It was a busy weekend!

First, we spent 2 nights camping at the Cave Springs Campground in Oak Creek Canyon, just north of Sedona, AZ (click for more):

Then, it was time for trick or treating! (click for more)

Another "haboob" tonight

Some photos of the storm rolling in over the horizon just before it hit:

New cacti installed today!

Today we overhauled our former moonscape of a front yard (complete with meteor-looking rocks that look as if they fell out of the sky) with a variety of new native Arizona cacti and succulents. The main centerpiece is an Arizona Organ Pipe cactus. There is an entire National Monument in the southwestern part of the state to preserve these cacti. In addition, there are Bunny-eared Prickly Pear, Ocotillo, and Octopus Agave. Click this photo of Paul for more:

The Monsoon is ON!

We were in the pool for an evening swim with nearly full daylight still just 7-10 minutes before these videos were shot. We could see the dust coming way up high over the house, we hopped out of the pool, stowed our stuff, and ran inside just before it really kicked up. Notice all the streetlights that were turned on by the dark of the dust.

What is wrong with this picture?

Just 3 days after planting the seeds...

...we have sprouts:




Everything but the carrots and onions has sprouted above the soil:



For a few more shots click here.

The holiday weekend

It was a pretty lazy one overall. Paul went to a cool place called JumpStreet:




(Click here for some more pictures of Paul having fun at JumpStreet)

And we started Garden 2.0 (still in beta):



We decided to try to start some "winter" plants from seed this time: