Rainy Day Activities

On Monday it was rainy.  Rain is a bummer for me, because it rains in my living room. I did not want to stay in bed all day. (inside Tiny Trailer = being in bed), and I did not want to hang out the clubhouse all day (too much cordiality required).

I drove to Ajo for a breakfast of chilequiles and thought about my options.  I decided to check out the Tohono O’odham Cultural Center and museum in Topowa.  Topowa is is about 12 miles out of Sells, and Sell s is about 60 miles east of Why. After about 70 miles of driving ( and a little more due to a wrong turn in Sells),  I arrived at the museum.  I have no pictures of this portion of the day, because photography wasn’t allowed in the museum, and to be perfectly honest, there wasn’t a whole lot to photograph, even if it were allowed. The museum space is about 30-40 feet  in diameter, and has information about the tribe’s history, but very few artifacts or art. There were some very nice baskets, and a LOT of little blue cards that said, “This item has been removed from the collection”. I took my time, looked at everything that there was to see, and was still done in about 20 minutes.

As I drove back to Sells, off to the east, I could see the observatory domes of Kitt Peak, so I decided to go have a look. I was only 19 miles further, and it would help temper the disappointment I felt about driving so far to the museum.

Kitt Peak National Observatory is awesome!!  I will have to make another trip back, as I spent so long at one of the three telescopes that the public can tour, that I didn’t get to see the other two. . And the views of the desert floor from high on the mountain alone are worth the drive.

Obviously not my teardrop, but a lovely (and pricey) model from Camp-Inn

Kitt Peak Visitors' Center

One of the many scopes on the peak

Big radiotelescope, part of the VLBA (Very Large Baseline Array)

Solar telescope (Photo courtesy of Robert Harding Productions...because I forgot to take one from outside)

Interesting older equipment in the solar observation room

Looking up and out of the Solar Telescope tube

Looking down the Solar Telescope tube into the mountain

rainey Days

Reading...

I have been doing a lot of reading here in the desert. I am enjoying having time to read for pleasure in my retirement.  I’m currently reading:

Sleeping, Dreaming and Dying,  The Dalai Lama

Jung, and the Story of Our Time,     Laurens van der Post

Plague No More,     Michael Ferguson

The Blue Labyrinth,    Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

I'm Back!

I have been remiss in posting for the last couple of weeks. I knew that this would happen. Most of the reason that I haven’t been posting is that there hasn’t been much to post. I have been walking some. Several days ago I took a hike about 2 miles into the desert (and 2 miles back), I saw a lot of burro hoofprints.

Little cave on the hill at the end of the 2 miles.

Across the desert looking south towards towards Mexico.

Season's Greetings

Seasons Greetings from Why, AZ. I'm thinking of friends and family, near and far. (mostly far...there's nobody close to here!)

Oho, Ajo!

Ajo, Arizona lies about 10 miles due north of Why.  I have gone there for groceries and propane, but at  a little over 3000 people, and with no Walmart, or Lowes’s or even a large supermarket, there’s not a lot of reason  to go there.  Except that there is no other place to buy anything within a hundred miles, aside from a couple of convenience stores, including the Why Not store.

I won’t go into a lot of detail about Ajo here, if you want to know more, check out the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajo,_Arizona.

Ajo has its pretty places. The plaza is very pretty, as is the Curley School and the churches.

Plaza: view one

Plaza: view two

Curley School

Catholic Church

Federated Protestant Church

Abandoned Dodge-Phelps mine

Food, glorious food!

For some reason, food just tastes amazingly better here.

 I don’t think that I’ve suddenly  become a much better cook, or that there’s something about the desert air that makes food tastier. I’m starting to think that it’s because I’m retired. I am focused on the food while I’m eating, not on tomorrow’s meeting, or staffing goals, or  who’s calling in sick…I can savor every bite, with minimal internal conversation. I am in the here and now with the food. Zen gluttony.

 My food is not always pretty, and I am limited in what I can cook, because I don’t have an oven, and I don’t want to cook things that have to simmer for a long time (propane costs!). But, it’s o.k., because it ALL tastes great!!

Kitchen hatch of Tiny Trailer open and ready for use.

Coleman propane stove...anything that gets cooked, gets cooked here.

Chickpea, potato, onion and peanut curry, with faux naan bread (pan grilled flour tortilla)

Not pretty, but it tasted wonderful!

Today's salad for lunch...bag mixed salad, with cottage cheese, celery, tomatoes,

 cashews and soy "bacon" bits. Ranch dressing.

I had the Yoplait yogurt for dessert.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Yesterday morning, I awoke fairly early (for me, these days) at about 6:00 A.M., showered , dressed ,and headed for the community pancake breakfast that is held every Thursday during the winter.  I got a short stack of pancakes and coffee for $2.50! 

After breakfast, I headed south to Organ Pipe cactus National Monument.  This is a beautiful park, located on the Mexican border, and is dedicated to the preservation of these cacti, which are found in this part of the Sonoran Desert.

 The park has a stark beauty, and if I had not been raised on stereotypical images of Saguaro cacti by Yosemite Sam and Wiley Coyote, I might have thought myself on another planet. I took the two driving loops that were appropriate for my PT Cruiser, which took a total of about three and a half hours

                                                          Visitors Center

Alien Landscape

Organ Pipe Cactus

Rock Formation

The bees love these!

Stark beauty