Last night the internet went
down…it was there and then it wasn’t. No
4G…no hotspot…no Mobile Command Center.
Frustrating but nothing to do about it so I put the computer away, made
sure my phone was on the charger, wrote out a few postcards and then snuggled
down to sleep. Kim was out imaging and
didn’t get in until about 2:30 a.m. He
didn’t get an opportunity to process his images yet. He’s out imaging again tonight so he’ll have
double processing to do tomorrow.
----------
Got down into the high 30s last night. Kim
said that he had on his heavy fleece plus his winter jacket while out imaging
and was still cold. Not sure I have that
kind of dedication in me.
On our
air mattress we have a thick opened up flannel lined sleeping bag…the fitted
sheet goes over that. Then we have the
flat sheets and blankets over top of us.
It’s a cozy combination as far as sleeping goes. But the air in the trailer can get cold
because basically it’s a tin box with no insulation. Makes it difficult to get out of the cozy
warmth in the morning so we invested in an electric heater. It has a thermostat control…set the temperature
and it cycles on and off to keep the air not frigid. Last night I think it was set on 70o
and I’m not sure if it ever turned off….and the air in the trailer still was on
the chilly side upon waking. Tough to
slide out from between the covers.
However, it actually felt warmer outside than it did inside because of the
sun.
The couple of times I woke last night I thought
of those staying in tents. We are thin
walls and a partially effective heater above life in a tent and if my nose got
cold in the night air, theirs would too. When I ventured out this morning, Jim
and Ronnie were already up. I inquired
as to how they weathered the cool temperature; Jim said that it wasn’t bad
because they have good sleeping bags…that the bigger problem was actually
getting out of the bags into the cool air.
The struggle is real!
----------
This morning, in an effort to let Kim sleep
in, I grabbed my camera and went out to watch the birds. The birds in the saguaro cactus have really been
active lately so I thought I’d see what pictures I could get. They move so fast from one cactus to the
other that it requires the camera to be on consecutive shoot and me to be
constantly watching. Had some time to do
just that this morning. Using
consecutive shoot sure gets me a lot of non-useful pictures but that’s what the
delete button is for. 😉
I photographed one bird flying out of the
nesting cactus…it landed on the top of the nearby saguaro. I was just bringing my camera down when I
realized that another bird was in the nest hole and I might catch it flying
out, too, so I got the camera in position and poised my finger over the shutter
button. Not only did I catch the flying
action but I got pictures of a mating session.
I’ve watched enough nature shows to know what I was seeing even though
it lasts only seconds. But a camera on consecutive shoot can take a lot of
pictures in a couple of seconds. 😎
----------
Today was another day of visiting
friends. This time we ventured into
Tucson to spend the day with Bill and Mary Trupiano. Is future in-laws the correct term to
indicate what we’ll be after our son and their daughter get married in October? Anyway, they and a brother-in-law have
escaping the Michigan winter for 8 or 9 weeks now. They spent time in Phoenix, then San Diego
and finally Tucson. They are heading
home on Saturday so we headed over to their Air BnB to spend some time with
them before they left.
After chit chatting at the house we went in
search of lunch. Didn’t really have a
destination in mind…it was more like ‘if you see something that looks
interesting, holler and we’ll stop”.
That’s not as easy as it may sound, especially on a busy road. We ended up at a place called Alibaba’s, not
having a clue what type of food we’d be eating.
Turns out it was Persian/Mediterranean and it was a good thing the menu
had pictures. We ordered after clearing
up a few questions about some items on the menu, like what exactly is shawarma or
naan? The food was very tasty and
filling. The ‘naan’ was especially tasty…it
looked like a thin pizza crust spread with butter and parsley as a topping. Pull it apart and eat. Good stuff!
----------
After lunch we went to the Tucson Botanical
Gardens. Not your average ‘garden’
experience as it showcased many types of cacti instead of flowers. The landscaping in the whole of southern
Arizona isn’t about green grass and beautiful flower gardens, it’s about desert
plants and stones, all pleasingly arranged.
So this was basically a cactus garden, but oh, so artfully arranged! There were no signs but it was obvious that
one should look but not touch.
We’ve seen many different types of cacti in
our wandering through Arizona…but the botanical garden showcased a much greater
variety. And they were all beautiful! Some
were local and familiar but most were not…they ranged in size from tiny to huge…some
were colorful but most were basic green…and some had obvious reasons to keep
your distance and some looked downright inviting to touch, which Mary did a
time or two with her index finger. I was a little more cautious, nudging the
cactus in question with my camera screen to see if it was worth risking my
finger.
More
to the gardens than just cactus plants…there were sculptures, a butterfly
house, a children’s area, bee trap boxes to collect and transport honey bees
after the business of pollination is complete and bee nesting boxes in which
the non-honey bee can lay eggs. It was a
fun and informative afternoon. 😃
----------
It was a sunny, low 60s day but the
botanical garden had a lot of shade and I was glad to be wearing my
fleece. I was wearing shorts
but also had a short sleeved and long sleeved shirt underneath the fleece. It’s all
about layering!
----------
I didn’t get a walk in this morning. I was intending to take a shower but if I‘d
walked beforehand it would have put us in a time crunch for meeting Bill and
Mary. And I knew that we’d probably be
doing some walking so decided to forego my morning stroll. Well, despite
walking through the Botanical Gardens, my step count for today is dismal,
simply dismal. And I’m sitting here in
the trailer in front of the heater not caring enough to do anything about it
right now. As Scarlett said, “After all,
tomorrow is another day…..”
😉
No comments:
Post a Comment