Hubby Update

Hubby is now 7 days from completion of the EECP (Enhanced External Counter-Pulsation) 35 session therapy and just as the doctors, staff, websites and brochures stated, improvement will be noticed as the patient nears the final two weeks.

There is no formal test to evaluate improvement. "The patient will know when EECP has done what it says it will do."

Hubby is using the treadmill as his measure of circulation improvement. Prior to EECP and during his cardiac rehab sessions, any elevation gain while on the treadmill brought on the symptoms of angina. He has been adding elevation to his workouts this week and has NO ANGINA symptoms. This is awesome news and means we can finally head home on May 9th.

We meet with the cardiologist next Friday. That appointment and these last therapy sessions will make 70 medical related appointments, sessions and procedures this winter. It will all be worth it if he can mow the lawn without experiencing angina this summer.

Miss W is 8

It is with sad hearts we are not with Miss W on her 8th Birthday. We will sing Happy Birthday and Skype with her after school today. Here are some photos from her past birthdays...

1st birthday

2nd birthday

3rd birthday

4th birthday

5th birthday

6th birthday

7th birthday

We love you Miss W and wish you

many more Happy Birthdays!!!

The Colors of Cactus Flowers

I had the loan of a golf cart last week and took advantage of it to check the blooming cacti around the resort. The blooms you see are from varieties of prickly pear, pin cushion, a barrel, and some others I do not know. I just may have to stop at a nursery and get a book to identify what I am photographing.

the javelinas found this cactus quite tasty

Guest Photographer

OFD visited for a week in February. She accompanied Hubby and Lil' Red on a trip to the desert. Here are some of her photos from that bumpy excursion.

interesting scarring on the trunk of a saguaro

isn't that just the coolest??????

we could all title this one!

and another with some title opportunities

This just goes to show not all saguaros look alike!

Another Friday Geo Adventure

One Friday earlier this month I rode along with Hubby to his EECP therapy. After therapy we headed to Chandler to go to a Sack Lunch Geo-Event in a park. After the event we did some geocaching. Hubby looked for geocaches with more than 10 favorite points. That means other geocachers found the cache interesting, unique, special or just worthy of a highly favored and respected Favorite Point. Here are a few of our highlights.

Ocotillo-Goodyear Cemetery

20 years ago it was in a farmer's field

now in the middle of a housing district

a historic cemetery

flowers on the trees along the cemetery brick wall

a bottle-brush bush

another geocache about a praying mantis

easy, but fun & creative

We met a number of geo-friends at the event, but also met a new-to-us geocacher from the Chandler/San Tan area. He told us about a geocache he had placed and the number of favorite points that had been awarded to it and him. After we completed our list, we headed to his.

some ducks in a little pond

these two did not fly away

This was a two person job to complete the tasks of getting the duck to the shoreline to find the cache and sign the log. It was also along a busy road, but hey, we did not have the time to worry about whether or not people were watching two old farts playing with ducks in a small, stinky pond. This geocache got two more favorite points!

Photos from the Desert...

...while geocaching this past week.

The temps dropped for two days last week from the 90º-100º of earlier in the week, so I was ready for a little walk in the desert and a ride in Lil' Red.

This cache was placed by our geo-friends who helped with the cake for the 20K surprise. 

It was a short walk into the desert from our resort. An easy find, but a fun two-step cache.

Lil' Red has been out of commission and at the doctor for about a week. She needed to have some seals replaced as she was leaving marks wherever she was parked. We had a few more caches to find on Friday after our walk. You can see how brown the desert is right now. This is a view of the Superstition Mountain; Flatiron is to the left and 5057 is the highest peak on the right.

Amazing to me to see how chewed this saguaro arm is and then to see the new arm growing on the top! (That is how arms typically grow and why I say Susie's saguaro will not be growing a typical arm.)

At least these shrubs and bushes give the appearance of some green in the desert.

lots of saguaro buds on this adventure

notice how they USUALLY appear on the crown????

unlike Mariam's saguaro

this saguaro has 8 arms

and all arms have buds on the crowns

Gold Canyon is considered an affluent neighborhood with some pretty fancy homes to some famous people...and some very modest homes to less famous, and mostly retired folks. This must be one of the former.

This was another home of probably the former group. It has an infinity pool with an awesome view of the Superstition Mountain that no one will mar with another home in their lifetime.

It was a good trip into the desert on a more reasonably temperature day.

More of the Neighbor's Cacti

After the hoopla of the 20K event, it has been rather quiet. The neighbor's saguaro is continuing to bloom, a few a day. Another neighbor has a saguaro with blooms and a third neighbor has other interesting blooming cacti. So that is the focus of this post. For the followers in the north country, something to get your minds off April snowstorms.

March 13th

I have not seen more than 4 flowers open at one time on Mariam's saguaro. It continues to bloom almost daily. Today there is one open flower, and a number of buds ready to burst. We saw open blooms at night, but of course I couldn't get decent photos with my camera. Often by early afternoon of the next day, the flowers are gone and remains are lying on the ground.

April 11th

This is Susie's cactus. I have been watching the buds appear over the last month. Susie's saguaro is more typical as USUALLY the buds occur on the tips/crowns of the arms and trunk. It will be interesting to watch the growth of the area on the left over the next few years.

That is NOT how an arm typically appears. It may become a crested saguaro???? We'll have to wait and see. I am not certain if this is the first year this saguaro has bloomed. I know I have not seen an open flower on this one before. And you can see how the birds have started a hole on this saguaro just like they have on Mariams.

March 13th

All winter I have watched this stalk growing from Gene's cactus across the street. At first it was just a stalk about 2 feet, but grew taller and taller with more nubs along the sides. (I won't tell you what I first called it!) The flowering stalk is now about 10' tall and leaning a lot from the weight of the bud clusters. That is a flicker enjoying the stalk. 

Today a cactus wren is enjoying the flowers. 

I have photos showing the progression of the buds to flowers. Hey...when this is your view while on the deck...this is what you get!

bud clusters on March 13th

flowers of the cactus

almost done blooming

Gene's cactus has 18 blooming clusters. This is not a Century Plant, so it will not die when it is done blooming. Sorry to say, I do not know the name of it.

This is another of Gene's cacti. I have photographed this one before, probably every year before we leave. It has LOTS of buds and the color is always eye-catching. It is similar to a Pin Cushion, but the flowers are not the colors of the pin cushions in the wild. It may be a domesticated version. It is about 12" tall.

A pair of quail visited the deck one morning last week. One left a present on the table top and the other left a present on the carpet. I have not seen the little roadrunner since I posted its visit on Facebook. Darn! With the hot weather the hummingbirds have departed 'til next season. Now it is the quail, doves and rabbits for wildlife entertainment.