Christmas Eve 2014

Had a great dinner with my friends Bonnie, Tom and new friends Michael and Evan, Michaels father Jim and Grandma Rohn!

And guess who won the Left, Right, Center game!

Merry Christmas 2014

Being away from family and friends back home today makes me realize how much each and everyone of them means to me. Speaking to my Mother on the phone yesterday and hearing how her arthritis is making it harder and harder every year to make the tamales we all love was difficult. She wanted to have everything prepared so that when my sisters, nieces and loved ones come over to help assemble them today it's all about making memories. Unfortunately I'm not there to participate but hope they know they are in my heart. I also miss my best friends back home and they know who they are. Know that I'm not alone today because I'm with my dear friend Bonnie and her husband Tom and am very grateful to them for their generosity in including me in on their family time this year.

On that note here is my Christmas card to everyone taking the time to enjoy my blog. I was walking the other day and this group of desert plants inspired me to do a sketch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

Nandi

I have to do an entry just for this special baby. Nandi is the first African Elephant born in the state of Arizona and this happened at the Reid Park Zoo on August 20, 2014. My friend Jason is the Zoo Director and he was so excited about this birth for months. Every time I was in contact with him it was very apparent in his tone. So it finally happened, the new baby arrived at 10:55pm to mother Semba and father Mabu. She weighed 250 pounds at birth. 

My friend Bonnie and I visited Jason at the zoo in mid November but the real reason was because we wanted to see baby Nandi. 

By now she had a name chosen from a contest and Nandi was the winner. It means sweet or fun in Zulu and that she is!  On my second visit to see her I spent a couple of hours just watching her and her antics. She likes to climb on logs with her back legs. 

She climbs over them...

and is working on her strength to push them over!

All of this hard work makes her very hungry often and she goes back to mom for some high energy nourishment allowing her to grow several pounds each day. 

When her father pooped in front of her she had to investigate what all this stuff was that was falling out of the sky!

Overall life is good for a baby elephant with no worries in the world other than be silly and enjoy life amusing oneself!

Madera Canyon, ARIZONA

Thursday, December 11 was to be my last full day in Tucson because my friend Jason was leaving the next day for one week to California. He had been telling me about the incredible birding at Madera Canyon up in the Santa Rita mountain range located in the Coronado National Forest. So I left around  nine after the morning rush hour, if that's what the locals call it because it's nothing like our rush hour back in Los Angeles!  Madera Canyon is approximately 40 miles outside of Tucson.

The drive up to the canyon is typical dry landscape and long roads. 

Once you get up to the 5400 foot elevation the landscape is totally different. I can see why the multitude of bird species, including trogons, make this their permanent as well as wintering homes. 

I saw four different species of wood peckers and a multitude of other species and wildlife. 

That's Tucson some two thousand something feet below the highest point one can drive up.

There are a few residences up in the canyons and their homes are very quaint and decorated for the season. 

Coming back down into town I passed a few spots that caught my attention like the town of Sahuarito!

Once in Tucson I remembered driving around this area last week, on my way back from Tombstone, but didn't have my camera on me. I remembered how the old motel signs had caught my attention and 

was glad to have run into it again. 

The one piece of artwork I had really regretted not taken a picture of was this one, a portrait of Frieda Kahlo on the side of a building housing a small grocery store with a couple of taco street vendors,  in a not so good part of town. I had to make a quick turn back and get a picture of it. To me this type of artwork shows life in the community, some would call it graffiti!

Thank you Jason for sharing your city with me some of the wonderful and beautiful areas it has to offer. Friday morning I did the one hundred and twenty mile back to Phoenix and to my friends Bonnie and Toms home where Motel Miguel awaited me. I woke up this morning at three in the morning to the sound of rain. My very first rain living in Motel Miguel. It wasn't loud like I thought it might be but rather comforting and soothing. Let's see what else Phoenix has in store for me until after Christmas when I move onto Silver City, New Mexico!

Reid Park Zoo lights

Last Friday night was the first night for zoo lights at the zoo. Jason invited me to come down and enjoy them since he was working that evening to welcome guests and also to see that things were running smoothly. After joining him for dinner we headed over to the zoo and the show was bright with thousands upon thousands of lights.

I got to hug teddy bears!

Stand under a huge reindeer!

Enjoy what seemed over a million lights throughout the zoo. 

Hundreds of zoo visitors were having a magical evening, myself included and overall another fun evening in Tucson. 

Back to Phoenix Zoo

My friend Jason needed to attend a meeting at the Phoenix Zoo on Saturday morning and I tagged along to hang out and watch more animals. Apparently I missed an entire section of birds the first time I was here a couple of weeks ago. The section is called Tropical Flights and the birds in it are not to be missed, how I did that I have no idea!  The pair of Rhinoceros hornbills had a five month old baby.

The Blue Crown pigeons always get me to stop and admire their beauty. 

The minuscule Blue Crowned Hanging Parrots colors remind me of a tiny Mexican Piñata!

The Tawney Frogmouths are a challenge to find because they blend in so well and this one was way in the back and hard to get a good picture of. 

Mike, the male Orangutan was looking back at the little kids probably wondering how he could scare them!

But his likeness got a piece of me!

He even got me to pucker up!

The Greyhound Bus company had their original bus, as well as a few other vintage buses on display. 

The tiger was very vocal today and close enough that I got some beautiful pictures of him. 

Overall I had another great time at the Phoenix Zoo and thank My friend Jason for taking me along. This last photo sums it up for me. I was about to take a picture of the exit bridge and this young man was walking in with a friend of his. I hope he doesn't mind me posting this because his silly expression sums up the fun and youthfulness I'm experienceing so far. 

Biosphere 2

Friday, December 5th and I was wondering what to do for the day. I have been sleeping in some because the bed at Jason's is soooooooo comfortable and frankly I don't rush to get out of it!  I decided while enjoying my coffee that I would look into visiting Biosphere2 on the outskirts of Tucson. I got my self all ready and headed out for the thirty some mile trip north to Biosphere2.

This dome is one of the two lungs. 

I met The Gobers from the Dallas, TX area and Dr Gober is the person that took pictures of me. You can blame him for the bad subject! 

 

Biosphere2 is named so because it's a research facility that thousands of experiments are being done at all times trying to replicate Biosphere1, that being planet Earth. I was amazed at the different ecosystems that are all under this amazing greenhouse type structure. I call it a greenhouse because that's what the average 'Miguel' is going to think it is. But the amount of science that went into designing it would fry my little brain up. It is self sustainable and it even has two lungs like we do. The huge buildings breathe throughout the day into the lungs and the ceiling rises and lowers depending on the temperature in the biosphere. The ceiling in the lung is made of rubber somewhat like a giant car tire. In the center is n aluminum plate with the steel support legs when it comes down to its lowest point. At the highest I believe they say it can be sixty five feet in the air. 

This tunnel we went down through is the connection. 

The group I was on the tour with was about twenty people. 

Their is an ocean environment replicating a small piece of the Pacific Ocean including fish. 

The jungle was AMAZING to say the least. My lenses instantly fogged up and water was dripping from all the plants above us. 

The Desert had giant Saguaros that might eventually hit the ceiling. Not in my lifetime!