Jet Contrail Sunset

If it weren't for jet contrails, this might have been a boring sunset. They helped add some color to it, though. There are pictures of a couple of other things, too.

Sunset_2007_05_30

James sees Bulldog Canyon

Today James and I went for a drive through Bulldog Canyon OHV area while the girls took showers, put on makeup, etc. He enjoyed it out there just as much as I do. Maybe we'll get a chance to go for a hike out there later this week. Our guests have a pretty full schedule, though. Here are the pictures.

BC_2007_05_28

Finally identified

In March of '06 I asked if anybody knew what the metallic stuff on this rock is. I never got a response. This morning I was surfing the web and found pictures of something similar. It looks like this might be molybdenite, an ore of molybdenum. It's often found near quartz, and there is a lot of quartz where I found this rock. I believe the rock itself is quartz (except for the molybdenite part, of course).

 

Easing back into it.

It's been relatively cool all week, and today the air was a little clearer, too. I had to go out to Bulldog Canyon. It was only 92 when I got there. I've been a little lazy since I was sick, so I didn't start out with a lot of climbing today. I hiked along a low ridge for a little ways, enjoying the view, the birds, the breeze, the sunshine, the bees, etc. Here are the pictures. There's a short video of a bird. Unfortunately, videos seem to lose a lot of resolution when they are uploaded.

BC_2007_05_24

Nothing new

Nothing new today. I added a couple of pictures to yesterday's post, though. I looked at my pictures again and discovered I had more pictures of deer than I thought. They're just hard to see.

Back to the end of Meridian

I haven't been for a hike at the end of Meridian road for a while. I went there today to save some gas. It's very close.

I've seen lots of deer tracks out there, but never any deer. Today I finally saw 5 of them, though. I took six pictures but only managed to get a deer in one of them. They kept hiding behind cacti and Palo Verdes.

I came across a wild beehive in a hole in the side of a wash. I tried to take pictures of them but the bees just didn't show up.

You could find the ironwood trees with your eyes closed today. They are covered with flowers. Just listen for all the bees buzzing and there's an ironwood.

Meridian_2007_05_20

A few more.

There was another storm tonight. It wasn't as close as last night's, so I got out of the truck and climbed a small hill to get pictures.

You would think that if your camera shutter was open for about 40% of the time, you would catch about 40% of the lightening flashes. I only got about 10% of them. I took 149 pictures tonight (a few were of mountains and clouds) and 12 of them had lightening in them. This is why I don't gamble.

Since the lightening was far away and spread across the horizon, I had to be zoomed out to catch any of it. I had to crop most of the pictures so they wouldn't look like a tiny light in a sea of black.

Lightening_2007_05_17

Just one...

There was a huge thunderstorm east of here late this afternoon. After dinner I decided to drive out towards Canyon Lake to get some pictures of clouds or the sunset or whatever turned up. I pulled off the road halfway between the Superstition Mountains and Canyon Lake. I was going to get on top of a small hill to get pictures of the sunset. It seemed like the lightening was far away. Then I heard thunder less than 10 seconds after a flash. Not a good time to be on top of a hill. I got back in the truck. The lightening flashes seemed to last a long time so I though I might be able to catch some. Out of about 40 attempts, I got one.

 

1900

That's a road, not a year. I'm not supposed to be out in the sun much yet, and it was pretty warm today, so I decided to take a drive up FS172. It had been a while since I had been there and I wanted to see if it was any cooler up at the Rogers Trough trailhead. I didn't find out, though. I was driving along 172 and passed a little side road labeled 1900. I had to see where it went. It's very narrow. You can see in the pictures that it is just wide enough for my truck. The last time I was on 172 there were ATVs everywhere. Didn't see a single one today. I guess people don't ride them as much when it's 104 outside.

In some places out there, the soil is very red. It would look just like Mars if it weren't for the plants and animal tracks in the dust.

The pictures:

1900_2007_05_13

When I got home from work yesterday, I wasn't completely exhausted. The antibiotics are doing a great job. I had to go out and enjoy the desert before I went to the airport to pick up Suzanne and Lindsey. I stopped along Apache Trail to get some pictures of the mountains. You've probably seen pictures like this one before, but I think this one is pretty.

 

Missed one

I think there was a very pretty sunset tonight. I couldn't see much of it from the chair on the back porch, though. My head hurts, my back hurts, and my skin hurts. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to get some miracle drugs.

 

Sunset

I got home a little late today, and the lawn needed mowing, so I plopped down in front of the TV and watched an episode of Startrek. I did get out later to get a so-so picture of the sunset, though.