Lions and Tigers and Spiders! Oh, my!

Wait! That's not right. We didn't see any lions or tigers, but we did see one heck of a spider! I took a day trip out to the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum on Sunday, hoping to find some Fall color. Well, I didn't find any color, but I did find a few surprises. First, there were numerous butterflies and hummingbirds flitting about due to the plethora of flowers in the aptly named "Hummingbird Garden." Then, I stumbled across a beautiful garden spider. He (or she) was absolutely huge! In order to get the close-up shot, I had to stick my lens about 1" from the spider. I was sure it was going to scramble up its web, but it stayed put and allowed me to get my shot. Later, after hiking the high trail, I stopped in the "Aussie Walk-about" and took some pictures of a decaying Power Wagon. Man, I would love to restore that thing. I'm guessing it's a late 40's or early 50's model, but it could even be a 60's model as they didn't change a whole lot after the war. Finally, we headed home, but while doing so we noticed a large cave-like hole in the side of one of the mountains within the Superstition range. My daughter was pretty sure it contains an old Native American cliff dwelling. Well, I did a bit of Internet research, and concluded that it might be the Rogers Canyon Cliff Dwelling, but I'm not quite sure. Anyway, after reading about this ancient (600 year old) ruin, I'm determined to hike to it before summer comes around again.

There were several old world rose bushes in the garden. I captured this image of a large fly who was hanging onto the underside of the flower. I'm not sure, but it appears that his left (compound) eye is reflecting the underside of the rose. Click the picture to see it at full size.

Here's a little Painted Lady. We see large numbers of these little beauties in our own backyard.

This beauty is a Pipevine Swallowtail. Unfortunately, of the several specimans flying around, none of them would hold still long enough to get a decent shot, but at least this picture captures its beautiful blue coloration. And yes, the orange flower it is sitting on is really that orange!

A glorious (not to mention, very large) female Banded Argiope (Argiope Trifasciata) spider. I've not seen one quite this big before. I estimate her body was at least 1.5 inches in length.

Ah, the old Power Wagon, complete with a lucky horseshoe.

I love the color, it's my favorite. :)

Chiquita and the "Bug"

My birthday falls a few days before Halloween, so I can be assured that my birthday will include creepy crawlies and ghoulish delights. Last year, my oldest daughter and her then fiancé gave me some special Halloween cup cakes, complete with large plastic spiders on top. Well, my little dog, Chiquita, absolutely loves to play with real bugs (i.e., crickets, spiders, etc.). So, as Halloween draws near, I got out the plastic spiders and let her have some fun. I believe she thinks they are real! When I first let her play with them, she scratches at them for a couple of minutes. This is what she does with real bugs. Then, once she is sure they won't be able to bite her ('cause they're dead), she'll pick them up with her mouth and have a ball. See for yourself.

Cheryl's First Race

Cheryl ran in her first race today, the 17th Annual Frank Kush 5K, which was held at Tempe Town Lake. Being a true family event, people were encouraged to bring their kids and their furry children (i.e., dogs). As always, you can click on any of the photos for a larger image.

There was a pretty good turnout for the event.

I provided the morale support.

Cheryl's pumped up and ready to go!

The early morning light was reflecting so nicely off the bottom of the old Mill Avenue bridge.

They're off! The winner (see red arrow) finished the 5k in just over 16 minutes!

I tried my best to get a shot of Cheryl as she ran by, but the best I could do was capture her head and one leg. Interestingly enough, there was a young man running with a log. Cheryl said he almost whacked her in the head with it a couple of times during the race.

Here's Cheryl on top of the bridge, just a few minutes from the finsh line.

She did it! I timed this photo just right, as her time is recorded (above to the right of her head). Cheryl had a goal of finishing the race in 40 minutes, but to her delight she beat her time by almost 2 minutes!

Superstition Wilderness Hieroglyphics Canyon

This weekend ushered in wonderful Fall weather. The temps were in the 70's with a strong breeze, so we took advantage of the change and went out for a hike on the Superstition Wilderness Hieroglyphics trail. I feel the name is a bit of a misnomer. A "hieroglyph" is an image, which is part of a writing system that is carved into rock, whereas a "petroglyph" is a picture made by scratching or scraping an image onto a rock surface. I guess either term is okay, but I've always called the ancient drawings in Hieroglyphics Canyon, petroglyphs.
Okay, now that the English lesson is over, let's get down to the real story here. Basically, the petroglyphs are truly awesome. According to what I could find on the Internet, the drawings are anywhere from 200 to 2000 years old (as they were added to over the years), and are attributed to the Hohokam peoples.

Click the sign to view it in greater detail. It contains a nice history of the area and how the trail came to be.
At the start of our hike, we came across a downed Saquaro that appears to have been struck by lightning. Cheryl wanted to get a closer look.

This is a highly zoomed image so it isn't as clear as I would like, but I was really struck by the "teetering" rock. From this angle, it almost looked like it was actually moving due to the high winds we were experiencing.

I took another picture once we got closer. Click the image to get a better view of the rock.
While hiking, we came across two Collared lizards. One was just a baby (his body was about 3" long), while the other one (pictured below) was a juvenile (body about 5" long). They allowed us to get pretty close. Cheryl really wanted to catch one, but I talked her out of it.

The skin color of the older of the two lizards had a really pretty green cast.

We didn't get a picture of him, but Cheryl found a Chuckwalla lizard hidden away in the rocks near the petroglyphs. At the time, we didn't know what type of lizard he was. She thought it was an Iguana, and when we got back home and "Googled" him, we found she was actually right. Chuckwallas are related to Iguanas. :)

I'm a sucker for pretty flowers. These were tucked between some rocks just off the trail. Their color first caught my eye, but I was amazed at how small they were, which was barely half the size of a dime.
I call this the "Kitchen Rock". As you can see, there are several large holes, which were used by native peoples to grind food.
Cheryl's pointing to the cave (it's the small-looking hole in the center of the rock face) she had hiked to while I was exploring the canyon. It looks really small from this perspective, but she was able to get inside it.

I saved the best for last. The petroglyphs were spectacular. I am amazed and grateful that they've survived this long without being total defaced by vandals. There are many, many more drawings, but these epitomize what the canyon has to offer.

If you haven't hiked this canyon, you've got to make it a point to do so. The hike is relatively easy, but it is very rocky, so sturdy hiking boots are recommended. The total distance from the trailhead to the canyon is about 1.5 miles. Here's a link to information and driving directions: http://www.arizonahiking.org/Hyrogliph.htm#Title. Note that the parking situation has changed since the referenced article was written. When I first hiked the trail back in 2002, parking was almost nonexistant. Today, there is an adequate parking lot that can accomodate at least 50 cars, and it now has a porta-potty!

How lucky I am to have this treasure a mere 25 miles from my home (not the porta-potty, the petroglyphs, duh!).

Sedona! Room With a View!

These three pictures were taken from the balcony of an acquaintance's home in Sedona. Can you believe this is what she gets to look at every day from her home office window. I'm so jealous!

A Face Only a Mother Could Love

Isn't she lovely? This little girl was hanging on the side of my garage late this afternoon (the black outlined object behind her is one of the coach lamps), so she's hanging precariously (although you would never know it). I had to hold the camera at a vertical angle to get a good shot of her, and the lens was about 1" away from her. However, she was a very willing subject and posed nicely for me. I tried repeatedly to get her face in focus (hmmm, do bugs have faces?), but after about a dozen tries, I settled with this photo. She'll show up again, so I know I'll have another opportunity before too long.

Crepuscular Rays - Say that 5 times fast!!

Purty, aren't they? I looked up the definition on Wikipedia: Crepuscular rays, are rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from a single point in the sky. These rays, which stream through gaps in clouds or between other objects, are diverging columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed regions. The name comes from their frequent occurrences during crepuscular hours (those being dawn and dusk), when the contrasts between light and dark are the most obvious. Various airborne compounds scatter the sunlight and make these rays visible, due to diffraction, reflection, and scattering.
When I was growing up, I thought Angels rode the rays from heaven down to Earth and back. This image was taken looking West down my street during the early evening (5:40 PM).