Colossal Cave and Other Adventures

Collin at the entrance to Colossal Cave 

Yesterday, Collin, along with his mommy, daddy and grandpa, visited Colossal Cave outside of Tucson. Grammy and Ryan stayed home since, as Mommy Laura put it,        "A cave is no place for a screamy baby!"  Grammy was sure a cave was no place for a scaredy-cat grandmother, either.

Down into the cave -
This would have been far enough for me!

They took lots of pictures and told us all about it when they returned that afternoon. Grandpa impressed us with his wisdom on stalactites and stalagmites - "Stalactites stick 'tight' to the ceiling of the cave. Stalagmites 'might' grow all the way up to the ceiling." Isn't he amazing?? I never could remember which comes up from the bottom and which hangs from the top. Now I'll never forget! Collin is learning about nocturnal animals this month, so they were hoping to see bats or perhaps a ringtail, but only spotted one sleeping bat.

Looks so narrow!
I'm sure I would have
had to turn back at this
point, but then I would
have had a hard time
going in at all! 

What a gorgeous view

Another pretty scene

The Khatirs in the Cave

Ranger Sarah checks the mine
for danger (rattlesnakes?)

Two other recent adventures took place at Cave Creek Regional Park, which is not far from where we live.  The first was an after dark scorpion hunt and hike with Ranger Sarah in September.  Armed with a black light and an abundance of enthusiasm, Collin and Grandpa Tom had a blast hunting down scorpions.  Collin had a fabulous time.  Grandpa confessed later that he was a little freaked out about the whole adventure of running around in the desert at night with a little boy who says he "loves scorpions and is not afraid of them."   Yikes.

Tom & Ryan

The second adventure with Ranger Sarah at the park involved bats and a mine. Yikes (again) and time for Grandma Suzanne to stay at home (again). Ryan went along for this trip and Grandpa reported that he hiked along the trail to the abandoned clay mine like a trooper. Collin had lots of questions for Ranger Sarah, which she said were all great questions! I wonder what the next family adventure be..... and if scaredy-cat Grammy will be too afraid to go??

Hiking the desert with Grandpa

   

Kickin' Up Some Dust

Road to Paducah

Kicked up some dust in the sewing room and found 4 more U.F.O.s!!!  Two are baby quilt  kits from Patchers at the Lakeshore from many years ago.  They will be quick to complete as they are already cut and the batting provided requires very little quilting.  Also found a quilt top for a sweet preemie baby who was born last year.  It's tiny, as she was, so will be a quick project, too.  And then, how could I have forgotten my Road to Paducah Quilt?? This is a favorite project and I can't believe I "forgot" about it.  I was working on it only a few weeks ago.  Could this be the end of the list??

There was a colossal dust storm here on Tuesday! I've always said this state has some serious dust, but this  dust bunny was thousands of feet high and about 100 feet wide.  If you search on Google for "Phoenix dust storm" you will find lots of links to incredible videos and photographs.  I tried to post a link, but can't get it to work so that you can just click through to the site. Check it out if you haven't already seen the news stories.  It's more amazing than my growing U.F.O. list.  Really!

A No-Sew Week

Didn't sew a single stitch this week!  Sad, but true.  However, lots of other stuff has been going on.  Baby Ryan got his "cradle" quilt and really seemed to like it.  He also got his very first haircut this week!  This photo was taken while he still had his baby curls.  On Tuesday we took a trip to Prescott, AZ to celebrate Laura's birthday. Prescott is in the mountains about 85 miles north of Phoenix. After browsing the shops and having lunch at the Adirondack Cafe, we went to Goldwater Lake in the Prescott National Forest. The drive up was beautiful.  The town is historic and picturesque. The park was gorgeous and peaceful.  I hope you enjoy the pictures!  With any luck, there should be a newly completed U.F.O. to report after the holiday weekend.

Slow Going

Wiggly babies

The U.F.O's in my desert don't come with aliens.  And there is no traveling at light speed in my sewing room.  Everything takes longer than I think it will or should.  That is a lesson for me to learn and remember. There's something in the Bible about counting the cost before you start a project. I need to find that verse and commit it to memory.

I am not fast, but I am making progress. Grandson quilts are nearly finished! Ryan's needs hand sewing on the binding. I'll do that this afternoon, then bind Peter's quilt tonight. Then it's back to the wedding quilt.  I feel more competent in free-motion quilting skills having worked on these smaller projects.  The old saying "practice makes perfect" is so true.

Can you see the words in the background of the kitty blocks?

Here's a couple
close-up photos of
Ryan and Peter's quilts.
The kitty faces turned out so cute and
I am pretty pleased with myself for the quilting on the background of the
cat and baby blocks. Practice is good!

There was time for some outdoor activity last week as well as sewing.  Tom and I rescued a baby Mockingbird from the pool very early one morning. We wrapped him in a scrap of quilt batting and set him on a  baker's rack next to our grill. The pool water has been so cold in the morning and the little guy was shivering. We weren't sure he was going to survive.  After putting him on the baker's rack, we noticed an adult Mockingbird flying back and forth, as if it were feeding him. Later in the morning, he hopped out of his batting nest! Still later, we noticed he was gone. Hope that means he's okay and off somewhere learning to sing like a grown-up Mockingbird.   Also, we enjoyed our first summer afternoon in Grammy's pool.  Water has taken a long time to warm up, and it was still a tad chilly, but we had a lot of fun.  

Cold baby bird!

Owl Sighting!

A couple weeks ago, we discovered a young owl in our front courtyard. It was hopping around by the front door, perhaps searching out something to eat. When we stepped outside, it flew up into the tree near the patio we got these great photos. He puffed himself up to look huge and scary and his eyes were like saucers! After a while, he settled down and got to looking a bit smaller.  We think it was probably a Western Screech Owl, according to information in our bird books. Collin thought he was cute and wanted to pet him. Grammy and Pa assured him that was NOT a great idea, but we sure enjoyed watching him while he stayed around.

Javelinas, Scorpions, Lizards and Snakes

Javelinas
This morning has been pleasant as I caught up on several blogs I enjoy reading. I need to spend some quality time with my own blog, however. There is plenty of "Life in Arizona" news to report, not the least of which is JAVELINAS!!! Nature in this place is wonderful and weird, to say the least. As if it isn't enough to have fascinating (and scary) bugs learn about, we also have to be on the lookout for these big ol' wild boars that roam the neighborhood. LBK and I were enjoying an evening walk last Sunday when we spotted two large four-legged creatures down the road ahead of us. "Odd looking dogs," I thought....and then realized what they really were. Javelinas can be aggressive, so we turned around and headed home another way.

Scorpions
That same night, I spied a small scorpion skittering across our sidewalk. It was curling and uncurling his "tail" (the stinger!), which was how I recognized what he was. This one was small, but PapaShep saw a much bigger one crossing the street near LBK's house last week. They're intriguing creatures - from a distance - but I don't desire to ever have a close encounter with one. KK's secretary was stung by one a couple weeks ago while walking barefoot. Don't forget to slip on those flip-flops if you're going outside in the dark!

Lizards
We have recently been developing techniques to chase lizards out of the house. Last month, on two separate occasions, we had to herd a little critter out of the living room after leaving the patio or laundry room doors propped while making repeated trips in and out of the house. It was hilarious and I think we could have won a prize on America's Funniest Videos, if only someone had been there with a camcorder. Some of you may remember the reputation we earned back in Michigan for our amazing ability to remove bats from our house and camper. In many respects, herding lizards is easier, and not as noisy since I don't scream as much while chasing lizards as I do while dodging bats in a pop-up camper. However you look at it, it's an adventure and now we have a new skill we didn't know we'd need when we packed up headed to the beautiful southwest.

Snakes
"Snakes? Snakes.....I don't know no snakes." Remember that line from Home Alone? I'm not a fan of snakes, though I understand that they have a purpose in this world. We had a lesson in snakes last month that was amazingly interesting. After meeting a pretty little snake (yes, I said "pretty") slithering across the sidewalk at LBK's house, I decided to try to identify it. He was quite small, shiny, and almost "silvery." I found some info which seems to identify the snake I saw: http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?search=Sonora+semiannulata&guide=Snakes

What was so interesting was the number of color variations found in the same snake. Who knew?? I surely didn't, but now you do, too! They are supposedly frequent "visitors" to Phoenix suburban yards, and hey, guess what - they eat scorpions, so LB and I decided we were happy to have them in the 'hood.

I spent most of today cleaning up the bungalow - organinzing papers, vacuuming, mopping the pretty new tile floors..... anything to avoid the painting I should have been doing. At least I was being productive and not just slacking. For awhile I sat on the floor in our bedroom sifting through magazines, papers, books, etc. Some favorite Robin & Linda Williams music was playing from the little iHome machine on my nightstand. I was enjoying the quiet time alone.... and not painting. It was great! After a bit I got up to throw some things away and shuttle a couple stacks of things to the places where they belonged. As I turned around to leave the room, I stopped dead in my tracks. I had company - an uninvited guest had invaded my peaceful, solitary space. It had a lot of legs and it was somewhat larger than the size of a quarter. I got a little closer - it didn't move, thank goodness - and counted the legs. What? 10 legs? Scorpion? Spider? Should I freak out? I decided to catch it first - and freak out later. Once my guest was shown to its new accomodations (Princess House crystal tumbler covered with a Longaberger mug lid for security), I "Googled" until I discovered who/what it was and how scared I should be. If you want to learn what I did today, look up wind scorpion or sun spider or sulpugid. Then let me know if you think I should be afraid. Oh, by the way, based on my Google science lesson, I freed my captive guest to enjoy our beautiful back yard. However, to make myself more comfortable, I also scheduled an appointment with my favorite pest control technician.