We did our third hike today. Basically we are pro-level. It was somewhere between 5 and 6 miles, with similar incline as our last in Madera Canyon. Although, we both thought it was more difficult for us – so not sure how to interpret that. We both feel stronger on the hikes – but the elevation gain was brutal. Fortunately, it was mostly at the beginning of the journey, so we had the strength to get through it. The exercise has been wonderful.
We hear from neighbors with frequency about the local bobcat population – but I’ve never seen them myself. Usually I am too slow when someone points one out to me. A couple weeks back, Yun came home to one in front of the car port. He didn’t seem too concerned by my presence, so I went to grab a better camera to take his shot.
We are told there have been mountain lions in the neighborhood, but fortunately we’ve seen nothing of that.
We bought the house with two large cypress trees out front. I was never a fan as they seem totally foreign to the area. When the summer heat hit with its fury this year, one of the trees gave up and died. Unlike mesquites (which seem to be able to resurrect), this thing did not come back. That was probably best because it gave us a reason to remove it (and its twin) sooner than later.
I had Osiel over yesterday to remove them. He did it with a pole saw and no straps. Mexican-style (but not Mexican prices!) It took him about 4 hours to completely remove them. I saved the trunks to cut up later for firewood. They smell so nice – cypress has a very unique smell.
Now you can see our house a bit better. We are thinking about doing away with the red brick exterior and stuccoing it and then painting it white. The red brick is fine, but there’s no way I know how to update it so as to match the color when the sun fades it differently in different areas.
There is a house in our neighborhood that has the look we are thinking about.
Hard to appreciate from this photo – but from a distance it looks good. This house also has two cypress trees next to it.
I haven’t been back to Mexico since last New Years. It would be nice if the border would open so people from down south could come up and visit us.
Last weekend we crossed the border to have lunch with Yun’s family at La Roca. To our surprise, her brothers had driven up from HMO to join us. It was her father’s birthday. It was so refreshing to see how cheap food is still there.
The difficulty was we did this after our 6 mile hike (and without a shower!) I can’t say for sure that I smelled pleasant.
We went on another hike with JD this last weekend. It was in Madera Canyon, which is about 40 minutes south of Tucson – 30 minutes of it is east of I-19. There were 11 of us initially, but 3 turned back about the first mile in.
It was a brutal hike at 6 miles, with some pretty steep inclines (steep by our standards). It was absolutely exhausting. Yun didn’t think she would make it and had hurt one of her ankles pretty bad which made it even more difficult for her.
We met some unusually friendly deer.
And we had some pretty spectacular views.
Overall a great hike – but far too long for us in these first few hikes.
Either the one I killed recently has come back to life or we might have a bigger problem. I found this little feller waiting for me at the car this morning.
We went to a Persian restaurant last Sunday with Elias, Allie, and Parsa. I had a glass of Lebanese wine which was surprisingly good. We ordered far too much, but enjoyed everything we had.
Yun and I are not hikers. But recently we were invited on a hike and we spent some money on hiking gear – so now we are hikers as far as I am concerned.
It was really exhausting. There were nice things to look at and it took my mind off of stressful things…but on a few occasions I was sure I was about to go into cardiac arrest.
The real test for us will be to see if we join the next hike.
It has rained so much this year. So much that everything is green in the desert. Yun went to Mexico for the holiday weekend, so in an effort to get out of the house, I took the dogs for a hike in Catalina State Park. I left the house this morning with no clear destination – but came across the park which turned out to be a fun option.
Because it has rained so much – the washes which are normally just rocks and dirt, have now turned into rivers. Only about half a foot to a foot deep – we waded up one for about a mile.
It was hot – too hot for Tila. The water probably helped a bit, but she was really struggling. She’s also getting old and not used to long walks any more. So we kept it pretty brief.
Even though brief – it was a fun hike. Fortunately we did not come across any rattle snakes. That would have been a disaster. When we got back to the parking lot, there was a young guy with a rattle snake head on a stick. Once the temperatures turn cool again, we won’t have to worry about them.
We finally gave in. I have mixed feelings. I am happy that the Pfizer vaccine has full FDA approval now – even though the process that normally takes 10-12 years has been reduced to months. Hopefully there isn’t a mutated variant every 4 months which required re-vaccination (though maybe that was the original intent?). At least now we might be able to travel in the near future with our papers that prove compliance. I am somewhat reluctant to purchase tickets in the fear that the flights will be canceled.
