Hacienda Corona de Guevavi

First plan was to take the RV out for a week over Easter.  We'd celebrate Will's birthday (again!), get some birding in, see spring in the desert and the amazing bloom this year, and just get away for a week or so.  But things kept getting crowded on to our calendar and most of all our contractor gave us an April 1st start date for our addition on our house (more on that later.)
    Well, how about just spending a day of birding at Patagonia and then find a B&B and spend the night for a short two day get-away! So thats what we did.
   FOS (first of season) birds at Patagonia, near the Mexican border included Cassins Kingbird, Lucy's Warbler, Black Throated Grey Warbler, and Bell's Vireo for starters. Lots of good birds, lots of wildflowers, nice outting.
   Our random internet search B&B turned out to be a delight. Hacienda Corona de Guevavi near Rio Rico is a true restored hacienda that was filled with special touches and treasures.  We stayed in "the Duke", a two room suit that was dedicated to memory and memorabilia of John Wayne, an apparent friend and occasional guest of the former ranch owners--before it was a B&B.

Murals like these are all over the inside court yard walls and were painted by Mexican muralist and bull fighter Salvador Corona in the 1940's.  We heard the owners tell us the story of discovering the paintings behind dirt and thick, tangled growth of Wysteria vines.  Coincidently, there is an exhibition going on now thru September at the Arizona State Museum in Tucson of Salvador Corona and his life and work entitled, "Matador to Muralist."

The ruins of one of Father Kino's missions (of San Xavier fame) is just a half hour hike across a neighbor's field to the state historical sight of Guevavi.  In fact, this is the FIRST mission Father Kino established in what was much later to become Arizona.  Juan Batista DeAnza introduced cattle to this mission location in the early 1700's so you could say this was the first cattle ranch in Arizona. Mostly adobe rubble left but it is the real thing from 1690's.  Without directions I don't know how one would find this site from any road.  With our interest in Arizona history, it turned out to be so fun.

Saddle Up! Music of the West

Did you know that the famous Western music classic "Ghost Riders in the Sky” was inspired by one of Southern Arizona’s midsummer monsoon storms?  It was just one of the many sing-along songs that Bill Ganz and his Western Band played today in conjunction with the Tucson Symphony.  It was a great show.  Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" to title score from "The Magnificent Seven", Gene Autry and Roy Roger's favorites to "William Tell Overture", Theme from Bonanza to "Tumbling Tumbleweeds."  These western heritage favorites were so amazing when set to score with symphonic strings.

 Fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon

Happy 65th

We celebrated a significant birthday yesterday!  Will turned 65.  In lieu of a wild and crazy party, long time friends Pete and Alice come over and we had a BarBQ dinner out on the patio complete with chocolate cake and ice cream with appropriate candles.  Nice phone call from Shanghai, flowers from Steph and cards and email greetings from others.  Nice day.  The two of us are going to get away overnight next week to a B&B near Patagonia.

March weekend

We're catching up after a fun, busy March weekend.  Friday we went to the annual 4th Avenue Street Fair and walked our legs off ooing and ahhing all the amazing arts and crafts by artisans from all over the country.  Saturday was the Air Show at Davis Monthan Air Base.  Perfect blue skies for all the amazing arial acrobatics and precision flying.  Who can help but be stirred down to the soul by the power and precision of the amazing Thunderbirds--let alone the sound! 

Then Sunday Jeff Ellington stopped in.  What a great surprise.  He was in Phoenix on a business trip and had some time on the weekend so he looked us up and drove down.  We got on the phone and called others that remember him and his family from the days they lived in Minnesota.  Theresa and kids home in Indiana, but we did have a short  speaker phone call and all got to say hi.  I should have taken pictures for the blog but didn't think of it until too late.  Well, just get out a picture from 10 years ago--he looks the same! Where does the time go.

March Desert Bloom

We took an early morning hike at Cataline State Park, just on the edge of Tucson and the Santa Catalina mountains today and got a good view of the desert in bloom.  We had to cross the ankle deep water about three times to get to the flower fields on the Sutherland Trail but on the way back to the car we discovered plenty of blooming poppies next to the parking lot.  Great morning for a hike.

Wheel

I finally am the proud owner of my own potters wheel!  I had a tiny bit of clay at home so had to try it out and it works great.  Now for a place to put it.  We're working on getting a hobby room addition built onto our house.  Drawings are at the county right now waiting for the proper permits to be issued.  Maybe by summer Will and I will have our own studio!  Just can't do stained glass or clay at the kitchen table.

Dog on Wheels

This article was in our Sunday Arizona Star and I have tried to copy it onto my blog.  This dog lives on our street and we see him rolling around the neighborhood frequently.  Quite a heartwarming story, Amazing that somebody cared enough to save him!! 

Kimberly Matas Arizona Daily Star

Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2010 12:00 am
Comments

JILL TORRANCE / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Mr. Peabody, 9-month-old Husky who lost two legs to a bobcat, with his owner, Ann Campbell.
Just days old when he was maimed by a bobcat, he now rolls through his northwest-side neighborhood in a doggie wheelchair looking sassy and self-assured.  Life could have been much different for Mr. Peabody.
The backyard breeders who planned to sell Mr. Peabody and his littermates didn't want to spend the money to have a vet euthanize the puppy after his hind legs, part of his tail and part of a front paw were gnawed off by a bobcat last summer.

Neighbor Robi Campbell learned of the situation and confronted one of the breeders.
"She (the breeder) said when her husband came home they would probably drown him."
Horrified, Campbell called Pima Animal Care Center and her veterinarian, Ann Campbell, no relation.

"It destroyed me to know these people did this," Robi Campbell said.

A day later, an animal control officer investigated and found a second injured pup - her tail had been chewed off. The puppy was taken to Ann Campbell's office, Plaza Pet Clinic on West Ina Road, where the husky was treated and placed in an adoptive home.

Though Mr. Peabody's injuries were severe, the vet opted to try and repair the damage.

"I just felt he was meant to be here," said the vet. "If he survived for two or three days with those injuries, who am I to say he has to die? He had a will to live. All you can do is offer help and see if they run with it."
Mr. Peabody has learned to negotiate the small veterinary clinic and Ann Campbell's home by using his front legs to scoot along on his butt, chasing after toys and his new owner's cats. He weighed just 2 pounds when he was found, and now, at 8 months, tips the scales at 55 pounds.  Ann Campbell fashioned Mr. Peabody's doggie wheelchair from roller skate parts and a knee pad. In October he was fitted with a cart he could grow into. After watching - then chasing - one of Ann Campbell's neighbors who uses a wheelchair, Mr. Peabody got the idea.  "Peabody had a Helen Keller moment," the veterinarian said. "You should have seen the look on his face: 'I get it!'

Watch videos of Mr. Peabody scooting around the veterinarian's office and rolling down the street on his wheels at www.youtube.com/aloyalcompanion

Desert Bloom

I drove to Phoenix today to visit an old friend--old as in long time friend!  I made the trip via the Florence Hiway and was pleasantly surprised to see that our desert bloom has finally begun!  Poppies, desert marigold, lupine, globe mallow. . .all blooming in the sun! 

Was glorious! 

 And a fun day with Elaine--We gabbed the day away, lunch at the "Landmark", and checked out the Mesa Arts Center which I have been curious about for a long time.

Great day hiking with great friends

A day of hiking with friends.  We decided to hike a piece of the Arizona Trail to Kentucky Camp on the east side of the Santa Rita mountains. Ended up with maybe 7 miles treking our way to the old preserved gold mining camp with the snowy peaks off in the distance.  Was a beautiful, sunny although nippy day for a hike with Wayne and Judy.  With all the rain we have had in southeastern Arizona, so many of the canyon trails are impassable because of high water but this one was good.  Muddy in spots, even a bit of ice on puddles early in the day but great outing!   Treated ourselves at a local Mexican restaurant for dinner to finish off the day

The snow on the Santa Ritas is amazing this yearOld adobe buildings at Kentucky Camp

musical weekend

Delightful long, leisurly lunch with snowbird friends, Pete and Alice and thier Iowa-visiting friends, Doug and Lavonne.  Everyone has been so busy and each of us has been traveling so we have not connected as much as we would like this winter while they are here.  But today was great.  We now have plans to make up some time in the 6 or 7weeks they have left in Arizona.
  Then it was off to St Andrews for a wonderful gift of music by our amazing choir and chamber orchestra.  They performed Faure's Requiem and also a contempory Requiem by Gilkyson.  Was absolutely dreamy.  We feel so cultured this weekend after this afternoon's concert on top of a trip to the U of A last night to hear a classical guitar concert by David Russell.  I closed my eyes and was transported.  Loved it.

Fiesta de los Vaqueros!

I don't know why I like the rodeo so much but I do.  We go every year at least once during Rodeo week.  Usually we go and are pretty sure of coming home with a sunburn after sitting out in the open arena for the afternoon.  This year the finals happened on one of those rare rainy Arizona winter days.  It was a downpour!!  Tickets already bought and paid for so nothing to do but don the slickers and go.  As luck would have it the rain actually stopped, except for occasional drips and drizzle, during the entire two hours of the show so we got to enjoy it afterall.  The arena was pretty soupy, as you can see, so the riders and stock got pretty muddy!  Those bronc riders and bull riders that got bucked off had a softer landing, anyway!
    This bull is "Little Lightning" and he has NEVER been successfully riden the 8 seconds--this guy made it to 5 seconds, so the split second after this photo he was face down in the mud!! 
       Such a Tucson thing!