apAdventures

Our Texas Ranger bush is in bloom! Look quick while you can because it only lasts one day.

The past two weekends we’ve spent more time at home than out climbing – trying to play ‘catch up’ on the domestic portion of our lives – which, believe it or not, can actually be fun if you don’t do it that often! 🙂 We’ve undertaken some major yardwork tasks. The front yard had all kinds of irrigation running every which way….and leaking every which way as well. Leaking so bad, in fact, that we had actual GRASS growing in the front yard. Ahhh! Grass in the desert! What is this – Phoenix??!! (hehe, sorry). Anyway, the grass had to go and the irrigation had to be re-done. So that’s exactly what I did. I re-landscaped this one portion of the front yard, proudly simplifying the irrigation and replacing the grass and weeds with desert native bushes and flowers that need *very* minimal, if any, water. Click on the pic and see the ‘before’ and ‘after’.

Here are a few photos I snapped real quick right before the storm. Click the picture to see more.

I got a call from April at work today and she said, “I can’t get home because the fire department has blocked off the main road to our house. Please leave work and meet me, I’m not sure but it looks like our house is on fire.”

I hate the feeling inside when you hear something like that. It comes out of no where, obviously. It’s not like you can expect that kind of stuff. I hurried out of work telling my co-workers, “Uh, I gotta run, I think my house is on fire.” It was really weird. As soon as I got out of work I talked with April using our cell phones to get more details. My 35 minute commute was stressful as April described the thick black smoke, high winds and very hot summer temps over 100+ degrees that were all contributing to a brush fire that could potentially destroy our neighborhood.

By the time I was home and walking to our house from the back, through the wash, a plane flew over head and dumped some kind of red liquid/chemical. Then a helicopter came in and dumped something additional. I was really worried at that point because I’ve never seen a residential fire being fought by the air and ground together. I thought for sure our house was going to be destroyed. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction.

Our home and those surrounding it were technically evacuated, but the fire was still at a distance so we snuck to the house to grab Morgie.

Near 5:00PM the smoke started to decrease and we felt a little bit more comfortable. We spoke with the police and an officer let us know that the fire department managed to contain the blaze. It wasn’t until about 8:15PM until we were allowed to return home.

So, a big thanks to the fire department for controlling the fire quickly and for saving our home. We are very thankful.

Here is the story from the Arizona Daily Star.

After a brutal morning of trying to remove an old tree stump in our courtyard April, her Father and I left the USA. We traveled to Nogales Mexico in search of a Talavera sink. When we arrived we saw an awesome set of dishes, bowls, cups and a few other things. We entered Mexico with a set amount of cash and found out we didn’t have nearly enough when it came to check out. We wheeled and dealed and managed to get everything we wanted except for the sink for all the money we took with us, plus all the change in our pockets. We promised the guy in the store that we would return to buy the sink therefore he let us have everything plus a few shots of tequila. Wow, that was awesome! Check out the set of dishes we got. Also, check out the new blinds April put up in our kitchen.

Yesterday April’s Dad and I rented a chainsaw and cut down the dead tree that was in our front courtyard. We got a nice late start in the day here in Tucson. It was about 3:00PM when we made our first cut. I’d say the temps. were in the high 90s? We managed to keep well hydrated with plenty of beer. April stayed inside but was probably more hot than us. She was battling a clog in our bathroom drain with a snake and never managed to get it out. Yuck. She fought the monster for a couple hours. After we cut the tree down April and I headed to 4th street to chill with some new friends that we met through work. We chilled at the Epic Cafe and watched all the “normal” people walk by on a Friday night. Today we are leaving the USA! But only for a few hours.

Tonight we had a small woody session at our place. Myself, Paul, Tammy and Vince. It was a good and fun night, although the energy was a little low – perhaps thanks to either the beer, or the detailed poop conversation…complements of Vince.

Here are a couple pics of us pulling down on the woody.

For those non-climbers:
Woody = Homemade climbing wall. Typically built out of plywood and 2x4s…hence the name “woody.”

The guys just finished the hole. The tree should be coming within the next hour…

Before:

After:
A big thanks goes out to Civano Nursery for their awesome service! They really knew what they were doing and they got the tree in with no problems. Here are a few pictures of the excitement…

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Last weekend we decided to visit Mesquite Valley Growers and pick up a few cacti and flowers to make our front entrance look nice. Here is what we came up with…

Before:

We waited in suspense all day but finally, our new furniture arrived! Check our our sofa, love seat, coffee table and end table. There are also some photos of our new table cloth. We’ll need to do some serious relaxing after tomorrow. Tomorrow? The Hueco Tanks “Wanker”…