Camping again.....

Before we could go camping we had to weed the garden. At 8 a.m. it was already getting warm so we packed up the car and stopped at the garden on our way to Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood. We planted the garden four weeks ago - the first picture is looking out over many little gardens and the huge crop of corn planted by the owner of the farm.

Next is the zucchini which is about 1 1/2" long already! Then the tomatoes are coming along nicely!

We finished weeding - harvested about four pounds of weeds - and headed to the campsite. The first pictures are of the Verde River in the park. The water was deep and running fast.

It's refreshing to see these large trees. We didn't have any near our campsite though.

Love the hillsides with the little caves. Can imagine the Indians in the 1400's living in the cliff dwellings here.

Our new tent. It's a Coleman Instant tent. It measures 14'x10' and is supposed to be set up in 1 minute. It took us a little longer to figure it out but it still went up very quickly - faster than our little tent did! Taking it down was also supposed to be done in 1 minute and again it took us a little longer. Now that we know how to do it I think we will be able to do it in a minute!

On our way home we stopped at a roadside rest area that we've stopped at several times before. Love the views!

Duchess loves to socialize every where she goes. This little dog wanted to play but Duchess was not willing!

She stiffed this Great Pyrenees but that was it - they both went their own way. Go figure.

Camping by the water........

Last October we camped at the Lost Dutchman State Park. This weekend we decided to find a campsite with water. We were fortunate to find one at Canyon Lake. Our tent was situated about 10 feet from the shore. We were entertained all afternoon and evening watching the birds, boats, people, dogs, and fish.

Across from our campsite we could see beautiful yellow blooms, hawks soaring, saguaro cactus, and lots of rocks.

Dinner consisted of chicken, fried potatoes, and corn. Dessert was angel food cake with fresh strawberries.

The ducks came calling but Duchess wasn't interested. Some bird dog!

This is "Dolly" the steamboat. Lots of passengers tour the lake daily. No dogs allowed (of course) so we didn't get the tour!

Use of water in the desert must be conserved wherever possible - here's one idea that seemed to work at the campground. Our friends the Wrights & Stauffers know quite a bit about this topic!

I believe these are hawks - they roosted in a tree in our campground.

A window front in Tortilla Flat.

This was taken at Tortilla Flat. I thought the name of the town was chosen because of the shape of this rock. Not so! There are two conflicting stories but they both boil down to a few people running out of food here and only finding enough flour to make tortillas. That's it - no more, no less.

Prickly Pear (cactus) ice cream - delicious!

Our rig.

The marina at Canyon Lake. The blur is part of the bridge as we passed over - came out pretty good for not even slowing down.

Wildflowers in the desert are so beautiful!

There were so many scenic spots on the drive around the lake.

This is my first bloom from a rose start I got from Mark & Linda almost two years ago.

When I first planted the little thing in September of 2008 I thought it was safe to plant in the sun. Not so. The poor little thing almost bought the farm because it was just too hot - coming from Washington where it was used to much cooler weather! I transplanted the little guy in a nice shady area under some other plants. It loved the new location and started growing quickly. I kept trimming it back so it would bush out and this year it finally bloomed. There are other buds forming and soon there should be lots of beautiful roses in full bloom. I had no idea what color the roses would be but I am delighted with this shade! Thanks Mark & Linda!

Visting with great friends.....

Dale and Carol came for a respite from the storms of the Colorado Rockies last Thursday and stayed until Saturday afternoon. We went to the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant Thursday evening and had a wonderful and spiritual experience there. The cast of about 425 people were amazing as they recounted the life of our Savior Jesus Christ and his loving atonement for our sins. He is the only one who could pay the price we could not pay in order to return to our Father in Heaven.

The next day we stopped by the garden to show them how we garden here in Maricopa!

Things are starting to grow! The corn is about 5" tall - 3 weeks from planting!

Refreshing water irrigates the fields (and Carol's foot!)

We love visitors......

It is such a treat for us to have visitors and today we welcomed Uncle Loyd and Aunt Muriel. We had lunch together and reminisced about our family and previous times together. I got out my genealogy and we discussed relationships - and I even got to add a person and make a correction on another. Also got to add some birth dates and wedding dates!! So fun to visit with them and make new memories. They are now on their way to Yuma.

Gardening Arizona Style......

Today we became Arizona gardeners! I was surprised to see how many people turned out for this from our Church! The first part of the land (behind the vehicle) is the community garden site. Over 6,000 lbs were harvested last year and donated to the local food bank. The planting began at 8 a.m. this morning but Larry & I couldn't get there until about 9:30 a.m. and there were still a lot of people working on their plots. Our garden site is about 10'X12'. I think we could get more but for this year we'll do the smaller site.



Notice the irrigation setup. Irrigation will take place on Tuesdays which gives the soil a couple of days to dry before we go tend it on the weekend. The tubing coming out of the irrigation ditch waters each row.

We planted carrots, green onions, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, yellow squash (from seeds) and tomatoes (cherry & Early Girl) & zucchini from starts.


Larry planting carrots.

We're done for now. We will go back often to weed and help with the community plot.

The Santa Rosa Wash is flowing.....

Rain has been frequenting our area for the past few weeks - mostly on Sundays for some reason. Unlike other areas, the water does not seep into the soil quickly. Instead it sits there for weeks at a time. This bridge was constructed and opened about a year ago - just in the nick of time. The second picture was taken in December 2008 and shows the wash from the other side and how we crossed the wash before the bridge. When the rains came we would have to detour around - you can see why! Duchess and I took a little bike trip down to the wash to see the water up close. I was amazed at the current! Usually the water is so shallow it just sits there! This time it actually looked like a small river. Even the rivers around here (which are normally dry) are now running and posing some problems. Just yesterday four horseback riders trying to cross the water were swept away. Gratefully all the riders were rescued but sadly one horse had to be put down from injuries suffered. One horse was still stranded on a sandbar last night. They say still waters run deep and this was the case here. The experienced riders had been crossing at the same place many times but this time the water was too much for them. One of the newscasters said that no where else is a dry river bed common and when filled with water is considered a flood. Because of flooding throughout the valley years ago the dam and Lake Roosevelt were created and now water flows into the canals and is used for the needs of the people.