Sonoran Desert Museum

Today was a great day. After breakfast we drove the 3 miles over to the Sonoran Desert Museum which is part of the Tucson Mountain Park which is under the operation of Pima County. It was about ten o’clock so the parking lot was not crowded. We were not prepared for what we encountered. I guess we expected something like a small county museum. The treasure we found was a huge multifaceted non-profit operation that encompasses, as the brochure says, “300 animal species, 1200 kinds of plants on display on 21 acres”. Most of the area is outdoors, but there buildings that house restaurants, gift shops and an auditorium plus a large underground area that represents a cave environment. At the auditorium, we attended a demonstration of poisonous retiles, namely the Diamond Back Rattlesnake and the Gila monster, both native to this area. Each of two presenters brought out their respective animals and displayed them on a table while they told us about them. The Gila monster can get to about 22 inches but this beautiful yellow and black creature was about a foot long. It eats some insects but a great deal of its diet consists of the young of birds and rodents. The bite is fatal to small creatures but not man.

The rattlesnake has much more venom than the Gila Monster, but getting bitten by one is not fatal to humans under most conditions if proper care is given within several hours. That does not mean that the treatment will not be painful and expensive. It takes about twenty vials of anti toxin to combat a snake bite with a cost of over a thousand dollars each. The presenter explained that most snake encounters occur because humans walk or reach their hands into a place without looking before-hand. If we paid attention to what we were doing we would not have to deal with meeting a rattlesnake “up close and personal”. Rattlers do not always rattle before they strike and they do not have to be coiled to strike, but they can get more distance (up to ¾ of their length) if they are coiled when they do.

If you are bitten, the best place to be is Tucson, AZ. The hospital there has the best snake bite unit in the US. They have treated thousands of bites and have accumulated data about those bitten. It may not come as a shock to you but most are men, (these are between the ages of 18 and 60) most had consumed alcohol, most had a high “tattoo to tooth” ratio.

As soon as the reptile show concluded we hurried over to where the next presentation was scheduled. It was called a “free flight raptor demonstration”. True to the name it was, in fact, just that. The presenters were trained bird handlers and they did a great show. The subjects of the demo were Harris Hawks which are unique because they hunt and live as a family. At first there was one, then two, and then four hawks were all free and flying at the same time. As the narrator was describing how the hawks hunted, the handlers were busy keeping the hawks moving. They were swooping low right over our heads as they came in to land and taking off. One time my hat was touched by a wing as one bird took off from a handler close to us. It was quite a show and everyone was amazed.

If you are ever in the Tucson area, be sure to check out Tucson Mountain Park. It is well worth your time. There’s much to see in the area. In addition to the Desert Park, there is also other attractions, including, Saguaro National Park West District, Old Tucson Studio, The Arachnid Center, Gates Pass Road, and Gilbert Ray Campground.

The campground is also operated by Pima County and is a real gem. There are about a hundred campsites, a half dozen tent sites and the rest with electricity for all types and sizes of RVs. Being a part of the county park means that it is situated in a beautiful spot on the west side of the mountains just west of Tucson.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

A future volunteer spot for us, I’m sure. We stopped by for a visit on our way from Yuma to Tucson. The supervisor we worked with when we were at Petrified Forest National Park is now at ORPI (Organ Pipe) so we wanted to check out the park and say “hello”. We arrived on Feb 19^th to a sunny 80 degree day. The ranger program that night was a “star party” checking out the night sky. The next day dawned clear but by mid-morning clouds had built up, sprinkles prevailed and the temperature had fallen. The evening programs for the remaining three nights of our visit were held at the visitor center instead of the amphitheater at the campground where they usually occur.

Weather aside, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this park and highly recommend it to anyone traveling between Yuma and Tucson. I was a bit nervous about going to it, because the proximity to the border and its problems with “illegals” and worse, drug smugglers. The presents of the Border Patrol is very evident around there. We were stopped at several check stations while we were driving around, (one even on Interstate 8) but they were nothing more than a small traffic hindrance to us, but much more than that to the “bad guys”.

The Organ Pipe and other cactus types plus all the other flora and fauna in the park make it one of the most beautiful deserts in the United States. There are four deserts that come into the United States, the Sonoran Desert is the most beautiful. It is the only place in the US that several types of cactus can be found, Organ Pipe being one of them. The campground at the national monument, even without hook-ups, is one of the finest and most scenic ones in the park system. If you find yourself in southern Arizona during sometime other than the summer, by all means stop by for a visit.

ally occur.

Several years ago I was given a small loom. It’s a little bigger than a breadbox. It was cool but sat displayed, but lonely, in our living room. A couple of months ago, I gathered it up, and carried it to a very cool shop in our town, named the Eugene Textile Center. www.eugenetextilecenter.com. If you are into fiber art of any kind, spinning, weaving, dyeing, etc. this is the shop to contact or, better yet, visit in person. there are always upcoming classes being added to the schedule.

So one day last November, I decided to take the loom over to ETC. After looking at it for a few minutes and turning it so that the correct side was down, Suzie told me that I owned a child’s table loom that probably dates from the 50’s. She checked it over and determined that I needed a few parts to make the loom functional. There are several similar ones sitting on top of a cabinet. One of them is made of metal and painted black. It is a Structo, the same name that I have seen on some old big metal toy trucks. After measuring the loom and determining what size we would need, she put in an order for 200 string heddles. I was also told how to fabricate the additional pieces needed by cutting dowels and some thin pieces of strip aluminum to the right length. On the way home, I stopped at the building supply store and picked up the dowel and a strip of aluminum. At home I cut them to length and smoothed them so they were ready to use. I then hand sanded the loom and then applied a coat of cherry stain. You can’t believe how that nearly forgotten toy was transformed. The stain woke it up!

While we were volunteering at South Beach State Park in December, Suzie called and told me that the heddles had arrived. After we arrived home in January, I took the loom back to ETC and I had a beginning weaving lesson with Suzie. During that day she helped me set up the loom by stringing the heddles. I was shown how to figure how much yarn I needed for a project and then how to set up the warping board. After doling out the required amount of yarn on the warping board, she showed me how to tie strings at strategic locations along the length of the warp to help keep the yarn from becoming tangled. Then she proceeded to show me how to string the warp “threads” through the reeds and then through the heddles. For those of you that don’t know about looms, the heddles cause the yarns to part to allow the shuttle to travel back and forth between the warp threads making the pattern (the weft).

So as a first project, I wanted to weave a scarf for R. Her favorite color is pink so while at ETC, I picked out a package of hot pink yarn for the warp and a mixture of pink, orange, and red yarn for the weft. They were both of cotton because R can not handle the scratchiness of wool. The combination looked good to me so I went with it. Suzie helped me string the warp on the loom. I had no idea what I was doing, I just followed her direction. Setting up the loom takes time and patience. The actual weaving goes fairly quickly and gives you a sense of accomplishment as the pattern develops. R’s pink scarf turned out great. She gets lots of compliments when she wears it.

Having #1 scarf turn out so well, got me excited to do #2. My son and his family came down to visit us and my daughter in law, H , went with me to ETC. She has a talent in many venues, one of them is fabric. She sews great quilts, dice bags, hangings, and probably anything else she tries. Getting back to my story, I had H pick out yarn for the scarf I planned to make her for her birthday. She picked a sage green warp and green, purple and brown for the weft in a yard that was cotton and bamboo. The yarn was thinner so it required more threads per inch than #1. It was challenging, causing me of back out early on to fix a situation, but turned out fine in the end. I sent it to H for her birthday and hope she likes it.

Time to start on #3. I chose a light purple cotton yarn and a mixed purple, green cotton yarn for the weft. I strung the warp through adjacent reeds instead of every other as in #1. Setting up went well and weaving the pattern displayed ok, but upon finishing it noticed that the scarf felt a bit stiff, compared to #1.

With #4 I decided to use the repeat the colors as #3 but use every other reed. After using all the light purple yarn on the warping board and not having enough to complete the scarf, I had an idea. Why not use some dark purple too? I needed 20 ends ( meaning 40 lengths of yarn the required 60 inches plus 18 inches for overage). I needed 14 lengths of dark purple. I was going to place the dark yarns on each outside edge.

I discovered that I had an uneven number of light purple, so I decided to put one light purple in the middle and then a dark one on each side of it. I was quite proud of myself for thinking of it. So I proceeded. The scarf was completed and looks great. I gave it as a gift to a friend of the family who lives in AZ. I hope she enjoys it as much as I did making it. Unfortunately, the only photo I have of it is on my computer and I am not sure how to get it to my computer.

So now, what do I do next? I want to weave with the yarn that I have spun myself, but I am still having fun experimenting.

P.S. I have started on No. 5 using a chocolate brown warp and a multi-colored gray, gold, sage green yarn for the weft. I’m making it longer (70 inches) and narrower about (3+ inches) as per R request. It looks good so far.

Heading South in 2010

Time to load up and head to the warmth and sun of the Southwest. After waiting an extra day to get a FedEx package that contained my repacement DVD/CD player for the trailer, we fried up the pickup and started up Hwy 58. 3 hours later we were in Klamath Falls and aprked in front of our son's home. The next morning, bright and not so early, we started on our "pilgrimage" south. Leaving KF and traveling south on 139, then US395 to Reno. Fair skies and dry roads were in front of us. We arrived in the Reno area about 3pm, turned east on I-80 to Fallon and then south on 95. Highway 95 is one of those two lane hoghways that bisect our country north to south. The real way to see this great land is to get off the freeways and onto the two lanes. There are not many communities from Fallon to Las Vegas, so you need to be aware of your fuel and food situation. We were ok on both because we carry our "house" with us and it has plenty of food.

The fuel situation was made easier this year, because a good friend of mine helped me obtain a fueling card. It is like a credit card but it lets you buy fuel at the comercial fueling places. Along with the card came a book the size of the small phone book that shows what towns have these fueling facilities and where they are located. Another great feature is that because these places cater to commercial vehicles, there is plenty of room for a pickup and trailer. I have had my share of gas stations with crowded pump areas and tight turns complicated by quick marts and car washes. The frosting on the cake is that the fuel price I pay is going to be less than the "street" rate at the location. I will let you know how I like the service for the long run.

As we drove south on 95, darkness fell and it was time to find a place to spend night. Ah, here comes Hawthorne, NV. It's claim to fame is that is it the home of the Army Ordinance Depot. The entire area is filled with almost under ground storage areas filled with who knows what. After spending the night parked next to an idling semi (great white noise), we grabbed a quick breakfast and hit the road. There was a truckload of interesting vehicles at the fueling station. I would have liked to find out their story.

The next morning dawned clear and cool ( in the 40's). After grabbing a quick breakfast at a nearby McDonalds, we left H and headed south on 95 toward Tonapah. T is at 6100 feet so you climb up to it going in both directions. Some snow on the ground under a cactus which gives a great picture. A nice smooth sunny drive with the warm sun shining through the windshield. Evening came and as we approached Bullhead City. After descending the several miles to get down to the river, we crossed the Colorado and turned left into Davis Camp. It is a county park located on the river and a welcome place to stop for the night. R parents had spent the winter in this park about twenty years ago when they first came down here. We set up and spent several hours rearranging the canned goods and dishes that had bounced around on our trip down (especially that one nasty railroad crossing in northern California).

The next morning, we got going in a rather relaxed fashion, (after showers, etc.) and arrived in Quartzsite about 4pm. We paid our fee at the BLM check-in station ( $80 for 4 weeks) and by 5pm we were set up next to our friends out on the desert.