House Flowers

This weekend we decided to take it easy. Marketa slept in both mornings. Getting up every morning at 5.30 am, it is nice to stay in bed a little bit longer on the weekends. Saturday we went to Recreational Equipment Incorporated, a store that sells everything for outdoor activities, such as hiking, biking, camping, water stuff, mountain climbing, etc. Frank has a life time membership back from 1980s, so he has a 20% discount on everything he buys. We got some cool stuff for hiking and camping. Then we went to Walmart. Then, we were trying to find a place where Frank can get a haircut but everywhere was about 30 minute wait time, so we decided that I can cut Frank's hair which I did this morning and I did a really good job. Today, I cleaned the house, Arizona is a dirty place - there is dust in the house all the time, and the two dogs are not really helping the situation either. The pictures with yellow flowers that are growing on the vines on our house. And the middle picture is Frank's garden project, we hope to have tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and we have pretty flowers.

White Tank Mountain Regional Park - Biking

We decided to go back to the White Tank Mountain Park, this time we took our bikes with us. Frank decided to go on the Sonoran Loop Competitive Track. Frank said that he does not even remember the last time he had his heart rate so high for such a long period of time. The track is one way and once you get on, one has to go all the way around to get out of there. The original plan was to go all the way around but once we got to the first place to get out of there, we very quickly decided to get out of there.

Happy St. Patricks Day! Everybody knows Ron has projects, but this past weekend he helped me build my knew garden boxes. And tonight I planted my garden -- I may have to call Dad-D-O and get some tips on producing a good crop of tomatoes! Here are some pictures.

Sycamore Canyon - Parsons Trail

After driving about 79 miles north I17, we took an exit towards Sycamore Canyon. Driving on unpaved road, we realized how smart a choice we made buying Jeep. The last few miles in the car were quite adventurous. The trail dropped 200 feet into the canyon from the trailhead in first 150 yards. Then, we had to cross a creek twice, jumping on stones and bouncing log. The water was beautiful crystal clear, with several deep pools that one could jump into from the low cliffs. We saw our first Arizona fish - largemouth bass and interestingly colored butterflies. The trail took many interesting terms over different terain with caves, cliffs, trees and beautiful creek. Round trip was about 7 miles and took us about 4 hours. This was a beautiful hike that we will probably repeat and possibly camp out sometimes.

White Tank Mountain Regional Park

Today was the first serious hiking day. We decided to go to White Tank Mountain Regional Park, about 20 miles west of our house. The first trail seemed to be very easy, nice wide trails, no elevation, smile on our faces. The weather was great, we were both full of energy, so we decided to hike another trail. As we were going Marketa decided to go on another trail, the one that on the map was saying: "Warning - Hazardous Section - Hikers must use caution". Well, right now I know what they meant. We ended up going up over the top of the mountain, walking on fairly narrow trails, if somebody would fall off the side, the person would have a nice long fall down and would not survive. Suddenly the smiles on our faces changed into sweat. As we were getting close to the top of the mountain, the trail signs disappeared and we went the wrong way. On the way up, we met a guy who gave us bad advice which got us off the trail. Therefore, we decided to get back on the original trail we came on and head back to the car. We walked about 15 miles. Clearly, tonight, we realized that living in Florida and not walking anywhere got us out of shape. The mountains are all around Phoenix, therefore, next week, we are planning a trip to mountains again, this time we'll go up north. It's time to get back in shape.

Tonto National Forest

Our second weekend in Phoenix we decided to explore the areas around the city. We drove about one hour east of the city to Tonto National Forest to see Canyon Lake. It was very interesting to see the different nature around here.

Biltmore Lake

I didn't realize the lake was so big. It's beautiful! Frank, are there any fish in it?

Biltmore Lake View

Just posting a few pictures of the area around the house where we walk our dogs. The dogs absolutely love it, so many different and new smells.

Working Hard

Took my roommate Stephen out to Cassique, the golf course I work at, to try out the fishing. We had a great time and left the fish biting!

Greetings From the Yankees!!

Ispent the weekend with girlfriends at Edisto Beach. We had a great time, and good weather. We arrived home on Sunday afternoon in the pouring rain which quickly turned to sleet and snow Sunday evening. Trout was amazed with the snow and kept going out on the deck to "eat the snow"! Sunday evening was so pretty. The snow flakes were HUGE and it's so quiet when it's snowing. We took Trout on a walk and took these pictures. As we returned home to download them, we heard a BOOM, and our power went out. We scrambled to find candles & flashlights. I slept on the floor in the kitchen so we could keep our fireplace going that night. As days passed, the "adventure" turned to frustration. This morning it was 18 degrees and we STILL did not have power!! MawMaw and Paw Paw were planning to come on Tues and quickly decided that sunny FL was calling them to stay! Can't say that I blame them!!!

I'm happy to report that our power finally returned this evening. A lesson that we are all SO SPOILED. Just a flip of the switch makes such a difference!!

Hope all is well with our loved ones in the sunny SOUTH!

Linda

Just figured this out - I think! Hope to figure out how to add photos too.