Sunday in Photos

Jack in the Pulpit -



More wildflowers-



The Explorer - checking out a turtle sunning itself on a muskrat hut.




Peaceful Oak Savannah:




A bullfrog!

Hmmmmm

i could have sworn I did some updates since May 11th. Weird.

We've had a productive weekend I guess. We've gone out to the farm twice. We've been clearing weeds and liberating raspberries. I've created a hosta garden along the shed. Our plan is to move out there once Christy graduates so we're trying to get some plantings established before we go. It's a huge struggle for me to NOT buy and put in plants here. I don't want to have to move a lot of stuff though. I've got enough perennials here already.

Yesterday we went to an outdoor learning center featuring wetlands, an oak savannah, and multitudes of trails. We saw tadpoles, toads, bullfrogs, spotted frogs, a snake, birds, and lots of wild flowers. There are also 11 Indian burial mounds. I chose not to hike up the huge hill to look at them but Kurt and the kids did. The mosquitoes were starting to bother me and I think maximum exertion had been achieved for this couch potato!

After restorative $1 sundaes we continued home and then went back to the farm to continue with our efforts.

I was dismayed to discover a TICK on myself when I went to shower. We're now on Lyme disease watch. I can only assume it will take effect next week when we are on our Westward Ho! family trip.

Nick updates

Nick is doing pretty well with soccer considering he's never played before. He plays defense.




He takes some pretty hard shots!



He had a good 16th birthday!



Yet another new watch. These children go through watches and shoes like toilet paper!

New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas

Well thanks to Blogger these are out of order.

I was standing in Colorado when I took this one:



We drove up and around the side of this volcano in Northern New Mexico. It was scary too! You can see the road going around it.



Typical "home" in the Grasslands of SE Colorado:



The ruins of Ft Union in Northern New Mexico.

The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert

Storm clouds as we are racing toward the parks



The Painted Desert

Petrified Wood! The rangers were watching everyone VERY closely! As if we could have lifted it!

Another Scary Drive - Salt River Canyon

I had lots of other cool images but turns out my film camera was worn out :( I've got nothing.

It used to be this was the only route through Northern AZ to Phoenix. It was terrifying!

Biosphere 2

Anyone know what Biosphere 1 is? Answer below!

My husband is a geek. We were in the neighborhood. We HAD to stop!




I have to say - it wasn't awful.

I'm glad we went.

**EARTH is biosphere 1

Amazing

how one phone call....no, make that 3 phone calls....can put one in a foul mood.

AGAIN I am washing my hands of the entire mess.

Tucumcori Mission and Tubac Artist colony

This is the interior of the mission at Tucumcori. It has not and will not be restored. The holes in the walls are damage from people looking for Jesuit treasure!
Another beautiful Arizona morning

Pottery at the artist's colony of Tubac. Nothing was open. People in Arizona don't seem to get going too early!

Gotta love how Blogger uploads stuff! Not!

San Xavier del Bac - White Dove of the Desert

The Mission San Xavier del Bac was founded in 1692. The present church was built under the direction of the Franciscians. It was begun in 1783 and completed in 1787. The interior has been restored under the direction of the guy who restored the Sistine Chapel. (That's some accurate reporting on my part, huh!)

The Main altar

Grilled Orange Rosemary Chicken

New Recipe. We had it for dinner tonight. It ROCKED! It's from "Lose Weight the Smart Low Carb Way" book I got at the friends of the library sale.

It says it's equally good cold in a salad. I'll find out if that's true for lunch tomorrow. I served it with fresh green beans, a salad and leftover sticky rice.

Grilled Orange Rosemary Chicken - 307 calories, 5 g carbs

• 1 large orange
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 T fresh minced rosemary or 1.5 tea dried
• 1 tea salt
• 1/2 tea red pepper flakes
• 3 1/2# skinless chicken parts (I used 1.5 pounds of tenders)(they were on sale)

Grate the orange peel into a large shallow dish. Squeeze the juice into the dish. Stir in the oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper flakes. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hour or up to 3 days.

Grill until the juices run clear.

EASY!! I think it could be baked pretty easily, too!

This is the first installment of trying to add something new to the repertoire!

Tucson 3

SCAREY ROAD!!! Driving through Grant's Pass in Tucson. The image DOES NOT do it justice!

The Desert was in bloom!

I love the Saguaro! The landscape is soooo different from Iowa. I love it!

Yeah, I could live here in the winter

Tucson 2

Ho'Okum petroglyophs

Saguaro Park West in the Sonoran Desert

This could be my favorite Image from the Trip

DeGrazia's Studio in the Sun

There is a 100 year retrospective of DeGrazia's work showing currently. These are some of his stations of the cross. Amazing!

Purple prickley pear cacti

The Chapel DeGrazia built on the property. LOVE the Arizona sky!

Our home while in Arizona. Sigh....nice :-)

New Mexico to Tucson

The only thing we did in Truth or Consequences, NM:

We stopped in Tombstone, AZ and saw the shoot-out at the OK Corral

We visited Saguaro National Park East in Tucson. We thought we might hike a little since we'd been in the truck for so long.

However......

We decided against it. That's a little too much nature for us!