A couple hikes and a day at the market

Monday's "easy trail"

Sunday was quiet, real quiet and the evening was spent watching The Beatles special on CBS. The choice was Beatles or Olympic ice dancing, which one do you think I would rather watch?  Actually I’d rather pull my fingernails out one by one with pliers than watch ice dancing. There’s your hint.

Monday was easy hike day and this one made the word easy seem inadequate. This was a walk in the park. Most of the “trail” was along a paved bike path so the only excitement and exercise came dodging the speeding bicyclists who snuck up on us like a submarine to merchant ship. “Run Silent, Run Over Hikers” would be the name of this movie.

The only other excitement came when a bicyclist stopped and told us he had just seen six coyotes crossing the trail about 200 yards from where we were. We figured six humans versus six coyotes made us even and pressed on without ever seeing any coyotes.

A friend we met on the "easy" trail

The hike was about 3 miles total and to be honest I didn’t even break a sweat. I would have had a better workout if I had walked the park. But the company was pleasant, the view wasn’t horrible and the weather was perfect so not a total loss.

We were back before noon and I cleaned up before lunch.

The afternoon excitement was picking up the mail at our postal drop and Joan’s excitement was doing the bed linens at the laundry.

While she was there she noted that one of the women was ironing her husband’s t-shirts. The idea sent her head spinning as to why someone would waste a beautiful day outside ironing t-shirts in a stuffy laundry.

Starting the hike up Pima Canyon

“She probably just really loves her husband,” I said. That, by the way, was probably not the right response, but Joan let me live anyway. Joan’s reaction was that she probably hates her husband and that ironing his shirts simply provided her more time away from him.

One thing I have forgotten to mention, and this is primarily for Joan’s niece, Jessica, and daughter, Elin, is that Joan’s bonnet continues to draw ceaseless comments. All of them positive and if I were to guess, my guess would be that Joan is on the verge of starting a new fashion trend.

Of course, when anyone comments on the bonnet, Joan goes into a long litany of how and where she bought it and the fact that originally it was purchased to keep her dyed hair from fading into its natural silver-blue color in the sunlight. The story only varies slightly with each telling and takes only slightly longer than a full length feature film to finish.

Taking a break on the way up

But for all the ribbing Joan has taken for wearing the bonnet I am happy to report that hundreds have regaled her with positive comments even if they were sorry for doing so after enduring the lengthy explanation. 

So Monday night we went and caught “The Book Thief” at the budget theater. The 12-screen theater offers movies that have been and gone from the regular theaters, but at a really good price. Normal price is $3, but on Monday it is $2 for senior citizens. I’m such an old person now.

We enjoyed the story and the movie. Because we have seen a series of action/adventure movies I did my best to convince Joan on the way out that this was technically a “chick flick.”

Joan’s response: “There were Nazis, bombs, fights, I don’t think that qualifies as a ‘chick flick.’”

Big rock on the trail

My response: “There was gentle kissing and talk of love,” i.e. “chick flick.”  Don’t think I convinced her.

Tuesday’s hike was up Pima Canyon. This was a pretty hike that had a rise of 800-feet over a 3-mile trail, which is not too bad. In spots there were steep stone stairs which make for aching knees, especially on the way down.

We had 25 hikers today and except for getting hopelessly lost on the way to the trailhead, the day was a big success.

While was out enjoying the sunshine, Joan slept in, stayed home and paid the bills. (Yes, they continue to come and demand to be paid.)

Lunch on a rock

Joan also cooked up a great crockpot “lasagna” which we took and shared at the Tuesday potluck. We sat with our new friends, Ann and Hap (the man who is teaching me wood carving) and had a very enjoyable evening.

Here’s a little update on the long horn sheep saga here in Tucson. Just to recap, a month ago the wildlife folks here in Arizona released 31 long horn sheep into the Catalina Mountains. The hope was to reestablish a colony of long horn sheep that once were very common here.

Unfortunately for the plans the mountain lions suddenly realized they had a tasty buffet released into their habitat. Doing what mountain lions do (and maybe an occasional bobcat) they are having a feast.

Evidence of Native Americans in the rock

So far in the first month, 10 of the long horn sheep have been killed and eaten. All of the long horn sheep are equipped with satellite tracking devices so I guess when they suddenly stop moving for more than a few minutes, the local wildlife folks head into the mountains and locate why the sheep aren’t moving.

In every case so far they weren’t moving because they had become lunch. The mountain lions are then tracked and if located shot and killed simply for doing what comes naturally to mountain lions.  Then again maybe the mountain lions have figured out a way to use the satellite technology to find their food.

As you can imagine there is much gnashing of teeth (pun intended) by critics of the release program as more and more of the sheep turn up as mountain lion food.

I’ll keep you posted.

Heading down the Pima Canyon trail

My favorite TV line from the Olympics so far was this breathless comment by a local Tucson reporter who is in Sochi covering the games: “People are gathered here from all over the world.”  Really, people from all over the world come to the Olympics. Who knew?

Then on Wednesday night’s Olympic coverage came this gem from an announcer for the women’s half pipe competition. (Not a sport I really even care about): “She was a machine gun of awesomeness.”  Not sure exactly what that means but it made me laugh.

Also on Wednesday Joan did our separate exercise programs and then we went to “Market Daze” at the resort. Bought a couple more trinkets and Joan found a couple gifts for some of the folks back home and a nice reversible jacket for herself. Oh, yeah, and more positive comments on Joan's bonnet while we toured Market Daze.

Market Daze at the resort

The concert on Wednesday night was “Old Time Radio” which was an interesting look at what old time radio might have been like. The singing was great, but the presentation was just a little disjointed and not one of the best shows we have seen here. It was still fun and entertaining though.

On Thursday morning I went to Bible study and when I got home I turned on some of the Olympic coverage hoping for some luge competition. Instead they were running coverage of "curling" which to me is like having dominos as an Olympic sport. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I just don't get that sport.

This afternoon we are going to a presentation by the current general manager of the resort and then Joan is going to get her nails done. Another fiery day in the desert for us.

More Market Daze

Everyone comes here pretty much to escape winter weather. What you don’t escape is the almost constant fascination with what the weather is back home. Almost every discussion with new folks starts with not the current weather in Tucson, but what it is like back home.

We do hope and pray for relief from the bad weather back in Michigan and elsewhere. We take no pleasure in knowing we have great weather when so many have such bad weather.

Just to bring you up to date on the latest from the Long Horn Sheep news, they reported last night that two of the sheep have given birth to lambs. So far the mothers have kept the lambs in some pretty inhospitable areas and safe from the mountain lions and bobcats.

It's just a matter of time until the mountain lions realize they have a wonderful midnight snack on the way.