Boyce Arboretum

Boyce Arboretum is located near the historic mining town of Superior, 55 miles due east of Phoenix. Randy and I went with a photography group to take some pictures of wildflowers. These are some of Randy's photos.

There are 3,200 different desert plants within the Arboretum.

There are also 230 bird and 72 terrestrial species that have been tallied over the years as both permanent and migratory Arboretum residents.

The Arboretum has a living collection of over 800 kinds of cacti and is a center for the study of this family of desert plants.

There is a demonstration garden that highlights water-efficient residential theme gardens.

The Arboretum is actively engaged in the experimental cultivation and propagation of economically important desert plants. Desert and arid regions cover about 25% of the earth's land area.

Worldwide, only one person in twenty is sustained by the deserts' biological productivity. As millions of acres of arable land disappear every year, deserts may yield food and fiber for a growing human population.

A fascinating place we will return to again and again.

Cooper in the Snow

Randy and I took Cooper to the golf course yesterday for a run. It was snowing on and off all day yesterday and he needed to get out for some exercise.....we did too.

Cooper finds things wherever he goes.....some good, some not so good.....like the dead fox carcass he found a few days ago on a walk.

Today was okay....found a little girl's hat.

He shook it and danced around with it. He really wanted to get that pom-pom off the top of the hat.

Cooper is one great dog......everyone in the neighborhood knows him.....including the mailman and the UPS guy.

Coop then found a soccer ball under a tree at the golf course. That was good for ten minutes of play.

We love him dearly......and can't imagine life without him.

More Snow and Fireplace Problem Solved

Cooper is crazy about snow. He runs and jumps and eats it and just plain has a ball. He goes out and gets totally soaked and then comes in and lies down by the fire.

We think we have solved our smokey smell problem with the fireplace. We shortened the fire box by adding a piece of copper across the top. So far....no smokey smell.

We had more snow overnight and we continue to get snow flurries today.

You can almost measure the amount of snow we have gotten by looking at the patio table.

It won't last long so we are enjoying it.

Might be a good day to go to the movies (only costs $5 in Payson) or read a good book.

Snow Day!

It's been snowing all day today.

Hurrah! We sure need the precipitation.

All the reservoirs are only half full.

Our neighborhood looked beautiful today.

The snow stopped long enough to take Cooper for a walk. He LOVES the snow.

The weather is supposed to be back to "normal" by Wednesday.

More Photos from the Botanical Gardens

Here are some more photos from the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. I was too busy taking photos to write down the names of plants. This photo is a bit out of focus but I was happy to catch the bee doing his thing.

This photo is a favorite of mine...

Things are just starting to bloom in the garden. We are going back down in a few weeks....things should even be more colorful.

These birds were busy building a nest in the cactus.

A strange way of growing.

This roadrunner showed up while we were eating lunch in an outside cafe.

These are interesting.

The garden is having a plant sale in a few weeks. We may go and see if there is anything that will grow in Payson. Our winters are kinda rough on a lot of plants.

Butterflies in the Botanical Garden

We are now members of the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. We took a drive down to the valley on Monday. We spent a bit of time playing with our cameras in the Butterfly Garden. This butterfly is called a Pipevine Swallowtail.

This one is called Julia.

Zebra Longwing

Buckeye

Another Zebra Longwing

I showed some of these photos at our Digital Photography class on Tuesday. I learned that I needed to change my ISO....was shooting at 100. I should have tried 200 or more. I also used an autofocus and maybe should have tried manual focus.

Barnhardt Trail....a Bust!

Our photography class instructor told us that the Barnhardt trail might be a good one for photographing the moon as there is a full moon on March 8th. We set out to check it out mid morning. Once you turn off Hwy 87, you drive four miles on a dirt road to the trailhead. This trail is considered to be one of the "expressways" to the Mazatzals. It connects up with numerous other trails in the system that could keep a backpacker busy forever!

We decided to bring multiple camera lens and tripods....big mistake. The trail was narrow and rocky and we needed our heavy duty hiking boots....which we didn't bring. We had Cooper carry his bowl, water and treats. He slows down considerably once that pack is on his back.

The vistas weren't great as it was an overcast day. Some of the rocky cliffs were interesting.

We were headed to a waterfall but never made it. It has been such a dry winter in AZ that we doubted it would be much of a waterfall.

We ended up ditching the tripods after a bit and then decided to turn around and head back to the car. Randy's shoulder started hurting and we realized we were trying to do too much as he had only one week of physical therapy.

We might try the Barnhardt on another day. We also found out that our instructor was thinking of another trail which is 40 miles from Payson and near the Four Peaks area......he got his trails mixed up.