Art's Desert Exploration Blog: Catching up

I've been kind of busy lately, doing things around the house, running errands, etc. I have been able to get out to the desert. I just haven't had time to write about it. I didn't think I would today, either. It was only 95 when I got home, and I was thinking about going for a short hike. I had to put the recycling can away, first. As I did so, I was reminded of another chore that needed my attention. There are two bougainvilleas on the side of the house. They are out of control. One blocks access to the trash cans for people taking trash out. The other makes it almost impossible to get the cans out to the curb. It was time to cut them down to size.

I got the electric hedge trimmer, oiled it up, and started cutting. That trimmer is great. I was slicing off chunks of bougainvillea left and right. The ground was piled high with trimmings. Flower petals were wafting across the neighbor's yard. I was about 3/4 of the way through the second bush when the trimmer stopped suddenly. I jiggled the trigger. Nothing. I looked at the business end and spotted the problem. That crafty bougainvillea had grabbed the extension cord and fed it into the blades. Well, I was about done anyway. That bush does look a little odd, though. I didn't get the top done. It looks sort of like a punk rocker. Let's see, I wonder if I have any purple spray paint...

By the time I had repaired the extension cord, it was too dark to do any more trimming (as if not being able to see what I'm doing would adversely affect my bush trimming abilities), so here I am updating my blog.

I went for a drive on Sunday afternoon, mostly planning to take some pictures of clouds. I went out to a part of The Rolls that is near Saguaro Lake. I didn't use the Butcher Jones entrance, though. I don't think the entrance I used closes at nightfall, but I had another reason to get out of there by then. I had been in that area a few times about 3 or 4 years ago. Being close to town and right by the road, it was heavily used, and heavily abused. ATVs were reducing the desert to bare hills. Wait, I guess that's like saying that guns kill people when it's really the people holding the guns that kill people. OK, knuckleheads on ATVs were blah blah blah. The forest service has put fences along the roads and signs all over the place in attempt to stop the destruction. Judging from the tracks, some ATV knuckleheads know better than the forest service. I don't have anything against people riding ATVs. It just bugs me when they decide it's OK to tear stuff up as long as they are having fun. But I digress...

I was following the signs that indicated where one of the roads was. I got to a point where a sign pointed to the left for another road, and the road I was on ended. The sign for the other road seemed to indicate that I should follow one of the trails made by a knucklehead. I looked around for a while and sure enough, that was the way the road went. I followed that road until I got to a point that if I went down a hill, my truck would not be able to make it back up. I'm glad I noticed I wouldn't be able to get back up before I drove down there.

Since the road was like a labyrinth for a while, with a maze of dead end trails all over the place, I wanted to drive out of there before it got dark. I might have been able to find my way out in the dark. Well, I'm sure I could have, but then I might have been up past my bedtime, and I get cranky when I'm tired.

There were some nice clouds around and I took a few pictures before I hurried out.

Four Peaks looks big when the sky is clear. This cloud dwarfs it.

Looks like virga falling from small clouds.

This looks strange.

Click below to see all of the pictures from that trip.

2009_09_13

On Monday, Lindsey and I went up Meridian road to get pictures of the sunset. That afternoon there were some clouds that would make for a great sunset. They were gone by the time sunset arrived. That's no reason to not watch a sunset, though.

We found another one of these strange skulls. $5 to whoever can correctly identify the kind of animal it belongs to. Hint: "Dead" is not the right answer.