New Family Member

so.

Our niece, Tina Moddrell/McCarthy and her husband Ryan McCarthy just
had their second little girl on Thursday.

Weighing in at 8 lbs. 6 ozs. little Lyra Jean came screaming into the world!

Her older sister, Ayla, seems to be very excited about the new household
member also.

Our Ocotillos

Our Ocotillos which always look so dead during the winter are getting their small leaves and starting to form buds for flowers!

How exciting. Will post pictures when they bloom - they are gorgeous.

A green and red sculpture!

More blooms

A few more pictures of spring arriving in our yard

I have been taking gardening classes at the Tucson Botanical Gardens and during the first class the instructor mentioned early and late spring.

I had to ask "When is spring?" Everyone laughed but the instructor said early spring is February 15th through March and sometimes into April; late spring is April through May.

I like it!

It is still snowing and raining in the Northwest and it is now March so we are in spring!

Spring in the Garden

One of the transplanted Agaves is shooting up it's stem - all in the last 24 hours!

Will have more pictures soon.

Tonight's Visitor

A little bunny sat outside our office window for a while this afternoon but something scared him away as you can see.

Even more Gliderport Photos

The top photo is a pilot named Randy who had just finished a "competition" flyover and is now on final approach - the last glider to land that day.

The second picture is of Chuck landing his 80th birthday present after several hours of soaring.

In the next photo the Line Chief is attaching the tow line to the glider that Mark and Michael are in.

The last photo is of another glider just about to touch down.

Even more Gliderport Photos

Michael managed to capture the release of the glider I was in. You can see a small white ball in front of the glider which is near the end of the released tow line. Double click the photo to enlarge it on your computer screen in order to see the ball.

We also both made it safely back as you can see.

During the day we tried to be of some little help whenever we could and Michael helped to push the refurbished Schweitzer Glider down and across the field and back to the hanger when the owners finished gliding.

As you can tell from the picture Michael took of me we had a lot of fun!

More photos from the Gliderport

The gentleman at the tail of his glider is Chuck who bought the glider for his 80th birthday present.

The glider that Michael and Steve are looking at is Steve's glider which also has an small engine so he can self launch or in an emergency turn it on and reach a safe landing area. We've also included a photo of his instrument panel.

Tucson Soaring Club at the El Tiro Gliderport

Our friend, Steve Dashew, invited us to go with him for the day yesterday as he performed his monthly volunteer work as a timekeeper for the day.

He made arrangements for us to each have a flight in a glider for the first time in our lives.

Michael went up first with Mark in a PW6 and came back with a big smile and very excited - also safe.

So now it was my turn to fly with Mark. We got a tow to about 3000 above ground level before I pulled the release from the tow plane. Then peace and quiet! It took a little while to get used to the idea of not having an engine and not worrying about it but it was so serene and graceful that feeling didn't last too long for me.

However, we couldn't find any thermals so we landed and then went back up again! This time we found some thermals and stayed up for quite a while. Mark let me fly for a while. One has to use a lot more rudder than I am used to to keep the glider balanced but I tried and part of the time I was successful.

The last two photos in this post are of the two plane flown by Joe that day.

We both had such a great day! We spent the rest of the day visiting with Steve and the other pilots and watching them launch and land over and over. FUN!

Steven also showed us his glider but he did not fly yesterday as he was working.

Our Last Day at the Gem Show

Whew! Yesterday was our last day at the Gem Show.

There are venues that were still open today and tomorrow but we think that we have looked at enough fossils, minerals, baubles, strands of beads, findings, earrings, rings, necklaces, geodes, dishes from fossils and so on for at least a year.

After a while they all start looking the same!

So until next year here are our latest finds.......................

Hooray, It is on the Wall!

It may not look like it was difficult to hang this piece of art but it took several weeks and questions to many people to determine how to hang the 36 lb mirror that sticks out from the wall about 8 or so inches.

There was no stud in the wall and we were so afraid that it would come crashing off the wall breaking the mirror and damaging the wall and the tile floor.

Ray and Vita helped us and it is now hanging.

Hooray!

Snow in Tucson

Well, we woke up to snow about 400 to 500 feet above us this morning. The forecast was for snow at our elevation and we were looking forward to seeing our yard covered in snow.

Would have made for great pictures.

The snow is melting rapidly on the mountains already but it was beautiful this morning.

Today's Gem Show Acquisitions

Today we spent from 9 am to 6 pm at the Gem Show and found some real bargains.

Nothing in the expensive, rare category but lovely beads and beading supplies galore.

What a great day!

Tomorrow we'll go back to another smaller Gem Show nearby as we don't have much time after the $5/Bag Book Sale at the Friends of the Pima County Library.

Our neighbor, Penny, will be joining Michael, Raymond, Vita and myself at the Book Sale!

Having a great visit with our friends.

Tucson Gem Show

Perhaps our friend Sue V. should not see this picture.

We spent part of yesterday and today at the Humongous Tucson Gem Show with our friends Ray and Vita Pliskow.

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So many gems, beads, fossils, geodes and finished products.

The picture show only some of our purchases but most of the beads.

Plan to spend more time there. Even Michael and Ray enjoy the show and have purchased items.