Both my cats enjoy the outdoors (supervised, of course) but Wylie really revels in it. One of her favorite pastimes is tree climbing and there’s an old, sprawling mesquite tree which is perfect for adventuring. She carefully chooses her route, not based on ease but on her desire nay, her determination to go ‘that’ way. She is so intent on her destination that she uses paws and even teeth to remove small obstacles from her path. To an observer there seems to be no logic in her choice, there appear to be easier routes nearby but for reasons known only to her, those are not the direction she needs to go.

Watching her it dawned on me how much we have in common…

Since I’m recovering from my second wicked cold of the year (dagnabit) my time outside today was limited. The cats and I spent the afternoon in the yard. You can see that they lead a life of leisure!

Since the temperatures have been unseasonably warm here the plants and wildlife have been busily doing Spring things for many weeks. One of our neighborhood Harris’s Hawks kept a close eye out, looking for dinner like a rabbit or packrat. Thankfully, Bailey is too smart and Wylie is too darn heavy!

As the sun slipped away, a warm breeze wafted over us carrying the sweet, exotic scent of orange blossoms (my favorite scent in the world) while coyotes serenaded. A perfectly lovely way to end our first day of Spring.

Spent a few days with the family up in Show Low in September. It was lovely to get out of the heat and cool off a bit! There was even a splash of fall color starting to show. We rented Pine Hollow cabin where we whiled away the hours – roughly equal parts playing cornhole, eating, and exploring.

Photos from my recent trip to Oregon to visit Lisa. Surprisingly, it was very Tucsonish in Portland (in the 90s) but we left that behind as we headed west. Once out at the coast it was in the high 60s – alternating between sunny, cloudy, drizzly, and breezy. In other words, perfect Oregon coast weather.

It was a quick but wonderful trip. Thanks to my fellow adventurers, Lisa and her dog Bo!

Help! I have a cool, rusty metal object and I don’t know what it is. It is about 6″ long with a hole at each end and near the center (slightly offset) is a section that pulls out about half an inch. I discovered this object in a shallow ravine not far from a rusty old bedspring and what looked like an axle from a car.

I’m fairly certain that this was an old dump from an early homesteader. I’m basing that on the fragments of sun-colored-amethyst glass (manufactured primarily from the 1880s through the 1910s) that I found nearby.

Is it perhaps some kind of handle? Since my memory doesn’t stretch back that far I thought I’d ask for suggestions. Any ideas?