks.

Ginger scrambled up this steep hill in pursuit of a lizard. And then she couldn't get down.

See how exhausted she looks towards the end of the hike? I've never before seen her lay down to drink her water.

I bet he thought about stealing this saguaro for our yard.

backyard war zone

Chaos and destruction are in the works for tomorrow. The targets of this deadly mission?

Overgrown mangled Texas Sage hedges. From another angle:

 Insane quantities of rosemary and more Texas sage:

Don't forget the half-dead bottlebrush tree monstrosity. I hope to hear our next door neighbors clapping when that thing comes down.

In the next few weeks after the epic battle, the plan is to create a beautiful low-water low-maintenance desert garden. (Designs by Todd, "Helpful" Suggestions by me.) I hope the cheery new garden will help me get past the guilt of ripping out some perfectly fine plants. That poor rosemary doesn't know what's coming.

snowflakes and graupel and sleet, oh my

A couple weeks ago, I found myself in a very surreal spot - surrounded by snow in the desert!

I had signed up for a photography class at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a gem of a park in Superior, an old mining town. It's about an hour east of Phoenix and 2000 feet up. Snow at 2000 feet in Arizona is extremely rare - once every 10 years, I'm told. It was pretty cool to be able to experience this surreal event with camera in tow.

The photographer leading the walk-about was a great teacher and introduced us to shooting in manual mode. It's all about metering...which is still a mystery to me. A lot of my photos came out with over-exposed sky so that's something I'll have to work on. Or continue to use automatic mode as my crutch...

the great outdoors

We live in a neighborhood full of tiny yards. Everyone has a brick wall surrounding their backyard for privacy - since the homes are so close together. Phoenix doesn't have squirrels, so the only wildlife we get are lame birds and tiny lizards (and roof rats, but we don't like to think about those). Because of all this, it seemed quite surprising to find a pair of ducks in our backyard this morning! They hung out in the grass snacking away and then took a dip in the pool.

Ginger was itching to "make friends" with the ducks. After they disappeared into the sideyard, I let Ginger out. She went to work sniffing around in the grass. I walked around the corner of the house to find the ducks sitting on the side patio. A few minutes later, Ginger comes blasting around the corner, I duck for cover (and possibly squeal) and the ducks take off. I don't think Ginger would have known what to do next if she had actually caught one of them!