Usery Park

I always get a chuckle out of the Ocotillos. They look like such dead brown ugly sticks all winter long. Then all of a sudden, after some rain, they start to green up sending out green leaves almost overnight --

Then the tips start showing orange and red --

The first time we saw them bloom was when we were in Dulzura, California working with Mennonite Disaster Service. I remember our coordinator laughing at us when we went for a drive on a Sunday afternoon to see the blooms. She couldn't believe we would waste gas to go see a "bunch of weeds!"

The Fiddlenecks are also beginning to bloom --

These are NOT the same as the edible fiddleneck ferns!

No matter which direction you look in the park, the view is always spectacular!

Back to Usery Mountain

Can you believe it is the first day of another month? It's February already!

It was a day for catching up. We got a packed box of mail from Daughter Mary Mae that needed to be sorted through; part of it tossed; part of it read; part of it saved for another day.

It was the day to pay for electricity, sewer and garbage charges here at Valle del Oro. With all of the cold nasty days we had last month, I was very glad to see that the electric bill was actually less than two hundred dollars!

It was a day to restock the larder. We made a trip to Costco and then over to Safeway. That bad part of all of that is having to put groceries away when we got back home. It meant breaking up packages of hamburger and steaks and re-packaging them for the freezer. I also broke down and bought a new toaster -- one that I can actually toast bagels in. (I'd say it's not too bad to say it's only the third toaster we've had in over fifty-three years of marriage! Even though Forry doesn't understand why I wanted a new one...)

It was also a day to go learn something and have some fun. We met our friends Vic and Bill out at Usery Mountain Regional Park about five PM. Bill needed a drill to make some small repairs to his RV. Forry got his out for him when they were at our house last night, but it needed charging. So he charged it and brought it along tonight.

We were at the park in time to go to one of the Ranger's talk entitled "All About Gila Monsters." One of the things about being retired is my disregard of what day of the week it is. When we made our plans to go out to the park for the evening, we didn't think about it being a Friday and NOT a school night. The room was full of kids.

Then we went on a Ranger-led Animal Flashlight Walk. It was billed as a night hike to see nocturnal animals. But if you can imagine 70+ people, half of them children, all of them with flashlights, you know that we didn't see any animals. We did see a scorpion, which glowed under the flashlights as if they were black lights. It was sort of fun to take the mile-long walk in the dark with Victoria. I think Forry and Bill were the "tail end Charlies," but it sounded like they had a good visit as well.

Friendships

In another life, many years ago, when I took my first job as a hospital administrator, there was this wonderful woman at the Washington State Hospital Association who became my friend and mentor. Victoria, along with CEO Leo, ran the Association. She's a VERY intelligent lady that I greatly admire.

Now, several years later, Vic is retired -- and in Arizona with Bill. They're going to be here for a couple of weeks and we are looking forward to spending some quality time with them both.

This afternoon, they drove up in their Sea Breeze Class C RV to spend the afternoon with us. We spent a few hours visiting; walked their dog Belle; and went out this evening to Waldo's for barbecued ribs. We will be getting together tomorrow evening to go for a Nite Hike at  Usery Mountain Regional Park. I can hardly wait.

Usery Mountain Regional Park

After a false start or two, we headed out this afternoon northeast of Mesa on Ellsworth Road. We had seen the Usery Mountain Regional Park on a map and thought we should check it out. What a gem we discovered! They charged us $6 for a day pass (though there is an annual pass available). The park is run by Maricopa County.
.

One of the nice things about Phoenix is that you can drive just twenty miles or so and be out in some beautiful desert --

This park has an incredible variety of prickly, spiny plants --

Usery  Mountain looms colorfully against the desert lowland --

With the Goldfield Mountains purple behind --

We didn't see many birds today. I don't think they liked the showery, overcast day either. We did see the Gila Woodpecker perched on a saguaro.

The park has some incredible saguaros.  When you think that they are usually a hundred years old or so before they sprout arms...

These Thrashers were a long way away. Too far to identify which kind they might be --

 

This directional sign is just outside the park boundaries --

I got a chuckle out of this cute little budding arm on this nice plump saguaro --

It was starting to get dark as we finished the loop around the park. We are definitely going to have to come back here again. Maybe we'll even get out on some of the trails.