74 posts tagged “scottsdale”
On New Year's Day, Carol and Jessica went horse back riding in the local mountains of Cave Creek.
Slowly...but surely...I am turning Carol into a mountain woman. Click the photograph and come on over and read about it.
The original of this shot was kind of boring so I thought I would play with it in Photoshop and see if I could create anything with it.
The original was a photograph with my step-son sitting on the bike with the lights on. I darkened the photograph, added a frosted glass texture and then put an eerie blue light around his torso to create a ghost like appearance.
I call this "The Ghost Rider". Here is the full size edition of the photograph.
Do you like it?
The monsoon season is officially over here in Arizona. Here in N. Scottsdale we received a little over 4 inches of rain, while the airport received only .69 inches of rain.
We are a little over 1,000 feet higher than the airport and also nestled right at the foot of the mountains so our climate tends to be a bit different from the bottom of the valley.
This particular photograph was taken outside our front door during a recent monsoonal sky.
First of all, I recently put some new off road tires on the old Benz so that she could handle the rocky terrain. After much research we decided on the Pirelli Scorpion ATR.
For today's adventure, we decided to traverse the Buckhorn Creek Trail which starts in Wickenburg (about 40 miles down the road) and ends up near Lake Pleasant which is about 20 miles down the road.
Everything started out just fine. We were moving quite well across what started out as primarily sand and washes.
Eventually we started our climb from 2,400 feet to around 4,500 feet. As we progressed the road started to worsen and was strewn with very loose boulders from a recent grader going through. To top this off, the map was nowheres near as easy to follow as we would have liked. There were roads seemingly going every which way with no signs.
Eventually we came down into a wash and found ourselves surrounded by cattle. Thankfully we saw a man working on a backhoe in the wash. He shut down the backhoe and hollered, "Can I help you?" "Yeah, I said, where the heck are we?" He shook his head, and must have been laughing at the city slickers driving around in the Mercedes. "You are in my cattle corral", he hollered.
The words pierced my sense of manhood as I looked around to find myself indeed in a fenced corral surrounded by cattle. Carol gave me THE LOOK! "Hmmm....how the heck did we get in here", I said.
With a very red face, I turned the ole Benz around and high tailed it out of the man's corral. I can just hear him talking to his wife tonight, "Honey, you won't believe it, some city slickers in a Mercedes Benz 4x4 drove right into our corral today! You should have seen it."
After this experience, we were soon to learn that our spine chilling adventures were not over. As we began to climb into the very rough mountain terrain, we began to notice that there were roads going in many different directions with no markings. We started to look at each other, "do you know where we are?" 'NO, do you know where we are"?
For the next two hours we plodded along very rough mountainous terrain all the while wondering if we would ever see civilization again, or would they find us months from now with our hands around each others throats.
Eventually we hit the summit and started our way down the other side of the mountain only to find that the next 90 minutes would be spent in a monstrous river wash strewn with huge boulders just waiting to rip the undersides out of our vehicle. To top that off, it made finding the road (road hell, this isn't a road...it's a damn river bed!) even more difficult. Quietly Carol and I began to contemplate the fact that we would never be found again.
About 45 minutes into this particular form of hell we found ourselves faced with another situation that we hadn't thought of. There was a very peculiar toothless man, about 60 years old driving around in this beat to heck red Ford pickup truck with a girl in her 20's beside him. We found ourselves in a box canyon with good old "gummy" bearing down on us. All of a sudden...I could hear the screeching music from some horror movie and could visualize this old coot hauling out his shotgun, blowing our brains out and burying us right there! Carol was petrified.
He came up along side us. I rolled the window down, and once again, had to admit to a stranger that I was as lost as one could possibly be. He looked at me, smiled with his toothless grin and said, "just keep following the wash down the mountain." Great....more river washes to drive in! To add to the suspense, this guy keep appearing out of nowhere to keep Carol in a constant state of fear.
Our map said that this journey would be 2 hours of easy trails (2 out of 10, with 10 being impassible). Six stressed filled hours later, we found ourselves on a road which bespoke civilization. 45 minutes further we found ourselves on a major highway headed for home.
Just for fun, I asked Carol when she would like to go out again. You DON'T want to know her answer!
Last night this road had a very swift river flowing across it which was about 50 yards wide. The intensity of the water flow was something to behold. The lightening flashing across the sky and booming around your head just added to all the excitement.
Driving around the community this morning there were small trees uprooted all over the place. I heard stories of a 200 year old Saguaro that didn't make it through the night. (Saguaro have a very shallow root systems)
Another person mentioned to me that our area received more rain in two hours than anytime in Arizona's history. I haven't seen that in print anywhere, but I guess we got 3 inches in two hours. (Someone told me they heard that on the TV)
Here is a local news clip showing the mess from a helicopter.
Stay tuned...we are not out of the monsoon season for quite a while.
The amount of rain that is coming down is completely overwhelming the drainage systems and we have a few inches of water up to the foundation in several spots. I am not certain if that is bad or not! The pool is filling up quickly and we are beginning to wonder if the pool isn't going to overflow as well.
I have never seen such a downpour of rain for such a sustained period of time. We got in the 4x4 and went out into the neighborhood to see what is going on.
It was dark so I couldn't photograph it but there are RIVERS of water flowing across many of the streets. When I say rivers, I mean the fast flowing, three feet deep varieties. I can see how and why people get washed away with these things. It is an incredible thing to see.
The movie you see here isn't very good because I was primarily focused on the water around the house. Which by the way, didn't show up very well. If you pay attention in the beginning you can see that we are also experiencing high winds with the storm as well. AND...what the heck is with the flat roof on certain sections of this house. I don't understand. There is a flippin' river of water flowing off of my roof right on to my deck and then collecting around the house. Why on earth they don't channel that water away from the foundation I will never understand. Perhaps there is some logic that I just don't understand.
Anyway, exciting times for these first timers here. Certainly not death defying like the tornadoes in the Midwest, but stressful nonetheless. Oh..you can also hear sirens all over the place. I am sure that there are dingbats all over town out trying to drive across the torrential rivers flowing across the roads. Every time it does this, we get to see some goof ball standing on top of their car getting rescued in the middle of the wash. Watching the news tonight will be fun.
Click the photograph to come to my flickr site for the details.
We have been visited by three rattlesnakes and just the other night a long-nosed snake (pictured to the left) paid us a visit. We had just finished grilling steaks on the grill. Carol, Jerry and Jessica were sitting by the pool and I was still at the patio table watching the owls.
I kept noticing an odd sound, like a vibration, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I even thought that maybe it was a snake and got up and peeked around and found nothing.
Well, it wasn't too long and I heard the gang screaming...SNAKE! This guy was sitting right by the edge of our pool. Carol ran in the house and got my handy "snake pinchers" that I received for Christmas and ran out and handed them to me. It was very near dark so she also grabbed a flashlight for Jerry to keep the snake in view. Jerry is deathly afraid of snakes and I swear was floating about 10 feet in mid-air. He wasn't doing a very good job with the flashlight!
As I approached the snake, he immediately hopped into the hot tub to avoid me. After a few minutes, I got a hold of him and threw him over the back wall into the street. I am sure that if we had a video of this event, we would have won America's Funniest Videos. What a sight!
This is the last place I expected to find a scorpion. We had heard stories of finding them is shoes and dark places. We even heard a story of some poor guy getting stung in the butt after putting his underwear on in the morning.
Not sure what to do, and still half asleep, I chose the liquid soap dispenser as my instrument of death. I gave him a good mush and then flushed him down the toilet.
Certainly we are learning to be more alert as we live our lives in Arizona.
Dear Josh and Jerry,
Father's Day is here tomorrow and I feel a tug at my heart to make sure that you both understand a very important fact. Here it is, simple and straight forward, I love you both and am VERY proud to have you both as my sons.
One of the things that a man begins to understand, as he gets older and accumulates a little more wisdom, is the hard wiring that is built in the relationship between a father and son. The son craves, nearly above all else, the blessing of the father. Dad, are you proud of me? Dad, do you love me?
As men, in your 20's and 30's, it is very easy for you to conclude, when you stumble, that you can somehow lose my favor. This is particularly true when your father is one who, by societies measure, is successful and can seemingly do no wrong. But please, understand, I have made a LOT of my own stumbles along the way. Everyman will stumble in his own way. In that, we are no different.
You see me now, in my 50's, and presume that I have never made a bad decision. Please understand that I have made many, many poor decisions. Many of them were in my earlier years, but bad decisions just as well.
When I think of this issue, I think of the relationship between Jesus and Peter. Jesus told Peter that he would betray him before the cock crowed. Peter responded that there was no way! But, just as Jesus had predicted, Peter actually betrayed him three times.
When Peter heard the cock crow after his third betrayal he wept bitterly. I am sure that his tears were actually convulsions of pain coming from deep within. You see, I understand this pain. In my 50 years, I have not heard from my own father, the words I so long to hear. Now, with his passing, I never will.
After the resurrection, Peter was nowhere to be found. He left and went by himself to take up fishing. He felt that he was no longer worthy. I am certain that as the waves in his little boat bantered him about that he wept bitterly for days. I am certain that he had a HUGE hole in his heart that he felt would never be filled.
Then one day, there he was! Jesus was standing on the shore. Can you feel Peter's pain? As he looks into the eyes of Jesus, can you feel the pain coming from his very soul? Every man can. I have tears running down my face as I type. Right now, I just want to scream out in pain.
But, in the next few minutes all that pain was instantly removed. Jesus sought him out! Jesus made a special effort, before leaving this earth, to visit Peter and heal the deep pain in his heart. With this gesture, there was healing and Peter would become "The Rock" of the church. "Upon this rock, I will build my church", said Jesus.
Josh. Jerry. I know that you both feel that you have let me down from time to time. I know that you both feel that you have big shoes to fill. Please understand however, that your thoughts are not my thoughts. Please know that I understand the challenges of becoming a wise and loving man in today's society. Please know that in you both, I am very pleased, and stand ready, as your loving earthly father, to give you that same "blessing".
From today forward, when those thoughts of doubt of my love come, cast them away. Nothing can separate either of you from my love. Nothing! I would gladly die for you both!
From this day forward, stand up and move forward knowing that I am here to come along side you, as a man, to find the life that only you can build on this earth. This is the relationship of a man and his sons. I deeply long for that relationship and I deeply long for you to know the depth of my love for you.
I thought, in closing, I would share this video with you. It is Dr. Emerson talking about this very relationship between Christ and Peter. He is using this story as an example for married couples, but the message is still very strong and applies to what I am trying to communicate.
My greatest father's day gift would be to know, that you know, of my love for you as your father.
Josh, I love you! Jerry, I love you!
Dad
