Spring Break Highlights

It's amazing how quiet our house is when we don't have five additional people in here. I must say that at least two of our pets are rather relieved to have the house to themselves once more. Although I have a feeling Harvey is a little sad. He misses all the attention he got due to the standoffishness (good word, huh?) of the other two around the little ones. He is looking even more bored than normal.

So, here are some of the highlights from the Renslow's recent visit, in no particular order.

Aside from the snow on Sunday, we did have some pretty spectacular weather. And I think all seven of us got sunburned at least once. The mildest day was probably at the Grand Canyon, where it was a pleasant 60 degrees. After enjoying some yummy hot chocolate at the El Tovar hotel, we all went outside to enjoy the view.

On our way out of the park we stopped by one of our favorite overlooks along the Little Colorado River Gorge, just east of the Grand Canyon. I was surprised that Becca was brave enough to stand so close to the edge, considering it's a sheer drop of well over 800 feet.

Her dad was also brave, for about three seconds. You can see how white his knuckles are from the death grip he's got on that railing. I don't think Sarah came within 50 feet of this spot.

The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix was also a highlight. Everyone got to see some really cool cacti and the best lizard encounters of the whole week.

The kids even tried their handing at grinding some mesquite beans on a metate.

Hannah was particularly delighted by the butterfly pavilion.

On Tuesday we convinced Curt and Janine to drive their truck up a high-clearance road outside of Sedona to one of our favorite red rock hikes. Curt was giggling like a little girl as he rocked and rolled the truck over the rocks on the road. I think he had fun. We took a short trail out to the Cowpies, several large and flat red rock formations perfect for kids to explore.

Curt, Sarah and I tried to make the trek out to Mitten Ridge Saddle, but the trail was a little too much for both of them to handle, so we turned around early. At least Sarah will have a good story to tell her friends.

Sarah also got a hold of my camera one evening and started taking close-ups of everyone around. Becca was a more than willing photo subject.

Weekend Pictures

Some photographs from our morning at the Slide Rock Apple Festival in Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona. An apple festival with a surprising lack of apples. Lots of cool wildlife, though.

Lesser Goldfinch
(Texas "black-backed" plumage...which is a little strange since this variety is normally not found west of New Mexico)
A water-skimming swarm of insects. No idea what they actually are.
Ornate Tree Lizard
Urosaurus ornatus

American Dipper
(I was experimenting with exposures, trying to capture details when my subject is in the shade)

A Week in Pictures

Sonja's sister, Sue, came for a five-day visit this past week. Unfortunately, I had to work the entire time she was here, so I didn't get to go exploring with the two of them. Even so, we all had a great time together in the evenings after a long day of hiking and driving around by Sonja and Sue. We watched a couple movies, sat around and chatted, and even played a game of Scrabble, during which I scored the highest point total for a single word I've ever gotten (87 points). That was my highlight of the week (ok, not really. But I'm pretty proud of it, considering the word I scored those points with was "slimey").

Anyway, since I wasn't along most of the time I can't really add much to these photos. I guess they'll have to speak for themselves, mostly.

Ok, this 5 foot bull snake wasn't actually from Sue's visit. I took this the day before she arrived at the Castle. I just haven't had a chance to post it, yet, so here it is. The rest of these pictures were taken by Sonja and Sue during their adventures.

We did actually see a snake while Sue was here. This is a tiny western diamondback rattler that was crossing the road just down from our house. It was kinda dark out, so the picture quality wasn't that great. This was Sue's first rattlesnake!

Sonja and Sue's first adventure was to hike the Broken Arrow Trail outside of Sedona.

The century plants were still in bloom.

Next, they explored the Verde Valley, including a visit to Tuzigoot National Monument. I think it was a little on the windy side that day.

Sonja took Sue over to a llama farm to help with some llama-sitting chores, too.

I don't even want to guess what the llama on the left is thinking. At least the sheep looks appreciative of the effort Sonja and Sue put into feeding them.

Their next adventure took them up to Flagstaff and Walnut Canyon National Monument.

Sue at Sunset Crater National Monument, just north of Flagstaff, standing amongst the Aa lava.

And yesterday, they both spent several hours in the car to get to one of the most recognizable natural landmarks on the planet, the Grand Canyon. Here's Sue at Mather Point.

This was Sonja's second time visiting the "Big Ditch", and she was very excited to report having seen her first "crap-load" of condors (I think that's the official classification for a group of condors). Some of her pictures came out really good, too, so I turned them into a fun little montage. It's not often you get to look down at a soaring California Condor.

So, that's the last week in the life of the Olligs and a Fogarty. I'd have added all sorts of random links to this post, but my creative juices don't seem to be flowing tonight.

Cowpies and Saddle Mittens

Sonja and I took the dogs for a hike this morning. It had been a while since we took them on a really good walk, and since Harvey's arthritis seemed to be under control, opted for a nice 4 mile round trip into the red rocks of Sedona. We also chose this hike because it was so close to Sonja's work that we could go pick up some meds for the dogs to help get rid of these. But I didn't write this post to talk about fleas, as interesting as they are. I had no idea they were so hard to squish. They're heavily armored little suckas.

So, anyway, back to our hike. After a slow drive up a "high clearance vehicles only" road in our not-quite-high-clearance-Subaru, we started our way down toward the Cowpies. Actually, what we saw are a bit different than what you may be familiar with. According to this site, Sedona's Cowpies tend to be rather "swirly" and "vortex-y", not squishy and flattishly brownish-green. We only skirted the edges of the Cowpies on our way up to Mitten Ridge Saddle. For a little change of pace, I'll let most of the photos speak for themselves today (but, as always, you can click on the images for a larger version).

Luna, Sonja and Harvey on the edge of a Cowpie.
Happy dogs!
Mitten Ridge Saddle.

The rest of these are photos of some of the plants living on the edge of the Colorado Plateau.

Lichens on Slickrock.
I've titled this one,
"Little Yellow Flowers with Stick"
(haven't gotten an Arizona flower guide, yet)
Little Yellow Flower Without Stick.
Century Plant
Agave parryi
As you can probably tell, it was a very enjoyable way to spend a morning. Next month we're planning a hike down into the heart of the Sonoran Desert to try to catch the saguaro bloom that is forecast to occur within the next couple weeks.

All Sorts of New Things

So living in Arizona is pretty darn cool, so far. Although, it is still weird to think that we're living here. It's just so different from what we're used to. For instance, we never had any of these in our yard in Alaska:
This was the view out our bedroom window this morning. That block of birdseed was supposed to be for the covey of Gambel's Quail we've got living behind our fence in the backyard. But it seems to be good for attracting javelinas, too. You can hear Luna's reaction to her first javelina sighting in the background.


We also never had views like this in Alaska.

Sonja and her folks have been doing a good bit of hiking while I've had to work. As you can see, the weather has certainly cooperated. Figures that we'd move to Arizona at the same time they're hit with three winter storms in a row. At least it makes for cool pictures.

Sonja's folks have been having a good time, too. Although, I think they were expecting warmer temps. It's been really nice having them here. It makes unpacking much more enjoyable when you've got more hands to help. I have a feeling that we'll be having lots of visitors coming to see us in the near future...at least more than we had while in Alaska. Another perk of moving back to the Lower 48.