Whew!

So for my lizard-like metabolism, the sun still takes too long to come up (around 7:30am) and it's still too cold in the morning, about 45 degrees, but it is warming up into the 70s during the day. I actually stepped out on the balcony for the first time in awhile and saw these guys. They don't smell as bad from the 3rd floor balcony!



We also decided we were long overdue for a hike. I just started working out again, so have been sore, but thought I'd give the Siphon Draw Trail (or Flat Iron Trail) in Lost Dutchman State Park a shot.

Yes, I hike in jeans. They're stretchy, thin, and protect me
from falls and cactus stabs.

This trail is about 1 mile to to "the basin," where you gain about 1,000' in elevation. Then you go another 2 miles. In that final mile, you gain another 2,000'. Yes, it is steep. Really steep. Steep and really bouldery. And then you get to do the same route back (so it's about 6 miles total). There are no switchbacks. It's straight up. This is more of a climb than a hike.



It's a loooong way. But look at this strength!



As I mentioned, your first option to stop and turn around is the basin (not that you can't turn around anywhere, but it is a goal).  When it rains, there are lots of places for waterfalls to run.




With the shade, we were glad to have on long sleeves. It's a lot like hiking in the Grand Canyon - hot in the sun, cold in the shade. FYI, if you thought that 1st part was tough, you might want to turn around because it gets harder. Much harder. Even at this point, many people were purposely going down on their bottoms. Beyond that point, it got almost vertical. But we're getting closer. Sort of.



I have to note that the trail was crowded. Surprisingly crowded. People who brought their dogs or kids who were not much older than toddler age shouldn't have. It is not that kind of trail. Trying to share a slippery slope with a lot of people isn't easy, but the most annoying thing about this trek was that people just stopped to rest in the middle of the trail. Anywhere from 1 person to huge groups of people would be blocking the way. It made it more dangerous as we scrambled off the trail to get around them. It was a lot like skiing on a mountain that also has snowboarders. Every time you get momentum, someone's plopping down in front of you (or peeing; yes - that happened too).



And a couple of times as we tried to get around people, we ended up on false trails. It's easy to get off the real one despite the fact that someone's sprayed some rocks with arrows and dots. If you do this hike, keep the rock face immediately to your left the whole time on your way up. And look for the dots/arrows. If you don't see them, you've gotten off track.

We're almost there! Sort of.

We're so high, we can see the pilots in the planes.


As a cruel joke, it actually got harder at the end. You're using your hands and feet to scramble to the top.

But then, 2 hours later, we were there! Wahoo!



The views were truly incredible.


You could walk all over the place and see so many things - not only did we see the Four Peaks (another challenging hike we want to do)...

  

...but we also saw the Fountain Hills fountain! Michael was just saying that he'd laugh if we saw the fountain from there - we were very far away (my camera's zoom worked really well) - and there it was. And yes, he laughed.

And then it was time to go back down. It was not any easier; just different muscles screaming. The guy in the 1st picture below is carrying his medium-sized dog.



Still great views though.



I was happy to be back at the basin, although by then my legs were so rubbery, it didn't really feel much easier beyond that point. We were determined to stay in front of all the people we'd passed (kind of like not wanting to stop for a potty break on the highway so you don't get stuck behind the trucks you just passed), so movin' on!



Right near the end, Michael almost did a face-plant.

This was a recreation, but it was pretty close to the original.

Even when we got to the flat part at the bottom, there was still about a quarter of a mile to get to the car. Trudge, trudge, trudge. I really can't believe we just climbed that. It took exactly 4 hours, which included 1/2 hour goofing off at the top.

When we were done, we went here and had a nice, cold beverage.



Upon our arrival home, the first thing we did after extricating our sore bodies from the car was pop some Advil. Even my fingers hurt! A shower was next. Then we pigged out, starving. I think the last time we had a hike like this was to the Mt. Liamuiga volcano peak on St. Kitts. That one was tough too, but so worth it. And like the volcano peak, I'm glad I did it, but I wouldn't do it again - ha! Great day. Now I'm ready for bed.

Off We Go!

Saturday, we were very excited to attend the first ever vegetarian food festival in Arizona. It was a little pricey, $20 ahead of time/$25 at the entrance, but we wanted to support the event so that it would return. It was made more palatable when we ran across a Groupon for $12. Once in, it was nice to see a rather large crowd.

There was a tent with food-making demonstrations. There was also another tent for general speakers. Then there was one produce stand, Crooked Sky Farms, with some really nice looking veggies. It actually smelled good to stand outside their display.

The rest of the vendors were sort of a mishmash. We were a little disappointed in the amount of food vendors there and who they were, but could understand it - it's the first year for Pete's sake. But we were really disappointed with the long, slow moving lines. Just for samples! At every single tent. Who the heck stands in line for samples? Come out from behind the tents and hand stuff out! Get more people to cook/divvy out the food. Then we'll stand in line to buy the darn stuff.  Or if you're going to have it be a food tasting, then set out lots and lots of samples and let people graze throughout the whole festival (Key West did a pretty good version of this - and a higher entry fee would then be warranted).

You're pretty much looking at lines here:

Look at this line for pretzels. I love me a soft pretzel and I didn't want to stand in this line. Michael felt that way about the nondairy "sorbetto."

This line (below) was for some Indian food. The food looked really good, but we figured we could drive to the restaurant and eat there in the time it would take to get to the front of the line here (and we will). Plus, there was no guarantee that what you wanted would still be available. The taco truck had several interesting food items x'd out by 1pm. The one thing we did stand in line for had run out of stuff in their 1st half hour! And the tiny sample we got wasn't great.

I think they have some kinks to work out, but there were a lot of patient (and hungry) people who participated. Hopefully it was profitable for the sponsors and vendors so they'll come back and get others to join next time. You have to start somewhere. Eliminate the endless lines and you've got a winner.

We ended up at Chipotles. We were hungry and didn't want to stand in line. Now, we've never been to a Chipotle. We very rarely go to fast food restaurants, but over the years, I've heard a lot of good things about that restaurant chain and the philosophy behind it. More recently, I read about some shredded tofu that even meat eaters were eating from their menu. So that's what we got.

It was good. Very, very filling. Burp. It's nice to know it's an option if we ever end up on a road trip and get hungry. I'd rather support a locally-owned vegetarian restaurant, but if a lot of people order these types of things from the bigger players, which are sometimes more convenient, then restaurants/fast food places will put similar creative options on their menus. That's a win in my mind. Note to McDonalds and Burger King (etc.) - your veggie burgers are failures, not because there isn't a market for them but because they taste bad. If you want that market share (and it's fine if you don't), then step it up! Otherwise, don't bother. We won't starve without you.

Speaking of road trips - we do have a trip coming up. Only it's not via road. It's via 2 planes and 2 ferries. Michael got the job! We will be moving to the British Virgin Islands. Yippee! Yahoo!

Yes I do want you to pay me to go to the BVIs! Where do I sign?

Things now get complicated. It will take a couple of months to deal with work permit issues, and I will lag behind as we confirm it's all a good fit. That'll give me time to tie up things with my long-time and very understanding client (or grab work to take with me). It's all very exciting! We really wanted to get back to the Caribbean, so yay to our friends who alerted us to this opportunity. Living in the islands is not for everyone (I'm hoping to complete my second book that gives the low-down on what it is like), but for us, it feels like home. There are still some hiking days in Arizona left though! Assuming it doesn't snow again...

Welcome to 2015!

Anyone else look like this for New Year's? That was us.

Episode here.

Did we miss it?!
It's 10:00.
What?
It's only 10:00.    

We did, in fact, get a slight dusting of snow, and in the morning some definite frost.

Photo by: Larry Moyse

I have to admit that it was pretty with the snow on the mountains (Michael took these photos from the roof of his resort).



But it was really cold (high 29s at night/40s during the day). Even the cats thought so, seeking warmth from the windows or my bathrobe (4 cats on a typical morning) - we keep the thermostat at 70. Yes, they're wimps too.




We spent two weekends in playing Cribbage. Some people get lethargic when it gets too hot out. I'm more lizard-like. Once it's cold, I go into slow motion. Some might even say hibernation. What I did do was volunteer to go nab some kitties from the kill shelter in Pima County, Tucson to take back to Fearless Kitty Rescue. The rescue takes in a lot of cats from the local community by request, but they also want to save more from euthanasia. So four of us set off to pull five kitties. There are 14 carriers in that vehicle. Hmmm.

And we're off for the 2-hour (each way) road trip!



I wasn't sure how this experience was going to be. I want to save them all, so am I going to feel badly when we have to leave some behind? It turned out to be a pretty upbeat affair. There is actually a shortage of cats & kittens in some of the shelters at the moment (some, but by no means all), and this was one place that wasn't overflowing either. As a matter of fact, they were pretty much giving away cats while we were there.



You may wonder why we chose this shelter then. At the moment, Fearless only has agreements with the AZ Humane Society and Pima County Animal Control. It's a surprisingly complicated process to "apply" to these shelters, plus Fearless has only so much room, but Maricopa and Pinal Counties are on the radar for partnerships at some point too. Believe me, there are plenty of cats that need homes and are being put down, but you save as many as you can. Luckily, there are other organizations trying to do what Fearless is doing, and hopefully between everyone, we can slowly make this problem go away. Or Fearless might keep expanding until they're as big as their partner, Best Friends Animal Society in Utah, and find a way to find forever homes for all homeless kitties! Well, a girl can dream. Ok, where were we?



We were looking for nonaggressive cats (they have to get along with the kitties already in Kittyville), and couldn't be too ill. Fearless can handle some easily fixable health cases, like look at these two adorable kittens that came in with eye issues (Wink, left, was recently adopted; Ragetti still needs to fatten up so he can be neutered and already has an interested party):



But they don't have the resources to take in someone like this guy, Miles, who was diagnosed with cancer. That's the co-founder of Fearless showing him some love though.

The good news is that Pima County was treating him, and in fact, Miles was adopted a few days later. Yay! (Yes, Fearless followed up, concerned. Why I volunteer for them.)

We were picking up cats and engaging with them to see how they'd do in Kittyville and that drew a lot of attention from the public. As soon as we'd decide a cat had possibilities, we'd go to look at a few others only to discover that some of the previous kitties we unofficially chose were adopted out from under us. This was a good thing, of course. There was lots of cheering going on.



You never know what you'll find at a shelter. Here was a friendly 6-toed (polydactyl) kitty we thought was cool. He was whisked away to his forever home post haste.



We chose about 10 cats - there were no kittens available - and ended up with 7 total once all the paperwork was done and a couple were weeded out for various reasons (lack of testing, 24-hour hold, etc.).



Seriously, to be able to take them from a cage and a very uncertain future...



...to a free-roaming facility, with high chances of a vetted adoption (and no chance of being put down) is pretty darn invigorating. The kitties even get glamour shots taken. Bonus!  :-)



Sam above. Phoebe below.


Getting pictures of the cats is always quite the process. Michael came over and acted as wrangler, I tried to make them "smile," and Jon, the photographer, tried to get the perfect shot. That took 3 hours, not including Jon's time sorting through the pictures and getting them on the website. Then all the social media sites had to be updated: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, Adoptapet, Petfinder. Yes, that task took me 11 hours... Others jump in and get the animals to their vet appointments, do paperwork, clean, spend time with them to make sure they're acclimating okay with all the other Kittyville residents, or simply spend time cuddling with them.

Add all the day-to-day activities from fund/grant raising (including holding/attending events, running/stocking the boutique, asking for donations, etc.), bill paying, building maintenance, training, fostering, and community outreach, and it most certainly takes a village...and lots of time/money...but it's worth it.

By the way, Fearless is always looking for volunteers, so if you think you want to spend a few hours with some kitties, you can contact them here.

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While we're still in limbo regarding a possible Caribbean move, some great news is that it's supposed to be 80 degrees today here in good ol' Arizona. I'm alive! I'm alive! Time to go on a hike.