Puddle Jumping!

You are tuned in to

THE TRACTOR CHANNEL -

it's "ALL Tractor, ALL the time!!!"

We find the intrepid explorer, venturing out on a rainy morning.

As is well known, it's extremely difficult and unpleasant

for ordinary CATS to get wet!!!!

But Tractor Man is no ordinary cat!!!!

Undaunted, he wades right in, impervious to the pain, the risk.

Relentlessly he searches the streets,
rooting out evil, pursuing villainy,
leaving no puddle uncrossed, no paw or tail dry -
all in the name of those in need,...

or in the name of those HE needs -
(like the bird in the red circle)!

Tractor gives a shout out to his audience -
"Quiet! Actor on the set!!"
(or maybe, "Mom, back off! You're cramping my style!!!")

And...the International Man of Mystery busts a move -


but the bird takes flight and kills his groove!

Mt. Lemmon Day

On Sat., Feb. 6th, we took the dogs for a drive up Mt. Lemmon,

a 9157 foot peak just NE of Tucson.

On the way up: father and son.

Father and daughter.

A view looking back down at the road we came up. I think they called it "Windy Point" or some such, very appropriate name!!

Snow and dead trees (must've been from a fire). I liked it better as a B&W.

Heading back down and looking back. Cool clouds!
Love them UFO lenticulars!!!

Late afternoon, almost back down. Looking towards Tucson, sort of.

I didn't get any great photos of Mt. Lemmon itself on this day, but there will be some coming later - from a hike to the SW of it.

Many of our days at that Tucson campground included this stuff:

"Walking the dogs..."

The End

...for now.

Desert Museum

I've fallen way behind on this (as usual!)! But on Thurs., Feb. 4th (yes, still on that date!), Bill and I went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, an awesome place that we'd recommend highly to anyone when in the Tucson area. They have lots of critters in great surroundings!

Their website: http://www.desertmuseum.org/

I really caught this one at the top of his game! Actually I was quacking mountain lion sounds at him, and he definitely sat up and took notice (but he had to wake up first...!).

I tried a few bear sounds - I think she mostly looked at me because she was so incredulous...

And this guy? He didn't look at me at all. Too busy...

I love my yotes!!!!


I had to include this ocelot (please excuse bad photo with chain link in front!) because the general look (totally peaceful and content) so reminds me of a certain little orange cat!

A passing glance from suave, debonaire Mr. Bobkitty.

OK, so...this one's for the boys... (sorry)

And we thought Seneca had a long nose!!! Man, the coatimundis put her to shame!!!

I think this is a cardinal-type birdie. They had a great aviary. Hey, even I can get decent bird shots when they're totally captive!!!

And a flicker-type. Such cool feathers!

And a show-off hummer. The hummers had their own special enclosure. And boy, were they going after each other!!! I guess this dude had on full combat gear!

And speaking of combat gear... Well, I guess this one comes well equipped! Too bad for the spattered glass - maybe otherwise I could've fooled you into thinking this was a more personal scene...!

Good Morning Tucson!

With a foggy forecast for this morning, I was out early. The fog turned out to only be in the lowlands - where the yucky city part is. But at least it got me out for the early light!

You can see the fog way down the road. The good stuff is in the other direction though!

I know, I know, looks like this saguaro's giving us the finger...!

At the visitors center in Saguaro National Park West. Cool morning shadow patterns.

I'm excited to say I got at least ONE good shot!! (click on it to enlarge)

Last of the Loose Ends...

View towards Volcan from the yurt - cool stormy look!

Ouraydog subjected to another posing session since Mom finally got a long lens (100-400mm off of craigslist.com)!

Another fallen dead tree after all the big, wet, windy storms. Right next to our driveway but fortunately not IN our driveway!! Will make good firewood though...!

Another long lens shot. Volcan Mtn. I love the snow, clouds, and lighting!

A local denizen makes a surprise appearance! Skunky Jr. apparently lives under a big dumpster on the neighbor's property. We got to see him a couple times. Please excuse the barbed wire - I had to get him quick before he made it back to the dumpster!

Yeah, doesn't he look good?! Even with 400mm scrutiny!

Mountain ranges to the NE of the yurt. Neato late day lighting and snow.

And the parting shot that our friend Karl took as we left his home and headed out of Ramona, Sunday, January 31st, 2010.

And now...on with Le Grand Aventure!!!

Santa Ysabel West

This trail (just west of the town of SY, on the 78) is my favorite of the two, but it is also a bit maddening! The trail is only open Friday thru Monday, and then only if it isn't/hasn't been raining anytime recently (presumably because of erosion concerns, but the trail is just old roads! So I don't get it...). And since this has been an El Nino winter, and we've had plenty of storms, the trail's hardly been open at all!! And I'm sure they'll wonder why so many people enter the trails illegally, when the preserves are closed...!!!! But I was good and went while it was open, which meant squeezing it in at the end of a Sunday afternoon, trying to beat the early winter darkness AND the rains predicted for Monday! Senny and I made it, although we couldn't do the whole 6+ miles and did end up back at the trailhead after sunset.

A lovely view from the top of one of the many hills. There is a lot of up and down on this hike!

Senny takes a drink.

I liked this stream view in B&W.

An example of some of the up/down stuff!

Storm is coming!!!

View looking east into the valley just north of the town of Santa Ysabel.

Senny wistfully scoping the hills for deer... (notice the hair blobs coming out on her shoulder. Yes, it IS winter! And yes, she IS shedding!!! We must've been keeping it too warm in the yurt! She and Ouray are still shedding like crazy)

Seneca "logs" in another hike...

The big bonus for ending a hike in semi-darkness...