Wednesday, March 30, 2016
It is Spring-Time in Tucson. My allergies have gone crazy.
I am out working on a dig at a prehistoric site. First we had to get things ready.
As I was digging a large centipede, about four inches long, came crawling out of the dirt. My entomologist friend Doug identified it.
I did not touch it. I do not care for centipedes, but I moved it away from where I was at. I don't like to kill insects.
I am out working on a dig at a prehistoric site. First we had to get things ready.
Archaeology is always glamorous.
I was invited to an Easter Party and made a quiche and a lemon meringue pie.
Lemon meringue.
I made friends with a donkey.
Donkey.
On Monday I noticed through my office window that the friendly ground squirrel had woken up from hibernation and I gave it some bird seed.
Ground squirrel.
The native palo verde trees are blooming. Very lovely yellow flowers.
Palo verdes have green bark.
My backyard doesn't have a large amount of blooming plants. I used to have many wildflowers, but the overgrown state apparently killed many of them off. Other things are blooming.
Pomegranate.
Unidentified yellow plant.
I spent Tuesday scraping backhoe trench walls, looking for prehistoric features. I found a small pit with some Hohokam pottery. I came home very dirty.
Trench.
Today was bug day. First a very large spider, which I rescued and took away from where we were working.
Spider, about 2.5 inches across.
As I was digging a large centipede, about four inches long, came crawling out of the dirt. My entomologist friend Doug identified it.
Scolopendra heros- giant centipede
I did not touch it. I do not care for centipedes, but I moved it away from where I was at. I don't like to kill insects.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
The 11th Annual Non Denominational Egg Decorating and Backyard Egg Hunt Party was a resounding success. Dozens of people came. About 100 eggs were decorated.
It was Hiram's first time decorating an egg. He did an excellent job. The kids had a good time too.
It was Hiram's first time decorating an egg. He did an excellent job. The kids had a good time too.
Clockwise, Hiram, Milo, Isaac, and Sheridan.
I forced some of the adults to participate. People can be scared of doing crafts!!
Evan, Dan, Erika, Pablo, and Nicole.
Menu: hummous, sour cream and carmelized onion dip, a quiche, pineapple upsidedown cake, cookies, and pimento cheese stuffed celery. Almost everything was devoured.
The table.
All the eggs were decorated.
Eggs.
People had a nice time chatting.
Tavi, Mark, and Patrick.
At 4:00 it was time for the Egg Hunt. I had everyone pose for a picture, but only about 25 participated. Who would win?
The guests.
I have about 400 to 500 plastic eggs. It was a hassle putting them out because so many have become separated. It took 40 minutes. And only about seven minutes for them to be found.
Grabbing eggs.
Hard to do this holding a child!
The winners: Patrick (142 points), Tara (102 points), and Kris (92 points). Ray was last place with 12!
Patrick, Tara, and Chris.
It was a really nice party and everyone had a good time. It was nice to see people I don't normally get to see.
Mark and Homer.
I made Better Homes and Garden sugar cookies and added the zest of one lemon.
I need to get some egg-shaped cookie cutters. I tried cutting some out by hand, not successful.
Lemony sugar cookies.
The frosting was just powdered sugar and lemon juice. Mark helped mix up the pastel colors. I put the bottles of decorating sugars and jimmies out.
Couldn't find toothpicks, so matches had to do.
The frosting was almost perfect, and we squeezed it out of the corner of baggies onto the cookies.
Mark decorating.
Buddy visited with us. He got to eat two broken cookies and was very happy about that.
Buddy and the freshly scrubbed floor.
One plate.
I think overall we were successful and had a good time.
1840s platter with 2016 cookies.
Wednesday, March 09, 2016
I'm out monitoring some trenching on a portion of a historic block downtown. The old fire insurance maps should the transformation of the block from having a few houses to becoming the location of two boarding houses/hotels built in the early 1900s. The foundations of one of these buildings lies on top of a soil mining pit, where dirt was removed to make adobe bricks. The pit was later filled in with a lot of trash (the pit was about two meters deep).
It rained Monday night/Tuesday morning and when I got to the block I noticed something white in the trench backdirt. I pulled it out and found a small bud vase. It is porcelain, hand-painted, probably made in Europe. The bottom has "135" scratched into the porcelain and "54" in gold paint.
Bud vases were used for one or two short flowers, like a single rose head. You have to wonder why this one was thrown away.
It rained Monday night/Tuesday morning and when I got to the block I noticed something white in the trench backdirt. I pulled it out and found a small bud vase. It is porcelain, hand-painted, probably made in Europe. The bottom has "135" scratched into the porcelain and "54" in gold paint.
Bud vases were used for one or two short flowers, like a single rose head. You have to wonder why this one was thrown away.
Bud vase.
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
Same sweater.
Mother made me this sweater back in the early 1980s. I wore it for my high school graduation photo. I wonder why I wasn't smart enough to take off the glasses. Look at how sweet and innocent I was!
I have gone through phases of buzzing my hair off. Sometimes because I am too cheap to pay for a haircut. Sometimes because it is just cooler in the summer.
2012.
The beard is getting real gray. The sweater still fits, although I have put on some pounds. It is made from polyester yarn and will probably survive long after I am gone.
Mother made me this sweater back in the early 1980s. I wore it for my high school graduation photo. I wonder why I wasn't smart enough to take off the glasses. Look at how sweet and innocent I was!
1981.
I have gone through phases of buzzing my hair off. Sometimes because I am too cheap to pay for a haircut. Sometimes because it is just cooler in the summer.
2012.
The beard is getting real gray. The sweater still fits, although I have put on some pounds. It is made from polyester yarn and will probably survive long after I am gone.
2016.
