Sunday, January 1/2012

Multi armed saguaro - can't imagine how old this thing is!!

Sun behind Teddy Bear Cholla giving it an aura 

Happy New Year and may all our dreams, hopes, fun and laughter follow us into this year.  The sun was up when I got out of bed this morning and there is not a cloud in the sky.  I am thinking that it is going to be another hot day.  More suntanning!!
The birds are busy at the feeder and since I changed the hummingbird food, I expect that he too will be enjoying his New Year treat!!
Charlotte wandered over this morning asking if I wanted to hike at the River Preserve today and of course I jumped at the chance to do this.  It is so pretty down there and hopefully it is open today.  As it turned out,  the Preserve was closed for New Years so we ended up hiking Sophia Flat trail system.  It is found off of Blue Tank Road which in turn is off of Constellation Road.  John and I had driven past the area two years ago and I remembered that there were hiking trails out there so off Charlotte and I went.  There is a remarkable trail system out there, all neatly signed and easy to follow.  With a wide variety of miles to hike, we headed out.  The scenery is the usual desert typed with numerous old saguaro and lots of ocotillo which surprisingly is starting to get leaves and some even had the buds of flowers.  Wow!!  We spotted and jack rabbit along the trail and a few birds and lizards.  There was no shortage of people either.  It was such a beautiful day and Charlotte kept saying I can't believe it is new years and here we are hiking in this wonderful weather.  I totally agreed.  What a great day we had.  Once back at the trail head (I am sure we had walked 3 or 4 miles) we took Blue Tank Road back to town and made it back to camp about 4 hours after leaving!!
John was ready for a quick game of Yahtzee and of course I lost (can't break tradition).  This year, he wants to keep track of our total points - now that should be interesting!!  I am only 10 points behind him!!
The bees are totally swarming the bird feeder for some reason and are trying to dig their way through the seed and it looks like they are trying to get inside the feeder.  I am thinking they want to use it for a home so I swatted them away and took it down for awhile.  There is a ton of food now on the ground from all the bee activity and the birds are just going to have to clean if up from there - how crass!!  I have never seen the bees do this before but Charlotte wandered over and said her feeder was full of bees!!  What is with that!!
Happy hour came around and John and I retired to the "backyard" to watch the sunset then headed into the bus for another go around with Yahtzee!!  Don't Ask!!
Jan called tonight and I had a good chat with her.  All is well on the home front and that is good.  She had a quiet New Year and also hit the pillow before the midnight hour!!
John cooked supper then watched some football while I crawled into bed with my book.  I am super stiff and sore from the hike so have taken some tylenol and said a prayer!!
We are off to Box Canyon tomorrow as it is Keith's last day of holidays before he has to work again.  Now that should be fun.  I hope I can get into the jeep with all my sore joints!!