Wildlife and Iron Horses

This morning we biked to a cat tail-skirted pond on the wetlands trail here in Lathrop State Park. It is such a peaceful spot and the water provided a perfect mirror for reflections.

A lone black duck was feeding.

We watched a muskrat swim across the pond.

Red winged blackbirds bounced around in the cat tails. Many other birds were heard, but not seen.
As we biked back along the trail next to Martin Lake, we flushed out two great blue herons, but neither of us had a camera out to get a picture.

When we arrived here a month ago, the Canada Geese goslings were very small.

They must be almost teen-agers now.

After packing a picnic lunch, we drove to La Veta and Cucharas. The Cucharas River valley is lush and beautiful.

Many (more than 500) dikes run out from the sides of the Spanish Peaks. They are fascinating to look at.

We have had a lot of rain over the past week. At the higher elevations, it fell as snow.

As we drove, we saw wildflowers, especially Golden Banner and Wild Flax.
We were back in La Veta by noon to watch for the (summer) daily arrival of the San Luis & Rio Grande train. We have ridden the train twice in previous years. Today we just took pictures of this iron horse.

John talked with the woman who operates the snack car. Here she is waiting to take a short ride in the engine as the tender was filled with water during the lunch break in La Veta. She said she really likes working on the train.

Anything But Ordinary

Our week may have been ordinary, but there is nothing ordinary about where we are living. We are surrounded by many interesting birds and we have deer grazing right next to the trailer.

For my birthday, which is next Sunday, John bought me a new telephoto lens for my camera. For years I have wanted to take good photos of birds and other wildlife. There is so much to see here, it seemed the right time to get a 300 mm lens. It arrived this week.

Before it came, I took pictures of Canada Geese on our lake.


And of this Bullock’s Oriole (I think) on the bushes outside our trailer.


With the new lens, I captured these deer grazing while we ate dinner Saturday evening.

Today I got this photo of a Rufous Sided Towhee. I have seen them in several places around the campground. Today I watched this bird or another of the same kind trying to fight with its reflection in the chrome on our truck and a mirror on the front of our trailer.


This Say’s Phoebe has a nest on top of a light fixture on the side of the Camp Store building.

Martin Lake in Lathrop State Park has some beautiful sections. I photographed this cove one evening last week.

Ordinary Week

It's been a fairly ordinary week for us. We work Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday each week. The Camp Store is open those days. In addition, our duties include cleaning the two restrooms in the Camp Store building and cleaning fire pits. We enjoy the opportunity to work outside when we are cleaning the pits.

Last weekend the store was not too busy. But it sure has been this weekend. The Memorial Day Weekend campers were eager to come in and buy ice cream, ice and various items they had forgotten. That is really the purpose of the store. First thing Friday morning the "Campground Full" sign was set up at the park entrance. Thursday evening we received a lot of rain, but so far the weekend has been cool, but dry. Many of the campers are families, with lots of children. That means we sell lots of ice cream.

Tuesday we spent time in the Huerfano County Courthouse in Walsenburg, searching records to see if my ancestors who lived in Las Animas County south of here had also spent time here. Apparently, they didn't. We also toured the Walsenburg Mining Museum. The area has extensive coal and was actively mined for many years.

Wednesday we drove to La Veta, a small town 14 miles northwest, to do our laundry. The laundromat is much nicer than the one in Walsenburg—clean, with a change machine and rest room. Unfortunately, the machines are more expensive and the dryers weren't very hot. We will probably return to Walsenburg in the future.

Last Sunday I dropped our small camera and broke it. I was afraid I had lost the photos on it because it wouldn't download them in its broken state. On Thursday we drove to Wal-Mart in Pueblo—a 47 mile drive—and were able to buy another small Nikon Coolpix camera. In addition to the fact it takes even better photos than the old one, I was able to use the same storage card and download the photos from the old camera onto our computer. I really can't continue to break the camera just to get an upgraded version. But it wasn't tooo expensive an accident.

While we were in Pueblo, we also visited a Verizon store. Our two-year contract on the Sprint broadband card expired earlier this month. Our research indicates that Verizon has better coverage and there is no issue with roaming charges. We have 30 days to test the new card and return it without penalty if we don't like it. So far, we think it is at least as good as the Sprint card and they both cost the same.

More Friends

This week we saw more friends. On Thursday morning I walked down to Martin Lake to take some photos of reflections on the water before the wind came up. It was so quiet and I could hear birds all around me. When I returned to the trailer, John was gone and I figured he had gone looking for me. When I left he was doing his workout.

In a little while, I looked out the window and saw an old friend from Boulder. I hurried to the door and found John and our friends Larry and Betty. They were on the way to Albuquerque and had stopped in Walsenburg for breakfast, then came by to see us. We had a great visit for over half an hour before they had to be on their way again.

We finally had three days off this week. We also finished installing and painting some signs on the Hogback Trail and added lots of new stock to the store's inventory. For three days we keep the Camp Store open for a few hours. We also have taken on the responsibility of cleaning fire pits and barbeque grills. Since only one of us needs to be in the store at one time, that is something the other person can be out doing. We both enjoy jobs that take us outside.

By the way, we have caught two more mice this week. YUK!

Meeting an Old Friend

We were driving down the road at Lathrop today when I saw a truck and 5^th wheel approaching. "Stop that trailer. It has the TV antenna still up," I told John. He flashed the headlights, slowed down, opened the window and waved at the driver, who stopped next to us on the road. John got out and approached the other driver, when that man shouted "John" and got out of his truck.

Bob is an old friend from the Denver area. He and his wife, Lindsay, were members of St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church, where John was rector in the 1990s and they were good friends. Bob is the realtor who helped us find our home in Centennial and they bought our Coleman pop-up camper when we bought our first 5^th wheel. We helped them get into RVing and they moved from the pop-up to a Hi-Lo and now they have a 5^th wheel and camp most weekends of the summer. Bob was on his way to Durango to do some work in the southwestern corner of the state. What a shame we didn't know he was here last night. We would have enjoyed a long visit.

In the past few months, since we hit the road full-time, we have seen more friends and had more contact with people than we ever did living in the stick house and retired. What a great time we are having.

With one exception. We caught one mouse in a trap yesterday, one overnight. At least they are in the basement, not in the kitchen. The foam we used to fill holes beneath the stove must have done the job.

Green Grass and Friends

I really enjoyed the desert this winter and early spring—it was warm. The many varieties of cactus are so interesting. And the sunsets are spectacular. But it is good to get back to Colorado, where it is green, not brown. In addition, it's been hovering around 100 degrees during the day in Coolidge. We'll wait till January to return there.

This is the view out of our window. It is so nice to see grass and plants and birds, with nary a metal box (aka trailer) in sight. For two and a half months we will have the area to ourselves most of the time. And we are enjoying it. Lathrop State Park has lots of green grass and green ground cover. There are mountains in the distance and Canada Geese with their babies near the lake.

Our major responsibility here is operation of the Camp Store. We spent most of Wednesday putting out the merchandise left from last year. Yesterday we opened for the first time. The soda was warm, the freezer bare of ice cream and the shelves had no snacks. However, we are fairly well stocked with other items. By the time we closed last night we managed one sale. Today we had four sales.

We aren't doing great business, but the store has become a gathering place for staff, volunteers, children looking for something interesting and adults who want to see what is available.

First thing this morning a man walked in and said, "I know you from someplace." It took us a minute or two to connect the dots—we first met his wife four years ago when we were newbies at volunteer part hosting. Three years ago we volunteered with Ken and his wife, Virginia, at Ft. Parker State Park in Texas. Today we are experienced volunteers and full timers. They also are full timers and we compared experiences for quite a while.

Later, John sat outside working on his carving. A woman came in to check out the store, and then commented that her husband was also a carver. Soon he came up and talked about carving, Arizona and life in Alaska for a long time. Some of the nicest people in the world camp/RV and as we travel we seem to run into old friends again and again.

A Bear!

        And we thought a mouse was a problem.  This morning we went out for our three-mile run (really a fairly slow jog).  About 1 ¼ mile into it, I looked down the road and said, "What is that on the road?"  At first I thought it might be a cow—inside the state park?  We both looked, and then I said, "It's a black bear."

 

        We both looked, took a deep breath, turned around and started running away from the bear.  I thought there was a restroom just a little ways back, but it seemed like we would never reach it.  I knew there was a trash dumpster near the road and I found myself wondering if we could stand behind it and circle around it fast enough to be safe.

 

        John kept looking over his shoulder to see if the bear was following us.  John kept thing, "When we run way, are we bating the bear like we would be if it were a dog?"  Then I thought I had read that bears didn't have good eyesight, so maybe it didn't even know we were on the road. 

 

        Every restroom in the park has signs pointing out that black bears live here.  We didn't have any doubt about what we had seen.

 

        For about a half mile, we kept running away from the bear and not talking.  We needed to save our air to run faster if the bear came after us.  Finally, we realized there was no threat.  We could talk about what happened and finish our shortened run.

 

        In the end, the bear sighting was probably the highlight of the past six months.  We haven't seen a black bear since Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, in 2006.  This was a big deal for us.  What do we do?  Change where we run?  Buy pepper spray to protect ourselves?  Obviously, we didn't get a picture of the bear.  We didn't have a camera and we wouldn't have taken the time to click the shutter if we did.  Somehow this experience today put the issue of a mouse in the trailer in perspective.

 

        By the way, something set off the mouse trap overnight into Monday, but we haven't seen any evidence of a mouse since then.  Yea?   

 

A Mouse!

Saturday morning I walked over to the kitchen counter for my first cup of coffee and Horrors, what did I see? Mouse droppings. Now, this is nothing new to RVers who are parked in open country or near fields, or who have put their rig in storage somewhere. But the familiarity doesn't make it any more welcome. I told John, cleaned up the droppings, and then decided to have my coffee before we searched any further.

When I did search, I found nothing under the sink, nothing in drawers. Droppings were only on the counter and in the stove. A couple of hours later, we started work on removing the stove. Not an easy task. How do they put those screws in so tight? But eventually we prevailed and found three large holes around wiring and the gas line.

We were off the the lumber yard in town for expanding foam. John filled the holes and we crossed our fingers.

At bedtime, I baited two mouse traps with cheese, covered the stove and counter with newspaper and placed the traps there. We were relieved to find neither trap had been set off this morning. We will keep trying. If we find any more, you'll hear about it in the days to come.

Settling In

We are settling in at our new home, Lathrop State Park in Walsenburg, Colorado. We will be here till mid July. Lathrop is a park where we have camped many times over the years, mainly when we wanted to get out from Denver either early or late season or on our way to or from Colorado from the south.

We arrived Monday. We had planned to spend three nights at Trinidad Lake State Park, 35 miles to the south. We pulled in to look for a site, only to find the campground there is being upgraded and is closed. So we drove to Walsenburg and spent three nights in a campground host site with a great view of the Spanish Peaks. Then Wednesday we moved into the volunteer site where we will spend the summer. It is in a large open area near a ranger's house. We will enjoy our privacy here.

Part of our responsibility at Lathrop will be operation of a park store. But beyond that, we won't know much until Sunday when we begin our orientation. The park has two lakes for fishing, one that also allows swimming and water skiing, the other that allows wind surfing. There are several duck ponds with bird watching opportunities. Since our arrival, we have picked up our running, doing three runs at 6459 feet above sea level, an altitude we haven't seen since February 3. In the process we have discovered areas of the park we hadn't seen before and will spend more time exploring soon.

While getting settled here, there were other issues on my mind. We have a lease on our house in Centennial. When I contacted our current insurer, I learned, to my dismay, that they will only insure rental property if they also ensure our primary home—which we no long have. I made an internet search for insurers, and then visited an insurance agency in Walsenburg. Thank God for internet and cell phones. It has been stressful, with lots of phone calls and emails. Today we settled on a policy through the local agency here.

I am also looking for new insurance for our truck. When we sold our second car, our auto insurance didn't go down, it went up. The two-car discount was greater than the cost of insuring the old Buick. So we will try to find a more cost-effective policy.

I really don't mind taking care of these details, but it is something I would rather not have to worry about. Life goes on, even when you are retired and on the road, I guess.

The Great and the Ugly

Earlier this week, we boarded our two cats in Albuquerque and flew to Jacksonville, North Carolina, to attend the retirement ceremony for our older son, Doug, at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. Doug joined the Marines about one month after graduating from high school. In 23 years he rose to the rank of Master Sergeant, serving in Somalia, Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Since we last saw Doug and his wife, Sherry, and two daughters, Rachal and Samantha, a little over two years ago, Doug spent a year in Iraq.

We were so proud to hear his career praised during the retirement ceremony. He has served his country with honor through these years. It was very moving. One portion of the event included a poem in praise of “Old Glory,” our United States flag, and concluded with the passing of a folded flag in a ceremony called “Keeping the Watch.” It brought tears to our entire family as it ended by saying, “you are relieved of the watch.”

In addition to the retirement, our trip gave us some precious time with our two granddaughters. They have grown and matured so over two years. We were able to attend an award ceremony at Hunter Creek Elementary where Rachal received a writing award. Sami showed us how she bowls with their Wii.

Three other family members also attended the retirement. Doug’s aunt and uncle, John and Cindy, and our younger son, Eric, had all been present in San Diego in 1986 when Doug graduated from boot camp. We all gathered again for his retirement. We had great family time with them, as well.

This picture shows Eric, me and John, Doug, Cindy and John.

The ugly part of our trip was the Wednesday flight from Albuquerque to Jacksonville. We arrived at the Albuquerque Sunport at 7 am for our 8:40 am flight. Departure time was postponed several times as repair of a leak was attempted. About 11 am gate agents suggested everyone come to the desk to make other flight arrangements, since they expected the flight would be cancelled—the third Delta flight of the morning to be aborted. At 11:55 am we sprinted from that gate down the concourse to an American Airlines gate where the flight was to depart at 12:10 pm for Dallas.

In Dallas we sprinted to another gate to catch a Delta flight to Atlanta. In Atlanta we hurried from one concourse to another to catch an 8:40 pm flight to Jacksonville. We had originally anticipated arriving in North Carolina at 5:12 pm. It was a long, grueling day, but worth every bit of the hassle for the great time we had in North Carolina.

The Rally is Over

        The Rally is over.  After doing our weight training, we hooked up and left about 9 am.  A good number of people left yesterday afternoon.  Some were driving out at 6 this morning. 

 

        Sunday we didn't go into the exhibits at the Expo Center.  Instead, after a leisurely morning of worship and a good lunch, we drove to the Rio Grande Nature Preserve State Park along the Rio Grande River.  We were able to walk over two miles on the trails there.  We saw a Coopers Hawk and watched the muddy Rio Grande flowing by.  Friday's rain probably caused the mud.

 

        Monday we returned to The Rally with a vengeance.  At 8:30 in the morning we attended a seminar on electrical basics.  At 10:30, I went to a seminar on managing digital photos with Picasa; John went to one showing the many ways Velcro (hook and loop tape) can be used in an RV. In between the two seminar sessions, we bought extended service plans for both our RV and tow vehicle from the Good Sam Club.  We shopped some more, buying Velcro, a water pressure gauge and some picture frames that stay on the walls as we travel.

 

        We are glad we came to The Rally.  It was good to have so many vendors in the same area and the seminars we attended were helpful.  But we probably won't do another rally this way.  A big focus of the rally is socializing, being with people.  That really isn't our thing.  We rarely attend anything in the evening, so the nighttime entertainment was wasted on us. 

 

        If we attend another rally, we will stay in a nearby RV park and come in for a couple of days to shop and attend seminars.  We had to come here to learn what is valuable to us and what is not.

 

The Rally Begins

We're about done with day 2 of The Rally, an annual gathering of RVers from around the country, sponsored by Affinity, a holding company that owns Trailer Life, Good Sam Club, Camping World and other associated businesses.

We arrived about 10 on Friday and found signs and volunteers along the streets, directing us to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Park, where all RVs are parked and the evening entertainment tent is located. Arrival times are staggered and we were part of the group that was to pull in between 8 am and noon on Friday.

The line ahead of us was short, but it didn't move too fast because we were being assigned spaces one after the other and all sites were back-in. That takes skill and time in the best of conditions, and because some of the rigs on the opposite row still hadn't pulled out their tow vehicles, the driveway was narrow. But we only were really delayed by one driver who couldn't seem to get his rig in the right place.

I don't know how many RVs have come to the show, but there are acres and acres of while metal boxes (plus a few in shades of brown). Many sites have electricity. A smaller number are for those who chose to dry camp and use their own generator. By the way, they also saved $150 for the four nights of the rally. We thought electricity and the quiet of no generators was worth the expense.

After set up and a quick lunch, we walked over to the shuttle stop. Small trailers with seats and a canopy are picking up people all over the grounds and taking them to the "bus station" where buses would take us the 10 miles or so to the Albuquerque Expo Grounds. That is where all the exhibitors are located and seminars held. The weather was cold and there were intermittent showers. Everyone accepted the cold with good humor. When the wait for a bus lasted over 45 minutes, there were some grumbles. On our return the wait was over an hour and many (including us) were saying we'd drive our own vehicle on Saturday.

We walked through all of the indoor exhibit space Friday afternoon. It was busy and there is too much to absorb. But we bought a grill shield so it will be easier to cook outside in the wind. We also picked up a new patio mat for outside the rig.

Overnight it rained until at least 2 am. But this morning we awoke to sunshine and puddles. First thing, we acted like real RVers. We drove to a nearby Cracker Barrel Restaurant for breakfast. I think most RVers eat out most of the time. We rarely go to a restaurant. But this seemed like the time to do it.

We drove to Expo Center, along with many others. As we left the Balloon grounds I saw eight buses waiting to pick up riders and a bus would leave whenever it had loaded whoever was there for a ride, not waiting till it was full. We probably should have driven ourselves yesterday and ridden the bus today.

I attended a seminar on extended service or warranty insurance that was very helpful. John picked up literature on RV generators and looked at other booths. After checking out a model trail exhibit and some vintage vehicles and RVs, we headed back about 1:30 pm.

The rally lasts through Monday evening. How many more things can we buy?

It's Rented!

        Since 2003 we have been spending several months a year in our 5^th wheel trailer.  That year we were out almost five months.  Since then, it has been six, seven or eight months.  We spent five months traveling to Alaska.  We toured the Maritime Provinces.  Last year we spent five months in Oregon. 

 

        For at least the last two years, our stick house in Centennial has felt like an albatross—we had to return to clean leaves out of the gutter, do interior maintenance, make sure everything was OK.  We worried about it when we were gone.  Then, we returned to the house and wondered what on earth we needed all that space and all that "stuff" for. 

 

        On top of all that, it seemed like very bad stewardship of the wonderful resources God had given us to leave that investment empty most of the year.  Each year it made more sense to put that investment to work for us.

 

        Last fall we decided we would rent our house in Centennial and live on the road full-time.  We returned there in November and put all our energy into paring down, putting what we wanted to keep into storage and preparing the house for rent.  Our son Eric, who lives nearby and is experienced at managing rental property, was to be our manager.

 

        In January we started advertising the place for rent.  Finally, today, we have a lease agreement for two years!  They will move in May 1.  We can now really say we are full-timers because we don't have a house to return to or worry about.  The rent will cover the expenses of home ownership—taxes, insurance, home owner association dues, storage fees—and give us some extra income.  We are delighted and feel really free.

 

        And now Eric just has to collect the rent and deal with any repair issues.  He doesn't have to schedule appointments to show the house—which often results in a no show—or deal with people whose credit is so bad they couldn't pay the rent for a year, no matter how much they wanted to.

 

        Hooray! 

 

Wind, Wind, Go Away!

Otherwise, its here we stay.

And stay we did. We had planned to leave Holbrook today and go to Grants, NM. But there was a high wind warning posted for the area and so we decided to wait it out here. We are really glad we did. There were sustained winds of 40 to 45 mph and gusts of 55 to 65 mph. It isn't much fun to sit here in the RV while the wind blows that way. It even blew one of the boards out from under a rear stabilizer. But it would be even less fun to try driving east on I-40. We wonder how many RVs are pulled off along the road because of the wind. As we looked out our windows, the sky was brown with blowing dust. The power is going on and off and the trailer is shaking side to side. It was scary at times. We are doing our best not to even go outside today. And this evening we have had some light snow showers.

Yesterday we visited Petrified Forest National Park. It includes the Painted Desert. I don't know what I expected. In places there are hills and valleys of many-hued sand. Often, these areas have a lot of petrified wood. What surprised me were the large expanses of regular desert—no sand, no petrified wood, no color. We drove through and/or stopped at almost every overlook and it took us 3 to 3½ hours to see everything.

The two most interesting areas were the Painted Desert near the Painted Desert Inn and the Crystal Forest. A close third was Blue Mesa.

A lonely Indian Paintbrush struggles in the Painted Desert.

These rocks make me think of Tiddly Winks. Remember them?

The Painted Desert Inn was built to serve the needs of Route 66 travelers. In the 1930s, the CCC rebuilt it in Southwestern style. The interior murals were painted by a noted Hopi artist.

One of the CCC workers painted the panels of the skylight.

Leaving the Desert

Today we left the desert and drove through the White Mountains to Holbrook, AZ. After two and one-half months in the desert, we felt at home as we drove through juniper and pine and on curving, steep roads. The Salt River Canyon is really impressive—both the scenery and the road grades. We are so grateful for our heavy duty Chevy diesel truck and for the fact our trailer is not overloaded. We were able to use cruise control the whole way and had no problem with overheating. So often we read about other RVers having those problems.

As we prepared to leave this morning, we had to check out the inside of our trailer kingpin—we had seen finches flying in and out recently. Sure enough, I pulled out a small nest with maybe four or five tiny baby birds. We couldn't leave them in the hitch—they would starve since the parents wouldn't stay there as we drove. I placed the nest in a tree. I sure hope the mom and dad find their babies. This made us very sad. Next time we park for a long time, we will cover the kingpin opening.

Yesterday the community of Coolidge held a sunrise worship service in the picnic ground at Casa Grande Ruins. We attended and enjoyed watching the sun come up after a day and half of rain (we received ¼ inch, the first in nearly two months). The music was provided by local country and western artists. Pastors from the Methodist and Presbyterian churches led the worship. Youth from the Church of the Nazarene did a liturgical dance.

As we drove through Globe, the streets were lined with brightly blooming orange poppies. They are so beautiful. Since this picture was taken from a moving car, it is blurred, but at least you can see the color of the flowers.

We are spending two nights in Holbrook and will visit Petrified Forest National Park tomorrow. We aren't the only people on our way to the RV rally in Albuquerque. When we checked in—we had made reservations—the manager said the park was almost totally reserved for the night. People are heading to the rally. For over an hour this afternoon, we watched a continuous line of four or more RVs waiting to register. Since there are still lots of empty spaces, we should see more lines a little later.

Last Week at Casa Grande Ruins

This was our last week at Casa Grande Ruins the year. One of our projects the last two weeks was assembling thank-you plaques to be given to people who were involved with the American Indian Music Fest that was held here in February. It took place before we came. Last week, we glued the print of the festival poster on the plaques. This week, we drilled holes to install hooks to attach the small flutes to the plaques.

It was a fun project and we felt good about what we accomplished. And we look forward to attending the Festival next year, when we return to volunteer January to April.

April is when we celebrate Earth Day, so we thought picking up trash on the edge of the Ruins grounds would be a good activity this week. There is a small shopping center across the street from the monument entrance. It includes two fast-food restaurants. That leads to lots of napkins, food wrappers and Styrofoam cups to blow around in the frequent Arizona wind storms. We filled four bags with trash in two mornings.

We will stay here till Monday morning, and then head to Albuquerque, where we will attend "The Rally," an annual gathering bringing together RVers from all over the country. We have never attended one before, so we don't know what to expect. I'll tell you about it next week.

Arizona Grapefruit

I don't often buy grapefruit or oranges. I do drink orange juice. But since we arrived in Arizona in early February, I have wondered what one of those fruits would taste like it I picked it off the tree.

I still don't know. But we have been eating local grapefruit. For the last three weeks we have attended the coffee hour after the 10 am service at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Coolidge. Each week, there on the table was a large crate of grapefruit. So we took a couple of the ruby reds home and enjoyed them. What a treat! Today, when I took two, the man who grew them said, "Please take more." I didn't, but before next week I will ask those we work with here if they would like us to pick up some for them, as well. I want to be sure they will find a home. I don't want to be responsible for the fruit being wasted.

Fresh ruby red grapefruit is great!

St. Anthony's Monastery

Today we made a delightful visit to Saint Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery, http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/index.php, located about 20 miles from Casa Grande Ruins, about 8 miles south of the town of Florence.

In July 1995, five fathers came to the barren Sonora Arizona desert from Mount Athos, Greece, and began working to build St. Anthony's. Within five years, the brotherhood had increased to 30 fathers.

The monks welcome pilgrims and visitors to visit, offering the traditional kerasma (water and something sweet) and answer questions. The monastery buildings and grounds are stunning. The gardens are a mixture of desert plants and imported ones. The buildings are elaborate, each a different style. All of the icons, many of the furnishings have been imported from Greece.

Rather than have this post run forever, I have put a few (only 16 of the nearly 200 we took today) photos in a slide show. I hope you enjoy the gardens, the holy places, the beauty and the whimsy in what you see.

Thank-yous and Flames

Last week we led two groups of 4^th graders from the St. Peter's Indian Mission School on a tour of the Ruins. When we arrived at work on Monday this week we found a stack of thank-you notes from the boys and girls. It really warmed our hearts to read comments such as:

"I hope I see you some time next time."

"Thank you for being nice to me."

"I had lots of fun."

"God bless you."

"I hope you have a good day."

"I really loved it."

Their notes had either colored pictures of Casa Grande Ruins or their own drawings on the front.

One day last week we hiked on Picacho Peak. The small mountain is an old volcanic deposit and is located in an Arizona State Park. It was a nice hike. There are lots of Saguaro cacti on the hillside. Here and there we saw what looked like bright red bursts of flame. But it wasn't a wildfire starting on the peak, it was the flowers on the Ocotillo. They are so pretty.

This is a photo of the lower part of Picacho Peak.

These are the flames we spotted.