Wednesday, March 22…Foggy Mountain Top (The Carter Family)

    Up at a decent time but then sat in the camper talking before heading out for a walk, each of us going our own distance at our own speed.  Kim started out first, Mom and I walked at a slower pace.  She walked as far as the big tire then turned around, I walked to Nutt Rd and back, and Kim walked about an eighth of a mile beyond Nutt Rd. and back.  I was the last one to arrive back at camp.

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   The temperature was hovering in the mid-50’s with a cloudy sky, which made walking very pleasant. They don’t talk in terms of wind-chill factor out here; the phrase ‘feels like’ is used to denote what the wind can do to the temperature. Today when the wind picked up and blew around the corner of the camper, it felt like a lot cooler than 55^o.

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   Needed to make a trip back to Costco to pick out another pair of frames for Kim’s glasses. Melissa, the young lady who helped him yesterday, was working from noon to 5 today.  We decided that since we had to go to Tucson anyway, we’d make a day of it and drive to Mt. Lemmon. It’s the highest peak in the Santa Catalina Mountains and a drive up there was on our list of things to do when Mom got here.  Today was as good a day as any.

   Tucson’s weather can be very different from Picacho’s and my theory is because Tucson is surrounded by mountains. There are the Tucson Mountains, the Tortolitas, the Santa Catalinas, the Rincons, and the Santa Ritas, as well as the Huachuca Mountains which are about 85 miles south of Tucson.  In contrast Picacho is basically flat.  Picacho Peak and the Picacho Mountains are nearby but I think the flatness outweighs any impact the mountains might have as far as weather is concerned.

   The weather was fine, if a tad cool, when we left Picacho and as we approached Tucson, huge clouds were covering the tops of some of the surrounding mountains, which made for a very dramatic landscape. I have no idea which mountain range is which, so I didn’t know if Mt. Lemmon was one of those covered in clouds. As it turned out, yes, Mt. Lemmon did have clouds.  Driving up the road it was

clear until we were somewhere between the 3000 ft and 4000 ft elevation signs, then we were engulfed in cloud. Not long after passing the 4000 ft sign we decided to turn around.  It may have looked like a fluffy cloud from down below, but it appeared as fog when we were driving in it.  Very dense fog on a switchback kind of road…no thanks. And what’s the sense of continuing when there were no sights to see?  Although we did catch a glimpse of Tucson spreading out before us on our way back down the mountain.  So, we’ll try again on a sunny day. 

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   Took a detour to the burrowing owl area when we reached Marana.  Found two with just their eyes visible above the canal. Mom didn’t know what to look for yet, but she eventually saw them. Then we drove around the block without seeing any more.  Drove down the road leading to the water treatment facility and saw one standing in a field beside a pile of dirt taller than it was. Farther down the road we saw snowy egrets, a hawk, black-necked stilts and killdeer in a field that was being watered from a nearby canal. The egrets, stilts and killdeer were skimming through the water to see what they could find to eat. The hawk just appeared to be resting.  So maybe it wasn’t a good mountain day, but it was a good birding day.

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   Once again, the night sky is cloudy so no imaging for Kim.  He did play a bit with the new guiding equipment he bought but wasn’t able to get it working. He’s spending some time reading and watching tutorials about it so he’s ready to put it into use whenever the sky clears up. And since we’re forecasted to have clear days and nights starting tomorrow night (keeping my fingers crossed), now is the time to get it figured out. 

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40 Days of Lent opportunity: Give a face-to-face compliment to someone today. I looked for an opportunity to give a sincere compliment to someone not living in the same camper as me…I was able to do exactly that when talking to the young lady helping us at Costco with Kim’s glasses. 

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