Desert Nursery

While out driving around we had noticed a nursery with desert plants, so when we had some free time, we stopped to look around.  It was very interesting!  Due to the recent freezing temperatures, many of the plants had pots and cups on them for protection.  It was pretty cute.  It reminded me of a bunch of soldiers. 

When the nursery worker heard where we were from, and that we wanted to learn about the cacuts, she was glad to tell us about the different varieties.   Unfortunately she used lots of scientific names that completely went over my head! 

The tall skinny cactus are young saguaro, which take up to 75 years to develope a side arm, and can live over 150 years.  These are the cactus that you see as an emblem of many southwest items. 

Golden Barrel Cacuts - we saw some yards that used these as a nice accent plant in their landscaping.

There are some pretty unusual, looking cactus.  Some look like a bunch of dried twigs,  some like a pile of big worms.  They do have prickly pear like we have in our pastures, but they are much bigger.  The cactus grows in interesting free form shapes.  The "cactus Pete" photo in the previous golfing post is an example.  Interesting.  It was a fun place to stop and visit.

ASU Basketball

Warren and Perry went to an Arizona State University basketball game in Tempe on Feb. 17.  ASU played Washington, but not well enough to win. 

One highlight of the evening was a ceremony to honor Lionel Hollins and Byron Scott by raising their respective jerseys to the rafters.  Both Hollins, who played at ASU from 1973-75, and Scott, who donned the Maroon and Gold from 1979-83, earned All-American honors with the Sun Devils and are members of the ASU Hall of Fame. Scott was Arizona State's initial inductee into the Pac-10 Hall of Honor in 2002, while Hollins was welcomed to the hall in 2006.

Perry helps another guy who has a radio sports show by interviewing the opposing team members after the game.  While he was busy with that, Warren browsed the alumni Hall of Fame.

ASU alumni, golfer Phil Mickelson

Sedona

Wednesday, Feb. 16 we took a day trip north to Sedona.  Tony & Amy and Craig & Lindsay had given us a gift card for a Pink Jeep tour for Christmas, and we were excited to go see this beautiful area.  Perry & Darlene hadn't taken the Jeep tour before, so joined us.  We had a great time!  Thanks, kids, great gift!

It was a pretty chilly day, but we brought lots of layers, gloves, etc.  The forecast for the next couple of weeks was for cool, rainy weather, so we decided to go to Sedona right away in our trip, instead of risking it not working out later on.  It was too cold to go to the Grand Canyon, like we had hoped, but we will leave that for next time.  :)  We had a good lunch at a Mexican restaurant with a gorgeous view of the Red Rocks.

Since our tour didn't leave for a couple of  hours, we browsed the touristy shops.  Warren and Perry (aka Booger and Tater) tried on some hats.

Darlene is pretty in pink.

Finally it was time for our tour!  We had been seeing the famous pink jeeps with passengers going back and forth all day.  There are several tours to pick from, but we chose the popular Broken Arrow tour, which was the very first tour for the company 45 years ago.

Perry & Darlene, our guide, Warren & DeeDee in front of our Pink Jeep.

We were off on our tour!  We made a few stops along the route, were able to get out of the jeep and climb around the rocks.  Here is our guide telling us about the Submarine Rock, which we were standing on.

While on Submarine Rock, we looked across to another area and saw a jeep going down a trail we were headed to.  We were in for an adventure!

Submarine Rock, named that because it looks like a nuclear submarine.  This is where we were standing in the previous photo.

Eagle's Nest formation

a stacked formation - on the bottom is the Whale, in the middle is the Flying Saucer, and on top is Mushrooms.

a closer look at the Mushrooms.  The jeep drove around the mushrooms - thrilling!

Another stop was high up the trail in the Red Rocks, and it was quite beautiful - and windy - up there. 

Remember the earlier photo of the jeep across the way going down the steep trail?  Here it is.  A 45 degree drop to the trail, with a few rocks thrown in for good measure.  hang on!

No matter what thrills the trail gives, the main attraction to Sedona will always be God's beautiful creation of the Red Rocks.  Evidence of the Master's Hand is everywhere you look.

The Valley of the Sun

Warren and I were able to get away for a couple of weeks during the winter and go to Phoenix.  Even though they had had cold weather, even freezing at night and damaging a lot of plants, it was much warmer than what we were having at home.  We stayed with our good friends, Perry & Darlene Schmitt, and had a wonderful time! 
When we left for Phoenix on Feb. 12, it was about 40 degrees.  We thought some of the snow would be melted by the time we got home again - or at least that the roads would be better.  It was not to be as it got much colder and they had a couple more snow storms while we were gone.  It was a little sureal to be sitting by the pool having breakfast while they were in the midst of a blizzard at home.

Our first coupe of days there were nice and warm!  One day we had lunch at Rubios, which is a fresh Mexican food chain, and enjoyed our meal outside.

After lunch, Darlene headed back to their office, and Perry and Warren went golfing at the Futures course in Glendale.  I went along to get in some walking and enjoy the sunshine.  :)  

The scenery is a bit different than the courses at home!



Cactus Pete

Speaking of different scenery, this is what the scenery looks like in northern Phoenix.

In the Surprise and Waddell areas there is still a lot of farm land.

From Time to Time

Here are some photo comparisons of our snowfall levels this winter.

Along our driveway

both of these are Dec. 24, 2010



March 28, 2011  the lilacs are almost completely covered, the tall green ash trees half covered.

April 26

Propane tank on the east side of our house. 

March 29, 2011  taken from the office window - see the handle and top?

April 26  It's melting, but still a lot of snow in the trees.

Our back yard toward the shelter belt on the east side.

March 29

April 26  evidence of spring!

The Longest Winter Ever!

We had quite a surprise last September 17 when we had SNOWFLAKES falling from the sky!  I wish now I had taken pictures.  Of  course it melted right away - after all, harvest was late and still going on.  If we had only known seven months ago what we were in for....  Our next snow was in the latter part of October, which also melted, but it was here to stay before Thanksgiving.  By Christmas we had a lot more snow than normal.  We also had a lot of beautiful frost.  This photo of the pasture fence along the driveway was taken on Christmas Eve .  We were happy to have snow for a White Christmas, instead of brown ground like we sometimes do....

December 6, 2010  Most years we have wind with our snows, making the hill tops bare, and coulees and ditches full.  This year the early snows came without wind, and it was a winter wonderland.

And then January rolled around..... 

And it started not being so pretty and and not so nice.....

Warren & Tony spent many, many hours clearing the yard and roads of snow.
January 22, 2011

 Warren using the snow blower

You can see how deep the latest snowfall was... 

Tony built a bucket for the Bobcat to move snow.

getting some weight off the garage roof

By the end of Jauary, we had broken our all time snowfall record. Several years ago we set a record for just over 70 inches of snow in a season.  Normal snowfall is about 30 inches.  Glasgow recorded 73 inches by January 30.  (All totals I'm sharing are from the National Weather Service in Glasgow, about 50 miles from here.  We think we had higher snowfall levels than there, but nobody has official totals.)

By March 22 we(Glasgow)  had 90 inches and counting.  For the first time in the history of Schmeckfest, it was postponed - twice!  It was finally held almost a week late, on a Thursday night.  It was scheduled for then as opposed to the weekend because another storm was in the forecast for the weekend.  March 22 the record snowfall was 90 inches.  By the 23rd, the new record was 105.6.  And it kept coming....

By this time, there was nowhere for the snow to go when the roads were plowed, so the piles along the roadsides just grew bigger and bigger.  A few places on our road were down to one lane of traffic.

Often this winter the sky and land were the same color and it was hard to see where you were driving.  Hopefully you can see the snowpiles against the sky here. 

Here you can see the snow out the window of our big pickup.

Church was canceled twice in March due to unpassable roads.  At this point we are over 110 inches for the season.  We aren't thinking we are finished yet!  Around here we know there can be some big snows in May.  Watch for some comparison photos in the next post.  This one is getting as long as the winter!