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.

20K ~ A Geocaching Milestone

Last month I had planned for another geocaching event for April 4th. At the time I was thinking along the lines of a regular, end of the season, geocaching event, but a couple of things happened along the way to make it more than a regular meet and greet event.

First, Geocaching Headquarters (GroundSpeak) announced a new contest running March 19-April 8. The theme: Planetary Pursuit.

GroundSpeak announces 'contests' once or twice a year with different themes and focus, urging geocachers to try something different or to mix it up a bit. This time we were encouraged to gather 500 points to earn virtual souvenirs. That means we get nothing but a little badge on our computer geocaching page.

I noticed some of the CV geocachers really getting into the challenge as well as many of the geocachers who attend my events were reaching their goal within the first few days. So I decided to make the April Geo Event a reward to those who have reached the 500 points. I purchased 4 special geocoins for 4 lucky winners.

Then I saw a post from another geocacher from somewhere in the US choosing snacks with a planetary theme. AHHA! Another idea for the April Event.

I stopped at several places looking for treats to fit the theme. Then as more people were signing up for the event, I needed more treats.

I was able to find Sun Chips, Moon Pies (a REALLY big hit) and the Cosmic Brownies. I had a blast trying to find treats to use as door prizes, one for each person attending the event. I thought I had it covered, but was short a couple. I padded the count by 10, but should have padded by 20. Next time.

The other piece that happened along the way was Hubby reaching his 20,000 geocache find. We had been talking about it for a couple of weeks. He would tell me he had it covered. Well, a milestone like 20,000 deserves a photo, a sign, a little hoopla. Well, he did have a plan but didn't share it because he wanted to surprise me.

I had decided on the weekend I would surprise him with a cake to serve to the geocachers attending the April Event. They are our geocaching family. They have placed the caches we have found. They have mentored us in our first years of geocaching. They have geocached with us. They have hosted events we have attended. It would be very appropriate for the group to share in Hubby's milestone.

Early Wednesday afternoon I decided to check Hubby's geo stats and realized he planned to make the April Event his #20,000. That was his surprise to me ~ to honor me and my hosting of events. And because I got him started in this crazy, obsessive, addicting, fun activity. I was/am honored, but his surprise was yet to come...

Mile Hi Travelers helped me pull off the surprise

they brought the cake

some of the CV geocachers

the sign and the photo

and a little surprise hoopla

Neighbor's Saguaro

Our neighbors, Al & Mariam, have lived on their lot one year longer than we have, 11 years. They planted 2 saguaros about 5 feet high in front of their house. One of the saguaros did not last too many years. The other has flourished. I walk past the giant almost every day. When I sit on my deck, I often see the saguaro as I look out at the street.

 On March 25th I noticed a ridge of bumps on the saguaro from my deck view. Hmmmm....

A closer look showed many, many buds appearing.

They seemed to appear overnight. When Mariam and I visited she said it was the first time it has bloomed in 11 years. The buds are only on the ridges on the south side of the saguaro.

I checked the saguaro on the 28th and saw 3 open flowers. Woo Hoo!!!

the flower is similar to the flower of the Argentina Saguaro

but is smaller

Look at all those buds!

Interesting honeycomb/pineapple texture on the flowers

And the saguaro on March 28th...

the blooms are gone

NADA!

There will be more...

I guess they last only one day

It blows me away to realize how much this guy has grown in 11 years. It was originally about as tall as the 7th board on their house. There is a hole made by the cactus wren at what was its original height. I am looking forward to more white flowers in the next few weeks on this giant. I think it is blooming earlier because it has a good host...Al & Miriam's house. None of the other saguaros in the resort are blooming, although the cadon saguaro at St. George's has, but I haven't visited the Catholic Church yard this year.