Southwest Christmas

We were not at all sure what to expect of Christmas in the Southwest. Here are some images of the season down here.

The Three Amigos?

Merry Christmas to all of you.  May the New Year be full of new adventures!!

Cold weather in Tucson

A few days ago it was COLD, COLD, COLD here in Tucson!!!!   Temps in the early morning were about 30 degrees, which apparently is about as cold as it gets here. If you listened to the weather people on TV you might think that the world was going to end.  Here are some of the things they said:

"Be sure to dress in bundles"  [they don't quite the idea of "bundling up"]
"Warm up your car this morning"
"Be careful out there"  [we're not sure exactly what you're supposed to be careful of???]

In any case, the sun came out and daytime temps were in the high 50s - sunny and warm for Breckenridge!!

More Desert Creatures

We went back to the Desert Museum with our friends the Stuarts.  Apparently, you see new critters each time you go.  Here are some more photos of desert critters.

a Mexican wolf

a javalina pig

a diamond back rattle snake

a cactus from a Dr Seuss book??

critters from the cold North  the Blongs  (others spotted around here are the McWilliams and the Manwarings) 

the Stuarts, Susan and John

Visit to the Desert Museum

We headed off to the desert museum today to begin our touring of this area.  Here are some cute desert creatures to entice you to visit us.

A gopher snake

A Harris Hawk with docent

Prairie dogs

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends from Dove Mountain.

Afternoon golf outing

We have no pictures to show you but what an adventure we had on the golf course this afternoon.  It was late afternoon, so the shadows were lengthening and the sagauro cacti were silhouetted against an orange sky. There was no noise and no wind and no other golfers - it was gorgeous.  Suddenly we heard noise that sounded like cheering and assumed someone nearby had gotten a hole-in-one. Then we realized it was a pack of coyotes yipping and howling, just a few hundred yards away. It was SO cool. We continued our late pm golf with quail and bunnies keeping us company. Then we saw two javalina pigs near one of the greens. They are like medium-size dogs and travel in packs, eating grubs from under the grass.  Then we noticed some giant footprints on one of the greens - it looked like moose prints but we were pretty sure that there are no moose around here. When we returned to the clubhouse we asked one of the cart guys what could be leaving such huge footprints. He replied that a bull was living out there in the desert. We assumed he was talking about a bull moose, but that didn't make any sense. We found out that he was talking about a real bull, with big horns, maybe missing from someone's ranch. We decided that we love late afternoon golf, out on the course by ourselves along with the sunset and the animals.  Next time we'll take a camera.

New House pictures

We have unpacked all the boxes!!  Now we just need more furniture and some window treatments.  It is nice to be on with a normal schedule.  We can actually function now and have time for some golf!!

We're here

It was a lot of work, but we made it to Tucson.  In just a week we moved from snow to desert, cold to warm, and the Rocky Mountains to the Tortolita Mountains.  It has been a fun adventure.  Here are a few pictures of our transition.

Our garage in Breckenridge, ready for the movers.

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Notice the snow outside.  They are skiing there now.

Todd barely fits in all our stuff.

Our new fireplace in Tucson.

Sleeping on the aerobed the first few nights.

Dawn over the Tortolitas.  This is the view from our backyard.

Beckett's birthday

Before we leave for Tucson on November 4th, we helped Beckett celebrate his 1st birthday in Boulder.  His mother prepared a feast.  We hope he remembers it because we will.  Here are some highlights. 

House nearing completion

We had a wonderful time checking in on the progress of our house recently.  We will be closing the first week in November, so we are getting busy.  Here are some recent photos:

We also got in a quick visit to New England to see the Inadas.

We are off next weekend to Boulder to help Beckett celebrate his first birthday.