Left in Tucson

This afternoon, while returning from my regular walk, I came a upon a fairly good sized brown and tan bat lying on the sidewalk in front of the house diagonally across the street from our house.  As a let out a groan of surprise, the bat twitched and attempted to move.  I was sure that he/she was dead, but was somewhat relieved to learn that it was still alive.  As a checked the surrounding area, it seemed most likely that he had fallen from his perch in the palm tree directly overhead. I figured he/she would be safe for a couple more minutes until I got home and alerted Jim (Dr. Doolittle) to the little bat's plight.  (See earlier blogs regarding summertime visiting bats.)   When I got home and announced my discovery to Jim, he immediately went into action.  He grabbed an empty box from one of our storage cabinets, hurried out and across the street to try to capture the bat and get him to safety.  I followed Jim back to the spot where I found our little bat friend.   Jim patient

Now that November is upon us here in Tucson, if you have olive trees you probably have loads of olives falling everywhere.  Why not gather them up and put them to good use.  Home curing your olives is simple and easy.  Jarred olives make great holiday and hostess gifts, too!  Here are a few links I would like the share. Click here.       Click here

We spent last weekend in Albuquerque, NM enjoying the first weekend of Balloon Fiesta 2013.  This is the 42nd year of Balloon Fiesta.  With 654 balloons, it was an outstanding event.  The trip was a meet-up for members of our Tucson Mercedes Benz Club, Chaparral Section. Here is a video from the Dawn Launch. Here is a video from the Dusk Glow. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151900557191602 Our drive from Tucson took us through Globe, Pine Top and Show Low, then into New Mexico through  some amazing scenery. Our return to Tucson from Albuquerque along the southern route took us through the Gila National Forest, Emory Pass, a stop in the town of Mimbres for lunch and a visit with club members, and through Silver City.  Wonderful fall weather - clear and crisp days. Entering NM on the highway to ABQ On the highway to Albuquerque, NM On the highway to Albuquerque. View from old bridge in Kingston, NM on the road through Gila National Forest

Check out this article that explains what is behind the media hype and Federal Government stats regarding our dearth of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math ( STEM ) talent in the US.  Your comments, please. 

It's that time of year again, and our visitors have returned for their autumn vacation. This year Manuel Jesus Ramone Ortega our seasonal boarder, a Mexican Free-tail brought his buddy Pedro with him to hang-out in the patio. At about 8PM, approx 30 Mexican Long Nose guys come to party in the patio every night, they completely empty three 250 ml. hummingbird feeders in about an hour and a half. It looks like the Reno Air Races circling counter-clock-wise through the patio. Unlike birds, they are in constant motion, so while there are between 20 and 30 in the back yard, I can only get about 4 - 5 in the picture at a time due to field of view and range of the flash. Standing in the middle of the swarm of these curious little guys as thy zip past to buzz me with their sonar and check me out is pretty cool. Last year, I tried to set-up the video camera on a tripod, but, it was too dark to capture anything, but, it was very neat to see the more advent

My father died on May 24, 2013 after a noble battle with lung cancer, congestive heart failure and diabetes.  He would have been 87 this September.  After several days of slipping the bonds of this world, he passed peacefully before dawn.   While the seven months he lived in Tucson, AZ were extremely challenging for me, I am left with the peace of mind that he was well attended to by a team of very respectful healthcare professionals and caregivers. Throughout all his ups and downs, Dad never missed an opportunity to express his delight in living surrounded by giant saguaro cacti and mountains much higher than our familiar New Jersey Watchung Mountains. His greatest enjoyment was just sitting out in the warm spring sunshine under a perfect blue sky.  It always amazed him that after a lifetime of living in New Jersey that he should end up spending his final days in Arizona.   I still miss him every day.  The memory of his impish smile and the twinkle in his eye whenever he told you

  I just loaded this photo from a late afternoon walk that Jim and I took back in April of this year.  The Douglas Spring Trail is a short drive from our house in Tucson, so it is perfect for those spontaneous moments when you feel like taking a walk in the desert but don’t want to be gone for more than an hour or two.  The terrain is easy going with a mix of flat stretches and a few changes in elevation that require a little climbing.  The vistas are constantly changing which makes for a very interesting walk.  Depending on the time of day, you will encounter some of the more benign desert critters.  YouTubeVideo

Guest Book for Anthony Maddalone - Online Guest Book by MyCentralJersey and Legacy.com. So long, Dad.... Thanks for being a great father.  Annoying, sometimes, but still a very good father.

Figaro, my fig tree, is about to produce a bumper crop of figs this season!  I just have to pick them before the birds get to them.  Looking forward to lots of fig jam, prosciutto and figs, figs and cream cheese, figs with   breakfast.....   Yummy!

It has been almost six months since my father moved from his life long home state of NJ to enjoy more balmy days in Tucson, and to be closer a family member, me.  I have decided to finally take some time to set down a documentary of sorts of my experiences in the realm of elder care, being a health care advocate for an aging parent, and describe what it has been like to navigate the American health care system.  Click here to follow my story, Adventures in Elder Care .

I ordered one pot of eye shadow from Beauty.com and this is how it arrived.  I don't understand why this tiny little square of eye shadow needed to be packaged in a plastic bag and in a box of this size?  Seems like a waste of time, paper and cost.  What's wrong with an envelope with a some padding?

Going Home: Sicily -- National Geographic Traveler   From Renee Restivo, Sicily tour guide extraordinaire.

Each March, the skies over Tucson are visited by vintage airplanes from all over the world.  They come to Davis-Monthan Air Base to practice their air ballet routines before the beginning of the air show season.  Those of us lucky enough to live here get a free preview performance of all the air show routines from just about anywhere in Tucson every day for 2 weeks.   Here are a few pics taken from the end of the Davis-Monthan runway on a warm Sunday afternoon.  Enjoy! The following pics are from the airplane "junk yard," across the road from our viewing area at the end of the runway.

Jim captured these views sometime ago, and I am just getting around to posting them.  Taken between spring 2011 and late summer 2012.  Here are views from some of our favorite places.   ------------------------------------ These were taken from Windy Point, a rest stop and vista half way up to the Mount Lemmon ski resort… if you squint, you can see Tucson in the haze just beyond the ridge. Tucson, down in the bowl of a volcano, is at 2500 ft. above sea level.  This picture was taken at about 4000 ft. above that.  Look closely, can you find the section of highway ¼ of the way up from the lower left-hand corner? Me, from behind… 150+ ft. drop off that rock ledge at the bottom right hand corner…  I can’t lie, I’m not as close to the edge as it looks… Again, that’s Tucson nestled down in the bottom of the bowl. Some mother and her two kids enjoying the sunset.     This is the road going past Roosevelt Lake, about 40