Casa Grande Ruins

No, nothing awful has beset the Casa...

This past Friday we took a trip north to visit the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. It is located next to the town of Coolidge, about an hour and 15 minutes from the Casa de Lively. It’s a very interesting and informative archeological site with the remnants of many rather large adobe like structures surrounded by a compound wall. It is known to have been constructed by the Hohokam people, who farmed the Gila Valley from the early 300s until their abandoning the site in the mid-1400s. It is believed that the structures at the monument were built in the 1200s.

This place is certainly worth a visit as it provides a wonderful opportunity to understand and appreciate the pre-European influenced North American continent.

This is looking north. The main structure, a three story communal house, is covered by a huge metal ramada to protect it from further erosion. What's interesting is that the metal structure was built in 1932, a rather modern looking structure for its time.

This is looking west. The people standing in front give a size perspective.

The Lovely Gail pausing at the southeast corner. The ground is very hard packed and quite easy to traverse.

These are the remains of some out buildings, or dwellings, that were constructed up against the compound wall.

A close-up view of the interor of the main structure.

Don at the outer compound wall.

Sonora Dogs!

Don had his first Sonora Hot Dog the other day. He’ll be having one of those again soon. And, if you try one we think you’ll agree, it only takes one and your hooked.

The Sonora Dog is a uniquely Mexican street food, or more accurately, meal in a bun. Locally, the most authentic dogs come from Aqui Con El Nene, a hot dog cart/street vendor in a parking lot at the corner of Flowing Wells and Wetmore. If you like to eat your food indoors then the first choice is El Guero Canelo on Oracle near Grant.

A Sonora dog is traditionally a cart-served bacon-wrapped dog with available garnishes including beans, guacamole, fried onion, salsa, and chilies. These are considered one of the most Gourmet foods in the world, as stated by Gourmet Magazine. Sonora hot dogs date back as far as the 1960s, but they did not become popular in Tucson until the 1980s, according to Maribel Alvarez, a University of Arizona folklorist who has researched the common street food for the Tucson Meet Yourself festival. There are many variations, but in general, all Sonora dogs are wrapped in bacon, placed in a soft Mexican bun and topped with numerous condiments such as beans, mustard, mayonnaise, onions, tomatoes, cheese and jalapenos. There may be as many as 260 Sonora hot dog stands in Tucson, Alvarez estimated.

So, if you haven’t tried one of these treats we recommend you do. While their cultural roots are Mexican they too are what make Tucson Tucson.

Here the chef shows off a well-dressed Sonora hot dog, ready to eat. Note the roasted guero pepper at the front right of the paper tray. The pepper, like a fair-complexioned jalapeno, is the Sonora hot dog's traditional companion.

Here's an excellent example of a traditional Sonora dog. Important to note is the bun. It's kind of like a hot dog bun but not open at either end. That, and a few other minor subtleties, is the difference between a Mexican bun and an American bun. Be leery of anything calling itself a Sonora dog that doesn't look close to this when served.

The El Nene "cart" at Flowing Wells and Wetmore.

The kitchen at El Nene.

No Longer Parched

Up until the 17th it was turning out to be a rather boring January. You know the kind of January I’m talking about; a seemingly endless string of 70 degree or better days, nights in the low 40’s, etc. Well that all changed this week. While we may not have received the voluminous rain totals the West coast did, we here in Southern Arizona did feel the impact of a ‘once in a decade’ storm.

Tucson set a record for most rain ever recorded on January 22 at 1.02 inches. It snowed and rained so much up on Mount Lemon that the Rillito River was running, bank to bank! This is a rare and exciting thing as the Rillito is dry about 360 days a year, on average. Also, the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Watch for Pima and Pinal counties, west from Tucson to half way to California. That was a little unnerving, but the night passed uneventfully. They’re forecasting snow tonight down to 3,000 feet (the Casa is at 2,662).

So, while the rest of the country will probably not think much about the weather we experienced the last few days, for us here in the northern reaches of Sonora, it was quite the storm. The rain was welcome by us and all the trees and cacti. Below are some picture of the ‘aftermath’.

This is the Rillito River at La Cholla Blvd at about 8:15 AM. This is about 100 yards outside Don's office window.

The pool at about 9:30 AM, filled to overflowing!

Transformed overnight from a negative-edge pool to an infinity-edge pool!

Winter Rain!

Rain, down here, is an exciting thing. In some places rain is looked upon with dread and disdane. Not here in the northern Sonora Desert. And, over the next few days things look promising. Besides keeping the dust at bay, the rain makes our desert green and keeps the wildlife out in the wild. The monsoon this past season is being referred to as the "nonsoon" as it left us well under our yearly 12 inches a season. This water season has started off poorly as well. In December we received only .3 inches of rain, the last smattering falling way back on December 22. As much as we disliked the rainy season in Northern California we want to see just a little here. The wild critters, large and small, that roam the desert out where we live are eating plants and roots they normally would not touch. This makes keeping a yard in the rural reaches of Tucson that much more difficult. At any rate, it looks like we're in for a reprieve tonight. Word from California is that this one's a whopper. We've got out fingers crossed. Bring it mother nature, bring it!

The five day prognostication...

To Our Friends: Happy New Year!!

Well, another year has past and life moves ahead. Wonder what is in store? Honestly, given the tumultuous nature of this year past for our fellow inhabitants of the planet we can’t complain. That’s not to say we’ve gone without discomfort or inconvenience, but it is all relative. On the whole it was neither a standout nor an ordeal. Would we do this one again? No, but that’s the point. Life is about moving ahead, looking forward with eyes front in eager anticipation of the next challenge, good or bad. After all, there are more victories than failures in our lives.

A toast the victories of the past and those yet to come! Happy New Year!

Winterhaven

Every year a neighborhood here in Tucson decks out in lights and decorations for the holiday season. The neighborhood, Winterhaven, has been doing this since 1950. We have wanted to go since moving to Tucson but it seemed like schedules never worked out. This year, however, we were able to go and Don’s folks, who were visiting for the holiday, joined us as well.

It was far more than we expected. The people of the neighborhood really go all out. While not every house participates, most do. Below are a few images of our Christmas Eve trip to the Winterhaven Festival of Lights.

Here the Happy Couple pose in front of a display done by a family who has been decorating their house in lights for 45 consecutive years. Yes, since 1964!

Don's Mom and Dad strike a pose...

There were several hay-ride operators. To see the entire neighborhood is to walk about three and a half miles so some opt to ride.

This is "Grinch and Grouch". They were a part of an all "green" display made entirely of recyclable materials.

This ginger bread house was one of the award winners.

This tree won "Best Lighted Tree".

There was even a mini Bellagio. Lights and water fountains all coordinated to music! No doubt a Raytheon engineer with too much free time.

The High Season

The high season has officially kicked off at the Casa. It started last weekend with a four night visit from our long time friend from Northern California, Bob. Bob works in the wine and hospitality industry and, thanks to the current economic climate, is “in between assignments”. So his lovely wife, in an effort to get him out of the house, sent him our way for an extended weekend. Good fun was had by all!

Our next guest will be our friend Mark. He winters in Carefree, north of Scottsdale, and summers on the Sonoma coast. He’ll be joining us overnight for Thanksgiving. After that Don’s folks do a three nighter for Christmas then The Lovely Gail’s sister, niece and grand nephew (yes, three generations, how cool is that?!) will be here right around her birthday in February. After that the next scheduled visitors are our dear friends Dick and Lynn in June. So, if you’re planning a visit the Casa is booking up fast!

The Happy Couple out for a stroll in the desert at Sabino Canyon National Park. If you come down, don't miss this stop. Especially if you're a hiker.

Bob literally fell in love with the place!

Pandemic Preclusion Ploy?

No, even though most of the planet is in a panic regarding H1N1 (and we Americans love our hysterias), the Lovely Gail is fending off allergens. Seems our Princess’s delicate schnozzola is adversely impacted by airborne deviants this time of year. So, in an effort to comfortably enjoy gardening and other outdoor activities around the house (like rock moving) Her Royal Sweetness is taking preemptive action. She is definitely a much happier camper since implementing this precautionary protective procedure.

(...Click the pics to see them full resolution)

Madera Canyon

Fall is a nice time of year to get out and look about and this past weekend was a perfect example. On what is starting to look like the last mid-eighties weekend this year we decided to get out of town for the day and head south to a beautiful canyon located at the base of the Santa Rita Mountains, south and east of Green Valley. Madera Canyon is a beautiful retreat from the familiar Sonora Desert low scrub and cactus. The elevation ranges from 4,500 feet at the ranger station near the entrance to 5,400 feet at the “Roundup” picnic area at the end of Madera Canyon road.

There are 0.7 miles of accessible trails that connect the first two picnic areas, Proctor and Whitehouse. We went for a short hike from the Proctor area. The views across the valley and up towards Tucson are spectacular! Next we drove up the canyon to the very end and had a picnic. We had bought some sandwiches before leaving town and it was rather nice to sit among the pine trees and relax. We also saw a few birds that you don’t usually see down in the desert valleys. Afterwards we made a slow and unhurried drive back down to Interstate 19 where we cruised north back to the casa.

Looking east. That farthest mountain range with the bump about center frame is Kitt Peak.

Don practicing his John Muir imitation

This is looking north towards the Santa Catalina Mountains and Tucson.

A Casual Night Out

We’re in the midst of a late October heat wave. Yesterday topped out at 99 degrees, officially a record, but up where we live it bested 100. Needless to say, most of the plans we made for an active and productive weekend were delayed largely due to the fact that it was just getting too hot to move too quickly.

The morning was productive. Gail planted a couple plants and moved a few rocks and Don sprayed weeds around the property and put a new set of tires on his chair. Things slowed dramatically after that. At about noon an hour long siesta ensued, followed immediately by rather sluggish movement. A few more things got done but as the temperature approached the upper 90’s the day had taken a decidedly more relaxed and unhurried pace. Our plans for the evening looked to include an old cabernet, two BBQ’d New York steaks and a movie.

At about a quarter to three we received a call from one of our neighbors, and dear friends, Lauren and David. They wanted to know if we were interested in going out to one of the local Mexican restaurants for dinner. Sure! As you can imagine, Tucson is swimming in Mexican restaurants, and they span the entire range of quality so it’s always nice to find one we’ve not been to that is good. El Sabroso on Grande Avenue, just off Saint Mary’s, is one of those finds. We enjoyed delicious food, good margaritas and wonderful company.

After dinner, at about 7:30, there was a breeze blowing and it was still comfortably warm. David suggested ice cream and the recommendation met little resistance. So we loaded up the van and drove about a mile to a Carvel’s ice cream where we sat outside until just after nine at night eating sundaes and other decedent concoctions. All spontaneous and all wonderfully enjoyable.

Thanks Lauren, thanks David, for not letting us miss another one of Tucson’s wonderful features; a casual night on the town enjoying 80 plus degree weather at nine at night …in late October.

We took this shot of the full moon rising over Tucson and our pool a couple weeks back. It too was a nice evening to be outside.