Tucson Vicariously

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My son-in-law had a conference in Tucson earlier this month and my daughter flew out on the last day for a short touristy vacation to places they had enjoyed during their years in the city for graduate school at the University of Arizona.

My daughter stopped at Eegees on her trek from the airport to the hotel on the first (very hot) afternoon.

The next day they enjoyed the Gem and Mineral Museum which had moved from a cramped basement on campus to the old Courthouse building where they got married (the building is evidently all museums now!). I remember some of the specimens from the photos they sent. The new museum has much better lighting…and a lot more space.

They walked around the campus a bit and photographed vegetation and insects.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is another favorite place. They visited it on the second morning.

Later the same day, they visited the Paton Center for Hummingbirds.

The next day they drove up Mt Lemmon but didn’t hike as they had originally planned. My daughter said the elevation change seemed to make them feel tired very quickly, but they did have a pleasant lunch before returning to the city,

The last evening, they saw the sunset from Gates Pass.

Afterward they walked around with flashlights (including a UV one) looking for scorpions and tarantulas…and they found some!

I don’t think I want to visit Tucson in August….but the pictures were a nice way to remember fun times when visited there --- mostly in the winter!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 5, 2022

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

How Tucson, Arizona is facing up to a 1,200-year drought – Harvesting rain!

The demented gift American politicians handed to China – About electric buses….and more. The suggested acronym by the author: GAGA (Give American Greatness Away).

New clues into a serious neurodegenerative disease – So many sources of cognitive decline….and we are just beginning to understand some of the mechanisms (and thus effective treatment). The research described in this post is about frontotemporal dementia.

World headed in wrong direction one 5 key mechanisms of climate progress – And the 5 are: share of unabated fossil gas in electricity generation, carbon intensity of global steel production, share of kilometers traveled in passenger cars, mangrove loss, agricultural production of GHG emissions.

Researchers reveal why shingles can lead to stroke - The risk of stroke is elevated for a year after having shingles. This study found that prothrombotic exosomes which can cause blood clots are found in those with shingles…and persist after the outward symptoms of shingles are gone. Using antiviral agents longer with the addition of antiplatelet and anti-inflammatory agents could help reduce the risk of stroke.

Will we ever…. live in city sized buildings? – Maybe. But would it be pleasant? Maybe an apocalyptic event would force us to do it to survive.

Vitamin D deficiency linked to premature death – The study evaluated 307,601 records from the UK Biobank. Take away message from the results: ensure that vulnerable and elderly maintain sufficient vitamin D levels throughout the year.

Omicron keeps finding new evolutionary tricks to outsmart our immunity – Variants within a variant!

Powerful Aerial Photos Show the Consequences of Drought on the Colorado River – The dry situation in the western US.

Cats react to ‘baby talk’ from their owners, but not strangers – And does this mean we are more than just a food provider in their world?

Savoring 2017 – Anticipating 2018

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2017 was a busy year. Here are some highlights.

January

My daughter and I drove from Maryland down to Dallas to visit family and then spent a week in Grapevine TX for a AAS conference before driving on to Tucson. It was the trek between Tucson and the east coast for the year.

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Not long after I returned – I bought a new car: a Prius Prime.

February

February was the trough of the year in terms of activity but we did buy another car – a Honda CR-V for my husband.

March

In March a flew round trip to Dallas to do the chauffeuring for a trip to Oklahoma for my parents to visit other family members.

When I got back, we made a short visit to Pittsburgh – and enjoyed the Phipps Conservatory and the Aviary.

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April

April was the start of field trips: Delmarva Birding with my husband and then the field trip volunteering I do with Howard County Conservancy.

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May

In May there was another family visit in Texas and then moving my daughter from Tucson to State College. The packing up was some of the hardest physical work I’ve ever done…and then driving cross country with very sore and stiff muscles. Now that time has passed, I can see it as quite an adventure.

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June

In June I started volunteering at the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy exhibit. That continued into early September.

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July

I made my first road trip in my Prius in July – to State College to help my daughter move into her apartment.

August

In August we drove to Nebraska for the Solar Eclipse.

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September

September was full of Howard County Conservancy field trips. The stream and school yard assessments with the high schools were the more numerous for the season.

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October

Staunton River Star Party is becoming an annual event or us. This was our third trek down to southern Virginia’s dark sky site.

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My sister visited later in the month and we toured two places I had not been in more than 5 years: Fort McHenry and Nemours Mansion and Gardens.

November

I was back in Texas in November for a family birthday celebration and then

Down to Harlingen for the Rio Grande Birding Festival.

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December

This December was by first time to volunteer as a conservatory docent at the Brookside Gardens Model Trains Exhibit. What a joy!

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Then we went to Pittsburgh…I’ll post about that trip in the new year.

Anticipating 2018

There are already some things on my calendar for 2018: getting the eBotanicalPrints section of my website up and running in January, an 8-week class that will fill one day a week in February and March, a family visit in Texas for birthdays in April, Howard County Conservancy volunteering for school field trips in the spring and fall, and Brookside volunteering for the butterfly exhibit (April-September) and probably the model trains in December. I’m sure there will be a lot more that will fill the year.

Happy New Year to us all!