April 25, 2010

I started out to make this a daily journal, but since moving to a somewhat normal place, it's become more like once a week. I'm sure it will continue to be that indefinitely as tomorrow is my first day as a 'fed' as my friend Kathy calls it. No, not FBI, just working for the federal government as Kathy did for 30 some-odd years prior to retiring.

Yesterday Budd and I went out to drive a 21-mile loop in the park that took us up from creosote flats through the volcanic-origin mountains (not very high ones--Utahns would call them hills) and back around. On the way we saw a couple of arches from the road. Didn't get out and do any hiking to speak of this time. We managed to leave home right around noon, so the sun was strong and we're still not acclimated to it. Sunburn isn't on my list of favorite things to do. The air was cool enough for comfort, but we decided discretion was the better part of valor. At some point, I'd like to find myself out there at a time of day when walking is OK, though.

Words can't describe the beauty of this place, and I'm afraid our pictures don't do it justice, either. For people who are used to a desert with sand, rocks, and sagebrush, this is a lush garden. Saguaro, organ pipe, cholla and ocotillo are so numerous that they are often growing close enough to intertwine. The ocotillo are in bloom, with flowers that look like little red flags waving at the top of each arm. Brittlebrush and some other plant with little yellow flowers carpet the ground beneath the cacti, and everywhere there are palo verde, mesquite and creosote bush sheltering baby saguaro and organ pipe. Here we also found an abundance of another type of cactus that we haven't identified yet, also blooming, with bronze and yellow flowers. Budd found one with both colors on the same plant, so he got the honor of photographing that one. On the western half of the loop we discovered that the cholla were blooming, too. I'll pick out a few of the best photos for Facebook, but again, none of them do justice to what the eye can see.

We figure it's about two weeks before the prickly pear and saguaro burst into full bloom. Guess we'll head around the loop later in the afternoon after work one day to try to capture that.

Other than drinking in this amazing new scenery experience, nothing much is going on. I'm just marking time 'til Monday, really. I did walk to the library last Thursday afternoon for 'Stitch'n'Chat' with two new friends who also like handcrafts. MaryAnne was weaving on a portable loom the first time we met, but this week she brought her cross-stitch and a crochet project. Lupe has brought red-work embroidery in the form of a quilt top both times. I'm still working on my Yei rug cross-stitch, but I've finally sent for a set of different sizes of scroll bars, so I can work on more than one project at a time.

Walking on Thursday brought sort of a funny incident. Not that it would be at all unusual for April anywhere else...but it had been cool and cloudy all day. I was smart enough to set out in jeans and a long-sleeved blouse, but forgot my cell phone. So, at 7 p.m. when we ended our 'meeting', I walked out of the library door to the sound of heavy rain--I thought. But I couldn't see any raindrops hitting the ground, and realized what I was hearing was the wind in the desert palms that surround the square. Reassured, I set out to walk the five blocks home, even though the wind was pretty strong and getting cooler by the second. About half-way there, I noticed a sprinkle here and a sprinkle there, and still wasn't very alarmed. After all, it's Ajo, right? By the time my friends spotted me--hunched in the 'downpour' and walking as fast as I could--and came to rescue me, I was pretty damp and chilled, though only two blocks from home. It continued to rain all night and we woke up to puddles, which around here don't last very long. Two decent rains this late in the season is a nine-day wonder, and the topic of everyone's conversation. It certainly has cooled us off nicely, for a week of real spring.

The only other major topic that I've heard around town is this new immigration bill that Arizona just passed. I haven't read the whole thing, even in summary, but from what I have seen, I think they are in for a fight. Unfortunately, I can see both sides. The numbers of illegal aliens pouring through the border is staggering. The agencies involved in stopping them estimate that they catch between 45 and 55%. It's well known here in town that a number of Hispanic kids 'living with relatives' and going to school here are only here during the week--they go home to Mexico and their parents on the weekends. This in a state with 150,000 kids for whom they don't have the budget to hire teachers. On the other hand, the measures in this bill will undoubtedly cause citizens of Hispanic origin to be at risk of targeting for law enforcement hassles. They are up in arms, and I can't say I blame them. You would think that the lessons from the WWII Japanese internment would caution lawmakers against this sort of draconian measures. I don't have a better answer, though, and I'm a guest here, so I'll just watch and see what happens.

Oh, trying to think if I've missed anything from this week, I remembered that ORPI has received an award for excellence in preserving wilderness in the face of enormous pressure. This is one of the few Biosphere Preserve parks that is situated in an area where access must be provided to law enforcement personnel due to border issues. The park cooperates fully with Border Patrol and other law enforcement, which is sometimes in direct opposition to the park's mission, but apparently they balance it well. All personnel from the park were treated to an awards ceremony and light lunch last week. By the way, a Biosphere Preserve area is a United Nations designation. There are hundreds all over the world, each run by the host country's own government, but loosely organized as samples of the unique ecological areas around the world. There are 40+ in the US, all under the auspices of the National Park Service. Mexico hosts 16.

Saving the best for last, our Jazz easily won Game 3 without Kirilinko or Okur, for a 2-1 advantage in the playoffs, with one to go at home today before heading back to Denver. It was soooooo good to hear national announcers saying, "Denver just didn't have any answer for Paul Milsap." We usually hear that we don't have any answer for one of the star opposing players. Milsap plays off the bench, making it even sweeter. Go Jazz!

April 20, 2010

Spring is HOT in Ajo! Not that anyone led us to believe anything different, but somehow the reality exceeds expectations. We do get cool evenings and mornings still, but the sun seems closer here than in any place I've ever lived, even Moab. A cloud cover can cool it down, but also brings humidity. Yesterday morning we got a rare late rain...unless it was early for August. I mentioned it on my Facebook status and got a reply from my landlady that she--at the other end of town--got "10 inches" of rain. She explained that meant 10 drops, 10 inches apart. Had to laugh, but we did get a little more than that. It rained quite respectably for 10 minutes. By noon all the clouds were gone and the sun was back in business.

The late rain has made for a gorgeous year in wildflowers and flowering trees. The palo verde have bloomed now, and are wearing a veil of tiny yellow flowers. This is a fascinating tree. I've heard the name before, usually as a place name. Never realized what it meant or that there was a tree to go with it. The trunks and branches of this tree carry a lot of the clorophyll, so they show up as almost lime green, at least when they are young. I've seen some very mature trees that look like they might be the same tree, but the bark on these is brown and rougher.

The flowers on what I think is a domestic variety of beargrass in the front yard are finally mature. I expected a bigger flower based on the size of the buds, but the showy coral-colored buds actually just open to a tiny, delicate, pale yellow, 4-petaled flower. There are also a couple of spikes on one of the succulents. I have yet to learn the difference between yucca and century plant by looking at the leaves, but I think this one is a yucca.

OOPS! Just got a text from the library that I have four books overdue. How could it be three weeks already since I checked these out?! Guess I'll be making a second trip to the square today. Walked there earlier for the mail, but found none. Somewhere there is an electric bill waiting, but we haven't seen it yet.

We went to Phoenix, or, more accurately, Chandler for the weekend. Budd was dying to get away, so he came home early on Friday (after putting in 43 hours at the park last week by 2 p.m. on Friday) and we headed out. It was so unexpected that I left the pork ribs thawing for dinner on the counter. They were well-thawed by the time I came back! :(

While in 'town', I was able to buy a kit for my next cross-stitch project. I'll put a picture of the current one--in progress--in my FB photo album. It's a depiction of a style of Navajo rug called 'Yei', pronounced yea. I've been saying yay, but I think the vowel sound should actually be shorter. Anyway, the yei are the 'Holy People' that intercede for Navajos with their gods. A properly-conducted ceremony is thought to promote healing. The rugs, though, have no religious significance, so I thought it would be fun to have one in a collection of cross-stitched representations of the real thing. At least until I acquire one of the real ones! I found a kit at Chinle before we left, and fortunately there is a website with the rest of the collection. As soon as I can get my collection of floss from storage in Salt Lake, I'll buy the patterns. What I really want is a picture of at least half of Ruby's rug. I would be willing to try to create my own pattern from that--it's still the most beautiful example of Two Grey Hills that I've seen.

We also had two absolutely great meals. If you're ever in Chandler, I recommend Villal Pandos on Chandler Street just off I-10. I had chicken mole verde, something new for me. Spicy and delicious! On Sunday we had breakfast at Crackers Cafe in the same shopping center as Costco, on Elliot St. I had wanted eggs benedict, so we went looking for a Village Inn, but the GPS took us to one that had closed. But right across the street was Crackers, and there were lots of cars there, so we gave it a try. There were actually three versions of eggs benedict! One was the traditional, one had steak on it, and one, the one I chose, was a California Benny. It had bacon in place of the Canadian bacon, sliced avocados, a slice of grilled tomato, and spinach. The eggs were literally the most perfectly-poached I have ever had, and the dish was heavenly! I don't recommend it, though. If you ever have this, you'll be forever spoiled for traditional eggs benedict, lol. YUM!!!

Counting down to my new job at Organ Pipe--I start on Monday. I'm really looking forward to it, although I've never done anything in the maintenance arena before. I understand a lot of the duties will be keeping track of assets like the furniture in park housing, the housing itself, the trucks and the fuel they use. Since I'm a little OCD, this should be fun! In the meanwhile, I'm slowly accustoming myself to a 5:30 a.m. rise time. With a half-hour commute to the park and a 7:00 a.m. start time, that will be the latest I can possibly get up. May have to back it off to 5:15. Got up at 6:30 yesterday, 6:15 today, and will back up by 15 minutes per day until I'm there. It's a drag, though, to fall asleep in the middle of a playoff basketball game when you're team is winning by only a hair. Go Jazz!

April 14, 2010

I'm playing hooky--again--from cleaning my floors. They don't get very dirty, but the tile could definitely use sweeping, and it's time to vacuum, too. I always take a page from my grandmother's book. She used to say, "I'm not a bit afraid of housework--I can lay right down beside it and go to sleep." For my grammarian friends, yes, I know it's 'lie', but that was a direct quote.

It didn't take me long to fall back into my routine after returning from my family reunion in Texas, but I did have a task to perform that turned out to be more of a big deal than I would have thought. While I was gone, 'my' job at the park was posted. Before I could get to the application, Budd informed me there were already 20 applicants. Yikes! I wasn't sure I wanted that much competition! Luckily, I have a secret weapon. My good friend Kathy is a retired 'fed'--30 years in administrative positions in various agencies made her a wealth of information. Much of my 'spare' time over the past week has been reading the info she has sent me, engineering my resume to present the most relevant of my experience at the forefront, sending for my college transcript and getting in the various documents. It's been years since I applied for a job, so it was a bit shocking to realize that most of my former supervisors prior to my real estate career have retired, and I know that one at least is deceased.

I thought I would never apply for another job--I'm entrepreneurial after all--but I'm actually looking forward to some structure for a while. With Budd wandering here and there, I can't really get my teeth into anything business related that isn't portable, and 10 weeks on the reservation made me lazy. I have gotten a bit excited about Kathy starting a business. She could make a fortune consulting people who want to get into federal employment. I haven't convinced her to do it yet, though.

I finally got around to taking pictures of all the flowering shrubs and some of the cacti in our yard. The owners, my landlady and her husband, had it professionally xeriscaped [hmm, this application doesn't like that word no matter how I spell it], and it is drip-irrigated. All we have to do is pull a few weeds now and then, which is easy because the sandy soil won't hold the roots. I have to wait until they are a few inches tall before I can see them against the gravel in the strong sun, but 10 minutes every 4 or 5 days clears them pretty well. I put a few of the better pictures on Facebook.

Also finished my cross-stitch project. I'll have to work from kits until I can get back to Salt Lake, as I didn't bring my entire collection of books and floss with me. I've already got the next project basted onto the scroll rods and will start this afternoon. Tomorrow in the late afternoon, I plan to join some other stitchers at the library for their weekly meeting, and see if it's something I'd like to do on a regular basis.

Budd came home with the news that I will be starting a different temporary position than the one originally planned, on the 26th of this month. Things have changed so much and so often over the past month that I will not hold my breath waiting for it, but I'm looking forward to it if it does work out. In fact, I'm going to stop doing this and call the AO for more details right now.

April 7, 2010

Happy birthday to my little sister, Patti. She won't see this, as she is still en route back from our family reunion, and because she is one of the last people in the world to learn to use the internet. Since she won't see it, I'll just express here that I think she is crazier than I am. At least we had a good reason to move to the ends of the earth. Where in the heck is Rugby, North Dakota? And why would anyone move to North Dakota, anyway? Ah well, I guess I'll see her at the reunions--we're planning to do another one in a couple of years.

Speaking strictly for myself, I had a blast. It was so much fun to get to see my cousins all grown up and to learn that we have interests in common even though we haven't been a close-knit family. My mother and her sisters lived about as far apart as they could get in the continental US--one in Washington State, one in Maryland, and one in Texas. I've always regretted not getting to see my aunts in the past few decades while I raised my family, as I loved them both very much. And I'm so grateful to my cousins for their visit to my mother in Texas last weekend. I know it meant the world to her.

I don't know what my favorite day was. Friday we spent a little time at a street art festival, where my sister bargained for turquoise jewelry and the rest of us window-shopped. Afterward, we gathered at a nice restaurant in Dallas for dinner, then went back to the B&B where four of us were staying and had a late-night gab fest in the beautiful parlor. My cousin Fletcher regaled us with a play-by-play description of the game that was for him the beginning of the famous Cowboys vs. Redskins football rivalry, as my brother and cousin Valerie enjoyed the spoils of my husband's payoff for a bet on one of the games. Of course it is my brother who is the Cowboys fan. My husband owed him a bottle of Irish whiskey for almost two years, and sent it with me to pay up.

Saturday, after a wonderful breakfast in the B&B dining room and getting to know the other weekend guests, we returned to the street fair, where Patti picked up her jewelry and I bought a hat to provide shade if we decided to do something out of doors. As it turned out, we went to the aquarium instead, then to my brother's house. While Rae served snacks and then slaved over a dinner for 11, the rest of us enjoyed a slide show of photos that my grandfather had taken on 35 mm slides that my brother had digitized. Later we had that wonderful dinner and surprise birthday cake for my sister. She probably wouldn't appreciate my saying that the light from the candles might have been enough to read by--but since she won't see this, I'll say it anyway. ;)

Sunday, again after breakfast at the B&B, we went back to Eric's house to find that my sister-in-law had brought out boxes of old photographs from Mother's collection to be divided among us. We all sat or stood around her dining room table and sorted pictures of ourselves from infancy on, comparing notes, talking non-stop, and occasionally having a good laugh over the 70's clothes or some other nonsense. It helped my mother, who hasn't been up to tackling the task, and we all were sent home with boxes of our photos. Except me, that is. Being the oldest is a mixed blessing, as my box was twice the size of anyone else's, way too big to take on the plane. It will be shipped to me as soon as I get my address to them.

We had to say goodbye to my cousin Barb and my other cousin Fletcher as they had to be back to work on Monday and flew out on Sunday afternoon. The rest of us soldiered on until all the photos were identified, sorted, claimed and boxed. Then the survivors went out for a great Mexican dinner, which for me consisted largely of guacamole dip and chips. Probably the reason for my 5 lb. weight gain, unless those breakfasts had something to do with it.

Monday saw the guest list at the B&B halved, so we had breakfast in a less formal room, at separate tables. Valerie and I still had so much to say to each other, and if I have my way it won't be two years before I see her and her sister Barb again. Can you believe we all have the cross-stitch bug? I guess it isn't unusual for the sisters to share it, but considering it wasn't a hobby any of our parents pursued, it amazes me that we all do.

The last half-hour of my visit didn't go quite as planned. Valerie had intended to take me to the airport, then drive herself home to Kentucky, but Eric prevailed so that she could get on the road. Fortunately, someone asked me if I got my luggage out of her car before she was more than five minutes down the road, so she turned around and came back with it. I was so distracted by the thought of what might have happened that I left the front door open when I went out to meet her, resulting in one of my brother's dogs escaping into an unfamiliar neighborhood. Since Eric and Rae have just recently moved into the house and Woody (the dog) hasn't learned the neighborhood yet, he was out without his collar in unknown territory. The posse, consisting of my brother, sister-in-law, sister and brother-in-law, went out to round him up while I stayed behind to guard the door against the other three dogs getting out, while leaving it slightly open in case Woody had to be herded back in. Maya hid in her cage, Annie was indifferent, and August (the baby) pranced back and forth between the window and the door yipping and crying. I thought he was anxious at the hullaballoo, but Rae said he was just jealous that he didn't get to run, too. All ended well, and Woody was rounded up in time to get me to my plane on time.

I had an uneventful flight home, finally experiencing the flight attendant humor that Southwest is known for. I'm not sure where my flight originated, but when I picked it up in Dallas, it still had touch-downs in El Paso, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City to go. The attendant quipped "And if you booked for Salt Lake City, what were you thinking?"

This morning--or rather, technically yesterday morning (Tuesday)--Budd called to tell me that the background check we've been waiting for so that I could go to work at the park was actually done two days after it was turned in, about a month ago, but the HR department lost it. This is the government that plans to fix the health care industry. Right. Now we don't know if the AO will be allowed to hire a temp, as the permanent job has been posted. I'll apply for that, I suppose. Stay tuned for further announcements.