Sunday morning began for us by FaceTiming and singing Happy Birthday to Aker, our now 7-year old. Why is it that grandkids grow up so darn fast! Another Hot Springs Village group golf game took place on Sunday afternoon followed by a great happy hour hosted by the Star’s. Since Kansas City lost in the NFL playoffs, my interest in pro football will have to wait another year for the 2023 playoffs!

Monday was all about pickleball, and it was so good returning to the courts after several days’ absence. I rode to the courts first thing Monday morning and watched Kay play a few games in her group’s round robin. The first game watched paired Kay with Barb, and both are improving quite rapidly. It is fun to watch them “mature” in the game of pickleball.

I played the 3.5 Creek round robin at noon, and played halfway decent for a change. Kay returned to the courts mid-afternoon for and Advanced Beginner class. We joined other Arkansans wintering here at Palm Creek—great group of folks— for a Mexican-themed potluck/happy hour. Our lives are blessed!

Here are some hummingbird photos from last Tuesday’s visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Time to go on another photography outing.

Kay and I cancelled our pickleball matches both Friday and Saturday because of high winds and accompanying dust. In fact, most pickleball matches were cancelled Friday with winds gusting at over 20 miles per hour. I have had a really bad headache since early in the week—swollen sinuses caused by allergic reaction to dust. We turned on our air conditioning for one of the few times to help filter the air inside the motorhome. Thus, we don’t have much to report.

However, there are still a number of photographs from our trip to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum that have not been posted, so here goes with a few butterflies we observed. If you look carefully at the first yellow butterfly (Southern Dogface), you can see a silhouette of a poodle’s head. (Next blog post will feature hummingbird photos.)

Dust allergies are bad this year at Palm Creek! Perhaps it’s because immunity resulting from allergy shots completed some 15 years ago has worn off, but nevertheless, we’re thankful for Allegra!

After the Free Flight show Tuesday morning at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Kay and I wondered around on the trails. Specifically, we were targeting hummingbirds, but there were so many interesting things to see. Neither of us had ever seen an Ocelot. The Ocelot is a medium-sized wildcat, has a distinct “chain rosette” spotted coat, a long ringed tail, and slightly rounded ears. Once ranging throughout the Southwest, today the only breeding population of Ocelots in the US is in Texas, where fewer than 60 ocelots remain in two small populations near the Mexican border. In Arizona, a male ocelot, the only known one in the state, has been observed 94 times since 2012, offering some hope.

Another of my favorite birds, the Cactus Wren, offered plenty of sightings at the museum, seemingly atop every Saguaro Cactus. 

And while we’re not here long enough to witness the widespread cacti bloom, there were a few early bloomers.

Despite allergy problems of her own, Kay managed to play both golf Wednesday and pickleball on Thursday.

Thursday, our foursome played golf at the Francisco Grand Hotel and Golf Resort on the outskirts of Casa Grande. Steve, Ron, Rod, and I had a great game, with Rod winning most of the money, playing the best game I’ve ever witnessed him play—perhaps he’s been sandbagging! In the first photo below, L to R are Ron, Rod, and Steve. And then, yours truly in the second photo.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952. Located just west of Tucson, Arizona, it features two miles of walking paths traversing 21 acres of desert landscape. Our main goal in visiting the museum was to see the Raptor Free Flight program. In this program, only birds native to the Sonoran Desert are flown. The birds fly so close you can feel the brush of feathers as they whiz by, completely untethered, and without any jesses (leg straps)! The demonstration was awesome, as the raptors fly in the open desert.

We joined Dan, Pat, Arnie, and Toney in the packed queue for the demonstration. After a brief introduction, the first raptors to fly were Chihuahuan Ravens. These birds are known for being exceptionally intelligent birds; they can recognize faces, and, being incredibly playful, have been documented stealing windshield wipers off parked cars to goof around with them. (NOTE: You make click or double click on each image to enlarge it.)

Next to fly were Crested Caracara. We have seen them previously in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. When seen from a distance it is often mistaken as a bald eagle. The Crested Caracara looks like a hawk with its sharp beak and talons, behaves like a vulture, and is technically a large tropical black-and-white falcon.

Fifteen years ago there were only about 80 known nesting pairs of Gray Hawks in Southern Arizona. Through riparian conservation efforts, and practicing wise use of the land those numbers have increased to nearly 200 nesting pairs. The Gray Hawk is a predominantly Mexican and South American species, though a small population migrates to spend the spring and summer months in southern Arizona. It is found in lowland riparian areas and mesquite bosques, and specializes in reptilian prey, especially lizards.

One of my favorites, the Harris’s Hawk is the only raptor species in the world that hunt as a family using strategy similar to that of wolves; they are one of only two truly cooperative hunters in the raptor world. They will live in pairs in the tropical areas, or places where prey is abundant; in areas like the Sonoran desert where prey has a lot of good cover, they have been documented in groups as large as 9 birds. They will take turns harrying a rabbit or squirrel, chasing it out of cover towards other family members, etc. Although the Harris’s Hawk is found in the southern half of Arizona, southwest New Mexico, southern Texas, and all through Mexico and South America, cooperative hunting is only observed in the Sonoran Desert region of their range.

Sunday was golf day for HSV folks here at Palm Creek; today it was a plain scramble. The wives choose a paper slip with one of the husband’s names, and they partner up. Today, Bev Graham and I played as a team, and she is a good golfer. Though tied on scoring, we beat Kay and Gary Star for 2nd place based on scoring difficulty of holes played. Afterward, we enjoyed a great happy hour on the Graham’s patio overlooking the 18th hole. Not a big fan of the NFL, we missed the great playoff game between Kansas City and Buffalo; such a shame one had to lose.

Monday was a resumption of pickleball, and Kay and I both played, despite my not feeling 100 percent. Our allergies—caused by dust—this year have been debilitating. Though we don’t feel terribly bad, we don’t feel good; It’s always something. A big potluck was held at the Tennis pavilion to celebrate Helen Baggett’s birthday, and meet and greet kew arrivals. As always, the food was great and the conversations was even better. Laurie and Dale Furney, our street neighbors here at Palm Creek for three years, joined us at the potluck; just this last July they moved into a newly built house in Hot Springs Village; what a small world, and they play pickleball, golf, and bridge—doesn’t get much better than that.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), we travel to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum specifically to watch the raptor free flight program. The Desert Museum is an outdoor museum with birds, butterflies, wild animals know to inhabit the desert, cacti, etc. Here are a few photos, in advance.

So here we are, mid-January, with high temps in the high 60s and lows in the 40s. The Arizona sunrises and sunsets are spectacular, and the skies are mostly cloudless, i.e. clear, during the day, and the humidity is around 30 percent. Activities at Palm Creek are so plentiful that there is not enough time to do all that one wants, particularly when “one” spends six days a week on the pickleball courts, sometimes playing tow different sets of games. Indeed, it doesn’t get much better.

While I’m thinking about it, here are a few more photos from the visit to the Gilbert Water Ranch on January 12. Just click on an image to enlarge it.

Sunday was our Hot Springs Village couples’ 9-hole golf match. It is so much fun, particularly the 19th hole at someone’s place.

Immediately after happy hour, our street “Desert Spoon” had a street party, and it was great getting to converse with neighbors (typically, we’re so busy that time doesn’t allow for much visiting). Interestingly, a couple at the end of the short street—our neighbors for 3 years—just built a house in Hot Springs Village, spending 6 months there and 6 months here at Palm Creek; we had not met them before.

The rest of the week was all about pickleball. I played twice on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; this old body doesn’t handle that much physical activity well! Kay played four days and her knees suffered the consequences. On Tuesday, I bit the bullet and got a haircut—actually, it was more like a scalping—at about a half inch! Kay says I look younger, but I sure miss the curls.

On Wednesday, we played bridge with the Seitz’. We played duplicate style, and reviewed the plays after the game was played. Their knowledge of the game—both bidding and playing—is way beyond my level of competence; I felt so ignorant (I used to be a good duplicate bridge player 40 years ago, but that was then). At the least, perhaps we can learn something.

The HSV group at Palm Creek played pickleball Friday afternoon, and there were some very competitive matches. Norm and Barbara Bushee have really picked up their game since arriving; in fact, Norm is becoming a terror on the court! After pickleball, the group was joined by recent arrivals Don and Helen at Barro’s Pizza.

We danced to the sounds of DJ and the Midnight Sun Saturday night. They were good, if not a bit old (even by our standards), but after all the pickleball this week, I only lasted just short of 2 hours, much to Kay’s chagrin.

Kay played golf with the Palm Creek Women’s 9-hole League On Wednesday, while Dan, Arnie, and I traveled to the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert to photograph birds. No new birds were observed or photographed. Though a number of birds were captured in flight, I’ll save those for posting in the next blog.

We had a great morning of photography, and then made our way to Autonation Collision for an estimate to repair the Honda. And then it was back to Palm Creek in time to play pickleball.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday found us playing pickleball. And since we play at different times, we go different directions for about half the day. The other half finds us generally hanging around the RV with Kay reading and me piddling. Though we stay busy, our lives are really pretty dull.

The new year started off in great fashion on Saturday, January 1, with a win by the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Outback Bowl. Hopefully, the team is on its way to long-longer term respectability.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all about pickleball, as Kay and I each played everyday. And, I got a new paddle (just like the other that was “misplaced” except for color). Kay diverted her interests to golf on Wednesday, playing in the Women’s 9-hole league here at Palm Creek. It has been a real joy to watch as she progressed from having never played to being a decent golfer.

We were both back to pickleball Thursday and Friday. This pattern continued for the next several days, though we did travel to the greater Phoenix area on Saturday afternoon to shop for dark roast coffee beans at Trader Joe’s and miscellaneous food items at Costco. Costco was a madhouse, with shoppers more dense than I have ever seen—a bit claustrophobic in fact. On Sunday afternoon, we joined the Seitz’s, Starr’s, and Graham’s for a 9-hole partner’s scramble; spouses could not pair with one another. It was a fun outing, and all came by our place for beer, wine, and popcorn. Sunday evening we attended a concert, “Not Fade Away Rock and Roll Show,” and it took the band almost 30 minutes to get groovin’, and finally playing songs with which we were familiar. Their high tenor singer was fabulous, as was the drummer, and both rhythm and lead guitars were excellent.

Monday and Tuesday were pickleball days, though Tuesday was so windy that Steve and I cancelled the 3.5 Partners round robin. Kay and I went out to lunch, and afterward, after dropping her off at the craft show, I was returning to the motorhome when a guy backed out of his carport and into the passenger side of the Honda. It was all I could do to not say a dirty word. Kay spent the rest of the afternoon taking care of insurance claims.

June’s rainy weather turned into hot, muggy days as July came. Kay continued sports activities, committee assignments, and spending a lot of time at the Diamante pool. We both worked the Spa City Classic pickleball tournament at the Hot Springs Convention Center. And then, while playing pickleball in Hot Springs Village, I re-pulled the left hamstring; two back-to-back hamstring pulls essentially shutdown golf and pickleball for me for the rest of the summer, though I continued to make photographs, Kay amped up her golf playing and time at the pool. Life was settling down and returning to near normal, and then the Delta variation of COVID arrived, essentially setting us back to ground zero. Ridge and Aker came to visit in mid-July, and we had a great weekend planned. However, on Saturday after breakfast, I began to feel feverish and achy with a slight headache and sore throat, all symptoms of COVID19, DELTA VARIANT. And, even though we have both been vaccinated, there were several hundred people at the pickleball tournament, and we guessed that the majority had not been vaccinated. Kay rushed the kids to meet their mom and their weekend with us was cut short. Though the symptoms persisted for a few days, I tested NEGATIVE. Back to “normal”, we made a quick trip to Memphis to visit with Jenny and her family, the first time we had seen them in almost a year. COVID again impacted our lives as the month long trip to the United Kingdom scheduled for late September was rescheduled.

The humid 100° days in late July transitioned into August, and prohibited virtually all outdoor activities. Having reviewed our “life” list, we decided to cart trip to the Northeastern US, cycling Rail Trail Hall of Fame trails along the way, including theTunnel Hill State Trail, Illinois, Monon Trail, Indiana, Cardinal Greenway, Indiana, the Allegheny River Trail, Pennsylvania, Pine Creek Rail Trail, Pennsylvania, and the Island Line Rail Trail, Vermont.  Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine were our target destinations for this road trip. Vermont highlights included Queche Gorge, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP, and the quaint village of Woodstock.

In New Hampshire we really enjoyed Franconia Notch State Park, and spent a couple of days hiking several trails to see waterfalls, pools, terrific views.

Maine has always offered an attractive “come visit” message. Baxter State Park, home of Mount Katahdin (northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail), presented a good chance of seeing and photographing a moose, but we were thwarted. After Baxter State Park, we drove to the upper corner of Maine and traveled its eastern coast to Acadia National Park. Maine proved to be hot, with temperatures in the 90s, and very crowded. 

After leaving Maine, we drove south crossing through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut before driving through the heart of New York City, New York, at 5:00 PM, rush hour! And then, it was on to the New Jersey Turnpike, passing near Philadelphia, and driving through Delaware, my 50th state. Our target destination was Richmond, Virginia, where we spent a couple of days with Nan and George, Kay’s sister and brother-in-law. And then it was back through Tennessee, visiting family near Nashville and Memphis, arriving home on August 23. The rest of the month involved golf, and photography, as both hummingbirds and butterflies were found in fairly large numbers. 

Early September was much like late August. However, we flew to Seattle on September 9 to visit friends Ralph and Debbie. They drove us on a tour of Olympic National Park—both the mountains and the rain forest—the west coast of Washington, historic southwest Washington and northwest Oregon, and the Columbia River Gorge. While all the sights were breathtaking and the wineries awesome, the highlight of the trip was visiting with Ralph and Debbie—we really like them!

Ralph and Debbie drove us to the airport in Seattle where we caught the Norwegian Encore, cruising we to Alaska via the Inland Passage. Since we had done this previously, we concentrated on relaxing and enjoying the Broadway style shows, especially Kinky Boots and Choir of Men. As an aside, on the Norwegian ship we felt perfectly safe from COVID with a requirement for vaccinations and pre-testing for all passengers and crew. 

After being home for a few days, in mid-October we drove to East Tennessee. Traveling via Memphis, we again visited Jenny and her family, and spent a few day in Pigeon Forge celebrating Ridge’s 10th birthday. It was a fun experience, particularly the wild rides at Dollywood, short hikes in the Smokey Mountains, and quality time spent with Karyn’s family. In late October, Kay and I received our COVID booster vaccination.

November was all about family, medical appointments (because we spend the winter away from home), and photography. We watched Ridge play soccer—he’s good—as well as Aker, playing her first year. Jenny and her kids spent a few days with us prior to Thanksgiving, and it was the first long visit with her and the three kids in almost two years; The last time they visited, Linc was only a few months old and Sutton had not been born. Dan Olson and I left the day afternoon after Thanksgiving for a photography trip via motorhome to southeast Arizona, making stops along the way to photograph unusual places like Monahans Sandhills State Park and the canyons found within the Chiricahua Mountains in eastern Arizona. We were not disappointed; thousands of photographs were made, including one of the Elegant Trogon, a bird I had been “chasing” for 3 years.

Kay began December by decorating the house for Christmas, and according to friends, outdid herself. She decorated extensively with trees—three large and eight small—various ornaments, figurines, lights, and other holiday memorabilia. She hosted a couple of parties, including The Book Club, and had several overnight visits with girlfriends. Meanwhile, Dan and I continued photographing birds and canyon vistas in the Chiricahua Mountains, Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw, and numerous birds at Ash Canyon, Hereford, and Patagonia in southeastern Arizona. Several new to us birds (aka LIFERS) were observed and photographed. We arrived at Palm Creek on December 8, where a return to pickleball was much anticipated and enjoyed. Several trips were made to nearby birding hotspots—Riparian Preserve at Gilbert, Boyce Thompson Arboretum at Superior, and Madera Canyon—and thousands more photographs were made. We flew back home for Christmas, spending time with kids and grandkids. Kay and I flew back to Arizona on December 29 to spend another sun-filled winter season at Palm Creek Resort in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Though we made the best of a difficult situation, life DID NOT nor HAS NOT returned to normal. COVID repercussions has altered our way of life, and made us extremely cautious. We miss the social interaction experienced before the pandemic. Our foreign travel has essentially been quelled, with the attendant loss of $$$. We’re not optimistic that we’ll ever be able to travel outside the continent again. If only selfish people would have gotten the damn shot and followed recommended medical protocols!