I love cactus. This one is a nice shade of purple red. It was in the landscaping at the gas station.
Take A Minute To Look Around You
One of my blog friends posted this:
Click here please
If you are in Florida or on the east coast, take a minute to read it. If you happen to see her brother, let her know. I don’t know them but I know how I would feel if someone I knew was missing. Thanks for the minute.
Project 365 Day 43
Locked Out! Closed for the season! Dang it.
Montezuma’s Castle
On Sunday we drove the 75 miles up to Montezuma’s Castle. It was named after Montezuma, but he never lived there. It was not even the Aztec’s who built it. The Sinagua Indians were the ones who built this primitive condo back in the early 1400’s. They built on rooms and floors for nearly 300 years, to accomodate their growing tribe. It is an amazing thing to see, knowing that they had to climb ladders up the cliffs, hauling water, stone, and dirt to build their house.
The ladders to reach the house, and the support beams for the ceilings and floors, were made from the branches and trunks of these beautiful Arizona Sycamore trees. The trees get huge, and have the most amazing bark I have ever seen.
After living in the area for more than 300 years, the Sinagua’s abruptly disappeared from the area. They left no trace of where they went, or why they went. But from looking around at the area, we knew why they chose this area. The alcove in the cliff offered protection from the weather and attack from other tribes. The Beaver Creek offered a water source, and the flat level land at the bottom of the cliffs was excellent for agriculture, where there is evidence that the Sinaguans grew corn, beans, squash, and cotton.
There was more than one pueblo. This one was actually larger than the first one pictured, but it was closer to the bottom of the cliff. It is also not as well preserved as the other one, but you can clearly see the outlines of different rooms here.
yeah, I am in love with the Arizona Sycamore trees. They are just too cool. Did I already say that?
This clump of trees are some of the smaller ones. You can tell how large they are here. FabGrandpa is almost six feet tall. So yeah, they are pretty big trees. 
About 6 miles away is Montezuma’s Well. Montezuma’s Well is a sinkhole, a collapsed underground limestone cavern filled with water. More than a million gallons of water a day flow continuously, providing a lush, verdant oasis in the midst of surrounding desert grassland. Montezuma’s Well is 368 feet across and 55 feet deep; it sits at an elevation of 3,618 feet.
Lots of ducks were down there on the lake. It also has leeches in it. Ick. But it is a beautiful oasis in the middle of arid desert land.
This is the creek formed by water that flows out of the sinkhole. It was lush, beautiful, and very cool . We had to hike down a rock walkway to get down there.
This is maidenhair ferns growing out of the rock by the edge of the water.
Another view of the stream, showing the huge rocks, the trees, and the ferns. We heard lots of crickets and other insects chirping here. 
I have no pictures from dinner, but we stopped at a place called “The Gathering” in Camp Verde. We all ordered the flank steak on the “elders” menu. We didn’t have to be any particular age to qualify for the elders menu. It is just smaller portions and therefore a smaller price. The steak was good. I had a baked potato and grilled southwestern veggies with mine. FabGrandpa had “cactus rice” with his. It was rice with napalitos in it, which is chopped cactus. He enyoyed his but I just couldn’t go there.
It was a very fun day, sightseeing with our friends. Next, we’ll probably to to Saguaro National Monument. I can hardly wait!
Project 365 Day 42
Good times, fun, and friends–isn’t that what it’s all about?
Budget Report, Week 2 Cash Monday
I am really embarrassed to have to say that we went over budget this week. You would think that $300 would be plenty for two people, but it just didn’t work out that way this week. It was the purchase of those hair products that put us over the top, but we needed them and they will last us for a couple of months, so there, I have justified my indiscretion on the money front.
We went out to breakfast three times, all at Cracker Barrel; out to lunch once at that Mexican grill place; and out to dinner once, last night on our way home from Montezuma Castle. (more about that trip coming soon)
So, the bottom line for this week: in the hole by $39.37. Since we were under budget last week by $36.80, that means for the two week period, we’re in the hole by $2.57. I’ll work harder at it this week. Sigh.
Project 365 Day 41 Arizona Sycamore
We drove up to Montezuma Castle today. There were these gorgeous Arizona Sycamore trees there, in full fall display of color. The trees have the most interesting bark I have ever seen. They were huge, looking like they were three hundred years old. I know, no amount of words can describe them to someone who has never seen them, so enjoy the picture instead.
Project 365 Day 40 Out And About Town
We finally did feel better today, so we drove up to visit our friends Lynda and Charlie but they were not at home. And since I got that letter from the passport agency telling me that my birth certificate and passport photo was not to their liking, I decided to look for a place to get my passport photo take again. Well, for the first time, since I took the first one. And yeah, they accepted the one I took of FabGrandpa and printed myself, because they sent him his passport card, so I guess they just decided that no one could look as good as the person in my photo and rejected it as too good to be true, hahahah!
Did you know that the portrait studio at Wal-Mart does passport photos? I should have known, you can get everything else you need there. So, for $10.82, here it is:
They even put it in a little card case. After I got the pictures, I thought, well, what a coincidence, I am wearing that same orange shirt that I wear everywhere I go, so when I cross the border, I will probably be wearing the same shirt. See here, and here.
We went to Circuit City to see what was on sale because they are going out of business. But, the TV’s were not marked down much, and were still higher on a so called clearance sale than they were at Best Buy. We have been looking at the flat screen HDTV’s for over a year, but have just not found one in the price range we wanted to pay that we could both agree on, until today. No, the money for it did not come out of our spending money budget, because we have budgeted money for a new TV. We got a Insignia HDTV 22″:
