Day 069!

Saturday, March 11, 2023

This is a panorama from where I try to walk, called Cliffrose? Rosecliff?

It is a nice little bit of desert, anyway!

~/-\rizon/-\! {!-{>

Filed in Landscapes, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, PAD 2023, Panorama, Photography | | Comments (0)

Day 068! Or the really bad, really good, week!

Saturday, March 11, 2023

A really bad, really good, Week!

This is my Dad, the Dailylife Grandpop, a few years ago.

Here he is a few more years ago.

Here he is a lot more years ago.

Here he is a whole lot of years ago! He will be 98 in August, after all. Jeez!

Anyway, Dad fell and broke his hip this week. They operated and he is doing fine and is already up on his feet (they don’t let you hang around post-surgery anymore!).

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This is Dad and my Step Mom Sarah. We think Dad tripped on her walker and fell, dragging her down on top of him, resulting in a pretty good shiner for her we hear. She is doing fine too, now.

Why was she using a walker, you ask? Because she just got released from the hospital this week after a stroke!

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But wait! There’s more!

This is my Niece Mariah a few years ago.

This is my Niece Mariah and Dad a lot more years ago!

This weekend Mariah got hit head on by a drunk driver (in her former Toyota Yaris…my sister finally had to tell them to stop sending her photos of the little bit of crumpled car that is left!). Mariah is fine (if you can call a concussion fine); they released her right away.

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But wait! There’s more!

Really?

Really.

This is my sister-in-law. She fell and broke her leg pretty badly…last Fall, so that is not part of this tale!

Her significant other’s Mother fell and has a concussion also…this week.

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But wait! There’s more!

This is my old boss and friend Vance, along with his wife Peggy.

Vance was outside washing his car this weekend, and fell and broke his clavicle!

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But wait! There’s…well, there isn’t anymore I have heard of, anyway. Isn’t this enough for one week?

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So that seems to be the Bad from this week. What seems to be the Good? Well, we are all (surprisingly!) still ALIVE, and to paraphrase an old Country song…

“That makes us the Winners!”

~Curtis in /-\rizon/-\! {!-{>

Addendum #1-from my sister: “That’s great! Also in the last (is it only 2?) weeks, my sister-in-law fell and broke her hip, her husband rolled his truck on ice, and (Ex-)Edward had a knee replaced. But everyone seems ok so I guess we are all winners!”

Addendum #2: DD#2’s dog was diagnosed with epilepsy!

Filed in Family, Historic, Humor, Inspiration, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, Life at Home, Motorcycles, PAD 2023, Photography | | Comments (0)

Day 067!

Thursday, March 9, 2023

We stopped at Picacho State Park on the way back north. They were having a super bloom or something or other.

https://azstateparks.com/picacho/

This is a rugged little mountain range stuck off by itself.

There was a bit of a line. It was worse when we were leaving.

The Dailylife Wife waaaaayyy down there!

(Click on it a couple of times to see the panorama full sized!)

Her she is going the other way.

It is a popular destination, particularly when the bloom is on!

Here are two 360 degree panoramas. One is completely around, the other missed by just a little. Both are made from the same two 180 degree panoramas!

What makes these different is that one 180 degree panorama was made on the other side of a tree from the other one. That is why when you examine these closely you will see artifacts where they joined up.

Here is one almost like one of the originals from above.

Now: lots of flowers!

Compliments of Arizona state Parks!

~Curtis in /-\rizon/-\! {!-{>

Filed in Family, Historic, Inspiration, Landscapes, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, PAD 2023, Panorama, Photography, Wildflowers | | Comments (0)

Day 066!

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

After our time at the Sonoroa Desert Museum, we made a quick spin through the Saguaro National Park. We missed the actual “Saguaro Nat’l Park” sign…

(Photo by the Birthday Girl!)

They have…cactus…

…lots of cactus…

Weathered cactus!

More and more…

And down the road too!

Even after you get onto pavement and leave the Park: Cactus!

It was really neat and different, and in a way, not so different, coming from Montana!

So it was finally dinner time! Thanks to DD#1 we went to the Cheesecake Factory! Good eats there!

Happy Birthday!

~Curtis in /-\rizona/-\! {!-{>

Filed in Family, Food, Historic, Holiday, Humor, Inspiration, Landscapes, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, PAD 2023, Photography, Weather, Wildflowers | | Comments (0)

Day 065!

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Frohe Geburtstag!

No numbers, please!

We celebrated her birthday by going to the Sonora Desert Museum! “Close” parking…

Free iPhone charging!

We are here. Somewhere…

First up was the hummingbird house.

I was a bit disappointed in this, but only because they didn’t have many birds. Here is an Anna’s, like we have nesting beside our trailer.

I don’t know what these next two are. Maybe Rufus? The lighting wasn’t good for photograph. No flash allowed!

They don’t have many birds because their’s have aged, and aren’t reproducing. The State won’t let them capture more right now because of the drought. The Museum also wants to improve and upgrade the hummingbird enclosure, and don’t want to start new birds in the old one, then have to change it all on them.

This piece of garden decoration is for sale! It is only $12,000!

Fun sculpture at the Bird Aviary!

The tiles are all of the birds you might see inside or in the Desert.

I think we must be there at the wrong time of the year…we saw this duck, a dove and a quail.

My Quail photo!

More Garden Art! I didn’t look at the price.

Meanwhile, over at the Big Horned Sheep enclosure…

Things (ie: cactus) were starting to bloom…

My knees were giving out, so it was back to the coffee shop for me!

The Birthday Girl arrived in a bit and went…shopping…a new Birthday hat!

I got to keep my old-new one.

A last panorama over the Museum and desert!

Out front, on the way back to the truck is a fancy cactus! I don’t who he is raising a finger to: seems a little rude to me!

All in all a great visit and the Birthday Girl was quite happy.

~Curtis in /-\rizon/-\! {!-{>

Filed in Family, Flowers, Food, Historic, Holiday, Humor, Inspiration, Landscapes, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, Macro/Closeup, PAD 2023, Panorama, Photography, Wildflowers, Wildlife | | Comments (0)

Day 064!

Monday, March 6, 2023

We took off for a couple of days in Tucson. As we were leaving Cottonwood this neat pickup truck zppeared!

This is Picachu Peak.

I don’t know what mountain this is…

A quick snapshot by the Dailylife Wife. (She took two…this is the one where I hadn’t started to smile yet…)

A view of Tucson in the late day sun.

We stopped for dinner at La Hacienda, recommended by the clerk where we are staying. The Dailylife Wife had Shrimp Fajitas. I had a Carne Asada Burrito. Delicious!

(I noticed the high forehead…it is an artifact of the panorama, not a sudden growth spurt!)

~Curtis in /-\rizon/-\! {!-{>

Filed in F150, Family, Food, Historic, Holiday, Landscapes, Life as a Snowbird in 2023!, On the Road, PAD 2023, Panorama, Photography, Sunsets, Weather | | Comments (0)

Day 063!

Monday, March 6, 2023

The day AFTER we got home last year from snowbirding down here in Arizona, I found: The Thunder Mesa Railroad on YouTube. The remarkable part is that this studio in in Jerome, four miles up the hill from where we stay. And it is open to the public on the first Saturday of the Month.

The Thunder Mesa Railroad is an O Scale (1:48, which is conveniently enough about twice the size of HO, or Half O, scale at 1:87), but it is running on ON30 track, which is HO track which stands in for 30″ narrow gauge track.

O Scale is great for detail oriented people. 1/4″ is equal to 1′. Easy math, and big enough you can see the fine detail. (Pay no attention to the giant head in the background!)

This end is opposite the town of Thunder Mesa. The general theme is old west with a hint of Disney. The geysers in the Yellowstone-esque pools really spout!

This cavern is patterned after the Rainbow Cavern Mine Ride from when Disneyland first opened.

Most of the locomotives are named for Disney animators.

One of the neat design features is that there are no grades in this layout, solving a host of problems. The upper track is not only completely separate from the main level, it is ON18 (N Scale) track operating as 18″ narrow gauge often used in mining operations, with consequently smaller locomotives and rolling stock (built on top of N Scale locomotive and car frames vs the HO equipment on the main line). You can see the mine train above the main line.

Another view of the main section of Thunder Mesa. The town is one the right end, the track on the left circles around through the arch and into the cavern.

This is the Gruesome Gulch Railroad. It is portable and was made for Halloween.

The maker has literally dozens and dozens of videos on the making of everything, from how he made the coffins in Gruesome Gulch to how he sculpted the red rock scenery. It is all available on YouTube under Thunder Mesa Studio, and at his website: https://thundermesa.studio.

One last view: Day2306312 (video opens in another window)