A better Morning Photo

 On our morning walk on Saturday, we were greeted with this awesome view.  Venus is on the left. The Moon is on the right.  If you look really hard you can see a pinprick at about 11:00 to the moon.  That is Mars.    It was an awesome sight.

Venus

 This is the view that I got when I walked the boys this morning.  Venus is our star in the east as we walk down the hill toward the visitor campground which is our walking route every morning.

Jan 15, 2022

    My goodness!  It's already the middle of January.  Where has the time gone.  I am conducting tours on my own.  We are short volunteers so sometimes I am on my own. When I have a tour without a volunteer or ranger guide, I ask a member of my group to be my assistant.   Today it was Tom on my first tour, and I had a situation.  My group was half-way through the cave when a gentleman came up to me and said that has daughter was having a problem with claustrophobia and needed to get out.  (This situation happens from time to time)  

   All of us guides tell our tours that if ever there is a problem, we can get them out in a short time.  So when I was told of the situation, I told my group that I was going to take them out and asked Tom to be in charge.  Mom, Dad and the daughter followed me forward through the cave and we were lucky to catch the tour group in front of us just as they were leaving the cave and entering the tunnel.  Their trailer person took my folks and they went out with them.

   I hurried back to my group standing at the area called the IP.  As I got near the area, I could hear pleasant chatter of conversation.  I announced, " I'm back", thanked everyone and especially, Tom, and we continued on with our tour.  I made up the lost time and completed the tour right on schedule.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and that's what is important.  It was also a good learning experience for me.

Jan 3, 2022

 Yikes it's 2022 already !   A short time ago we were leaving Canby on our adventure south.  Actually it was over a month.  We have been busy ever since.  I'm not complaining.  I would rather be busy and occupied than the opposite.  

    Here's where we are right now.  We have been here at Kartchner Caverns KC for nearly a month.  We are well settled in.  The boys are thriving here.  They enjoy our frequent walks in the visitor campground and all the trails that are in and surround the state park.  KC buts up against the Coronado National Forest so there are many directions to explore.  The Whetstone Mountains are our neighbors to the northwest.  

   Nigel is totally onboard with the hikes.  In fact he is normally in the lead.  When we first got him he was quite tentative on leash.  There were many scary objects along the sidewalks on our neighborhood.  After a couple of weeks those objects weren't scary any longer.  Now he is fearless.  He is exploring every sight and sound, walking through grass twice his height.  Stopping to check that Hunter and I are still at the end of the leash.

   Hunter is loving the walks as well.  He likes having Nigel around as company but the little guy can be a pest .  So there are days......

   Randa and I are getting in rhythm, I think.  We have been giving cave tours with mentors to perfect our guiding skills.  New Years Day Randa had one tour and I had one the final was my "check out" and  I "graduated".  I am now officially a guide at Kartchner Caverns.  The means I can fly solo.   Yipes !!

   Randa, for some reason, has not had as many tours as I have had, but she is almost ready to fly solo as well.  I am guessing that it will happen this week.  Giving tours here at KC is a bit more difficult than at Boyce Thompson.  Number 1.  is the timing.  The schedule is tight.  It runs like clockwork.  It is a bit of stress, especially when you are first learning the job.  I hope I've got.

This is the view on my morning walk .