This is what we had to do to save our citrus trees during the 5 days of deep freeze. They had to be covered in sheets or blankets right to the ground and then spot lights put at the base of the tree pointing up to the crown and the lights left on all night to create some warmth for the trees. It really did look spooky out in our backyard!
They sort of reminded me of luminaries!
The poor little birds were not impressed with the solid ice in their watering hole and bath tub!
The sixth day it turned very warm just over night and I was sitting out back in capris again enjoying the lovely warmth - go figure!
The little finches were ecstatic to get their bath and watering hole back
Our poor little dwarf palms we planted a year ago did not fair well in the cold even though they were covered up! We'll have to wait till next fall to see if they recover enough to make it through the blistering hot summer. If not - back to planting something else that is much more cold resistant!
Our little Lisbon lemon tree that was just planted in November also had a tough time with the cold and has dropped most of its leaves but the citrus farm where we bought it said it will be just fine and new leaves will start sprouting in about a month or so - thank-goodness as this tree cost a fair bit to put in and I want lemons next year!
During the cold when we couldn't go riding or do much outside, I got Doug busy installing new taps and sinks in our ensuite. This is a picture of my new taps and sinks, I am so happy to have the old ones gone! Note the cupbord and drawer handles - the original ugly old gold ones
Now note my new chrome, very simple drawer and cupboard handles - had to change them right away as the new taps just highlighted how ugly the gold was!
Of course anyone that knows me will also know that I now can not stand the ugly old gold ball lights above the vanity! So off we go to Home Depot and we bought new light fixtures and Doug installed them. I am now a "happy" wife. We just have to change the door and closet knobs as the are gold also but that will happen next year
Our friends Chuck and Echo were here in Mesa for a couple of months and came over for a visit. Of course they had to pick a few oranges. We had a lovely visit with them and went out for dinner. Hopefully they'll be back in out area again next year and we will get a chance to see more of them
Once it warmed up, we decided to go camping for 3 days up at Lost Dutchman State Park. It is only about 15 minutes from our house but it is so beautiful and peaceful up there and we were looking forward to some relaxation, some nice walks and a campfire and wiener roast with all our friends. If you have kept up with our blog, you know we went camping in December and had torrential rain and our big campfire was postponed due to the weather. We figured this time was the full moon and everyone could come to our camp spot, enjoy a fire and watch the moon come over the spectacular Lost Dutchman peak of the Superstition mountains. Well, the Thursday was lovely and you can see me sitting out enjoying the sun and a good book.
Doug of course is saving his skin from all the bad effects of UV light and is sitting in the shade of the trailer!
The views from our site were spectacular and so private
We went for a lovely walk on Thursday, it was sunny and just right temperature wise, about 70 degrees. We had a great campfire that night also and listened to the coyotes howl.
I heard it start to rain during the night and this is what we woke up to, Ugh... it continued to pour all day and we had record rain fall. More rain in one day than ever recorded in Arizona! Talk about our Dixon luck eh?
This was Saturday morning, just as wet! We went garage saling just to keep our sanity and of course had to cancel our full moon campfire - again..... We have been kindly asked not to go camping in February so the weather will stay nice!
The wild life did entertain us during the dry periods. We had brought our quail block with us and the rabbits sure liked it. They just hopped right in and wouldn't let the quail near!
We got to see our first cardinals this year. This is the beautiful male at our bird feeder
Here he is sitting in a bush right in front of where we are sitting
The female is never far from the male and we finally caught site of her. She is definitely not the bright red of the male but still pretty in her own way.
Since our group couldn't get together for our campfire and wiener roast, we decided to all go out for dinner Sunday night after we got in from camping. When I came out of the bedroom from showering and changing, my dear husband had to comment "what are you all dressed up about" Nice guy eh? Us women do like to dress up once in awhile and I actually didn't think I was really dressed up but I guess when I go around in shorts or capris all the time, you might consider this dressed up!
We had to go home to again enjoy the wildlife! This is at the side of the house
Here the rabbits try and get their share of the quail block also
This past Friday we decided to make a day trip to Tombstone just for a fun outing., The town of Tombstone is in the south east cornor of Arizona, about an hour south east of Tucson. We went with our friends Ann & Trent and this is Ann and I outside their place when we stopped to pick them up
It was a gorgeous day and beautiful scenery. Very different from the Sonoran desert around Apache Junction. Lots of flat scrub desert with mountains all around. The mountains still had a sprinkling of snow on them from the cold weather 2 weeks earlier. Tombstone had about 5 inches of snow during that period also. It is about three thousand or so feet higher than Apache Junction
More pictures of the flat prairies and mountains in the back
This was looking out all the iwndows of the truck, Flat prairies and mountains everywhere you looked.
We finally arrived in Tombstone. Our friends Ann & Trent have been here before about 6 years ago and they certainly noticed how the down turn in the economy has changed things. Many businesses have gone under and there were hardly any people here compared to the last time they had been.
The history of this town was very interesting - a very old wild west town for sure!
This was the bar we ate lunch in, beautiful old woodwork that was well preserved.
Looking down the street
Kind of hard to see but the gun fighters are standing in the middle of the street. They re-enact the old gun fights that used to occur in the town
All the buildings and stores have a board walk in front of them. Do you see how few people are here on a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon??
They had stage coach rides around town although we didn't do that
Not quite sure who this fellow was supposed to be - maybe a Kachina?? But he was definitely entertaining!
I have to show you my latest creation - a tea cozy! Got tired of my tea getting cold. Am I bored or what?? I need the nice warm weather to come back and just stay and only get warmer!!
We have a busy week ahead - tomorrow after water aerobics, we are going riding in the desert with Ann & Trent to find some nice pieces of cholla wood we can use to make things with. On Wednesday we are going for a ride with our group to Walnut Canyon and on Friday we are going with Ann & Trent to Tucson for the day to the International rock and gem show. Going to be a fun week with lots more pictures to come!
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