Tortoise, Inch worm, Scorpion - OH MY!

My day at work today consisted of many treats, some welcomed more than others. I got to work around 8 so I could work in the backyard of my classroom while the temp was still somewhat tolerable. I had no idea what treats and scares I would come across in those 4 hours back there.

Every morning in the summer our desert tortoises are out foraging on anything green and red. They love the leaves of plants and anything red which they think is a prickly pear fruit (a big treat in their world). So I decided to help them live a little today and gave them each their own fruit. This morning Poppy was being a huge bully to her sister, Penny. She was literally pushing her around with her head and trying to bite her legs. Poor Penny just scrunched herself up in her shell as much she could and sat there and took it. Such a classical role of big sis little sis being played out! I brought them prickly pear fruit and they tried to eat it but couldn't seem to bite through the skin, so i punctured it for them. They both (far apart from one another) munched on those fruits for a good 45 minutes. They were happy torties and this was treat number one for me today.

While watering plants I noticed from afar an INCHWORM making its way up a mesquite tree in its ever so told about movement of scrunching its body into an upside down u shape and then lifting its head and moving its body forward. It was so exciting and SO fun to watch him and this little guy was booking it! He was going too fast to pose for a picture for me. I've always read about inchworms in children's literature or see them as stuffed animals and what not but I had never actually witnessed the movement of one in real life. It was a delight. Treat number two.

Treat number 3 came with my only scare. I was moving a compost bin to wash it off to take it home for gabe and I to use to start our composting. (Our plan is to start growing things on our deck this fall. We both really would love to have a garden but we figure we've gotta do with what we have for now.) While moving the two pieces to our new compost bin, underneath the bottom piece out came a HUGE scorpion. HOLY CRAP!! I about jumped out of my skin. This is the first time I've seen a live scorpion, in their natural habitat. Yes, I've seen a number of dead bark scorpions and I've seen scorpions in a terrarium, but never so close to me and so big with NO barrier between us. I was freaked. So what's the only logical thing to do when you're new to this experience and still a little startled by this lovely creature? Of course - get someone else to "help" you with it.

Since I knew the only option, according to my co-workers, would be to relocate it; I pleaded with our token male in the education department to "show" me how to kindly relocate this (HUGE) friendly arachnid. So he did ever so kindly come over to help me relocate this fellow. He informed me that it was a desert hairy scorpion. Their stings aren't as bad as the bark ones, it would be like a bad bee sting he says. Maybe this is when you know you're a "native" Arizonan, when you can comfortably relocate these dudes...

The scorpion in our catching apparatus - a cardboard box. It was about 4 inches in length.

OH Yeah! I almost forgot, I got a big bag of seeds for our future garden too! Treat number 4 :)

connection - bond - union

the title of this post, connection - bond- union, i think is a description of our relationship throughout its maturity. at first there was a connection. we met the first day of college in 2001 and during our freshmen it was clear that there was a connection between us. we would spend hours upon hours talking about anything we wanted to. from that year on, every time i saw her, i would feel a connection; every time she entered the room, whenever we spent time together.

when we began dating 4 years after we first met we established the second step of our relationship, our bond. we quickly became inseparable, spending almost every waking moment together. shannon helped me to become the person i was meant to be. she allowed me to feel so comfortable, so secure that i could do anything, i could handle any situation. the strength that she gave me is one of the greatest things i've been given.

when we married, we created the final piece to the puzzle of our relationship, our union. with this came endless possiblities: places we'll travel to, places we'll live, experiences we'll have, the names of our children, growing ever older together. our relationship has definately changed since God decided to cross our paths in 2001 but only for better.

let me preface my final thoughts by saying that in the past 17 days, my wife has been out of town for 10. she has been traveling for work, though, it hasn't been your typical work assignments. she has been able to spend 5 days rafting and and another 5 traveling around the philadelphia area learning/experiencing other gardens. she has been blessed with her job at dbg and i know she is very thankful for that. while she has been out of town it has become ever-clearer how much i love my wife. the physical distance that is between us makes everything kind of fuzzy, almost like trying to see without glasses. it is as if i am momentarily lost, without purpose. shannon and i have been able to give ourselves to each other in such a way that when we are apart, my days are almost confusing. she is not beside me when i wake, or when i close my eyes at night. she's not there to kiss, hug, smell. our connection, our bond, our union is so intense that when a piece of the puzzle, like proximity, is missing, it throws me off balance. i know that shannon will come back and that she will be with me forever. but i can't help but think about what it would be like to be here without her, if she were gone from my life. i think this may be why i feel the way i do when she is gone. my heart is feeling, albeit very minimal, what it would be like to have our connection severed. to be completely honest it scares me to death. i attempt in vain to block the feelings inside of me. it never works. all i can do is think of her.

Ryan & Rita's Wedding

Our two lovely friends, Ryan and Rita got married this past week in Hawaii and had their reception last weekend here in Arizona. It was a beautiful reception with great food, drink, and memories made. They had their reception at the Buttes Resort which is built into rocks in Phoenix. Here are some pictures from the adventure!

Senor y Senora Adams first dance to Ben Harper. So cute!

The beautiful bride

Five Days of Serenity (well pretty close) with Teens

Last Thursday I left for a five day trip with 13 teens I didn't know, and one friend (co-worker) that I knew well. We were headed for the San Juan River in southern Utah for and Eco Camp trip that is offered by the Garden partnered with Grand Canyon Youth to guide the river trip. It was definitely an experience I will always remember and gladly do again next year.

Thursday night we arrived at Sand Island near Bluff, Utah, 8 hours after leaving Desert Botanical Garden. We met our guides (who were amazing and so much fun) had some dinner and set up camp. The downfall this night and probably the biggest one of the entire trip, was the mosquitoes. Living down here I have gotten used to the luxury of not having any bugs outside. These mosquitoes would have been considered bad even in MN. So our little chitlins got all eaten up that night. Thankfully this was the only night we had to deal with this issue.

The next day we were on our way floating down the river. This riparian area has grand beauty. Geology and history come alive down this river. We saw so many areas where the Anasazi Indians used to live it was easy to place yourself in their times and imagine life back then. We saw petroglyphs and pictographs, river house (a house where many families most likely lived), a field of pottery shards, steps carved into cliffs to climb; all sorts of pieces of history. We walked up Comb Ridge where the Mormons turned around from building their road on their journey west and saw if they came a little further they would have seen they could have gotten through Comb Ridge.

The rocks along the river look so dynamic and ever - moving. The anticlines are alive here along with sandstone, limestone, and many other rocks I could never identify. We saw fossils of ancient creatures along with a lot of wildlife. Many big-horned sheep, deer, blue herons, beavers, and Canada geese (I told them it was called migration and that its summer down here, they have seemed to miss that memo).

These 12-14 year olds I spent the past 5 days with day and night impressed me. They were some of the most intellectual environmentally knowledgeable teens I have ever met. They surprised me with how much they wanted to just sit down and have a good conversation with you. They renewed me about having faith in our next generation to be able to care for earth and other issues our world has. I was also renewed in loving this age group. They are still kids in many ways but are trying to figure out who they are and the people they form strong relationships with will have a strong impression on who they become.

The entire group on top of Comb Ridge



This is a petroglyph that the Navajo "chipped" out because they believed this one panel (out of the entire Navajo Nation) was responsible for causing Small Pox among their people. So they came back to it and scratched it out.

If you look closely you can see some more petroglyphs above the kids' heads on the cliff


One of our campsites

Our lovely restroom - the views were amazing :) The orange bucket was for pee and the white ("groover") was for anything with a T...

River House

Pottery shard museum - there were pieces of pottery lying all over this field that you could easily find and pick up. This is a sampling of how diverse the pieces were and a great illustration to how pottery changed over time.

On the river in a tandem duckie

Patience Pays

I got home last night from a river trip for work. (I'll post more on this when I get our pictures from the trip). All of last week we were waiting to hear on a job that gabe had a second interview for. When I left on Thursday, we still had not heard. Gabe has been looking for a new job for quite some time now and has done a great job with applying and not getting down on himself when he didn't get the jobs. Then two weeks ago this job with Calence came up and I saw excitement in him for the first time in awhile about a job. This was so good to see and I made a realization at that point. It was like an ah ha moment when he got his interview for this job. I decided to pray for him the entire time he was interviewing, so I did and I had a peacful feeling. When he got his second interview, I did the same. During this whole process we've always talked about how its hard to be so patient and give up your own agenda to operate on God's time but Gabe is really good at it. The whole thing has been a journey together with God and he has listened. Gabe got a new job with Calence on Friday!! I found out last night and am so filled with joy and thankfulness. You should seem him, he's so happy he is glowing. He starts in two weeks!

Appreciation

Gabe came home on Tuesday and surprised me with flowers, wine, and dinner! He said he was thankful for all the work I've been doing around the house (on my week off) :) I appreciate his kindness. The flowers are beautiful and dinner was delish!

Isn't he cute

Sounds of Summer

In many places in the world there is a constant buzzing sound outside that confirms summer is here. For us there are two constant buzzing sounds: the air conditioner running outside and the cicadas. We've known summer has been here for awhile now. When we walk out the door at 7 am and the temp reads 98 degrees, its pretty obvious. But I remember (or thought I remembered) the cicadas coming out earlier than July. So I have been wondering when they were going to pop their large winged insect bodies out to the world again. Sure enough on Tuesday I heard them singing their buzzing tune. So, they are out making their noises.

Now I'm wondering how long it will be until that "sprinkling" sensation happens when you walk under the trees here. This too is something that happens in the summer down here. I've never gotten a clear answer on what it actually is. I have heard two things. One being that its the cicadas "peeing" and two that its from the trees because its so hot that the sap is forced out of the tree, both of which I find hard to believe. The wetness is never sticky nor is there much of it, barely enough to even notice, but it does definately happen. But anyways, here's to summer and all of its sensations! (If you do a search on cicadas you learn some interesting information but I still have yet to find this answer)

Knoll Lake

This past weekend we went to Knoll Lake Campground northeast of Payson. On our way up we passed the campsite that gabe proposed to me at. It was nice to visit it again. We trekked into the backcountry to escape some realities of life in Phoenix. We successfully escaped the heat and blistering sun, city life, and thoughts of work. Thankfully Knoll Lake is a lake you can swim in, as not all lakes can you swim in here in Arizona. Gabe and I went for a swim across the little lake and hung out for awhile as a storm was brewing in the north. We were able to go with 8 of our friends and we had a good time together. The highlight for me was lying in the road at night, looking at the stars, and seeing 5 shooting starts that night. The milky way and big dipper was visible and so refreshing.


Knoll Lake

Gabe's big trout catch

The whole crew




Buckets and Gloves - our homemade verson of cornhole beacuse we didn't have the real thing. It was fun and very difficult. Only two gloves made it into the bucket all night.