Tucson From Tumamoc Hill

We arrived in Tucson late in the day on Nov 8th. We stayed at an AirBnB about 3 miles north of the University.

The Determined Luddites

You can find the Luddites most Mondays at Hotel Congress in downtown Tucson. Our brother Dan is on the right playing guitar. His son Gabe is on bass in the back. Dan founded the band with Dan Davis (left on mandolin) many years ago. We always enjoy their performances when we are in Tucson. We were fortunate enough to see them three times during this visit.

Dan Hostetler

Gabe Hostetler

The Determined Luddites!

Sunset on Tumamoc Hill in Tucson

Tucson at Night

Tuesdays at Bro Jo's

Tuesdays are popular at Brother John's Beer Bourbon & BBQ. Beers are $2 all day. Mark (left), James and Junie can often be found here on Tuesdays.

Roller Skating... ?!

Didn't see that one coming. Our brother Chris, and his girlfriend Lacey, invited us to go roller skating with them and Lacey's kids (who were very cool!). It was great fun and brought back some long-dormant memories and skills (?). The good news is that neither of us fell down and broke anything!

Hiking at Catalina State Park

Someone needs to tell Woody that it's not hiking if you get carried everywhere. Sheesh.

Catalina State Park sits at the base of the majestic Santa Catalina Mountains. The park is a haven for desert plants and wildlife and nearly 5,000 saguaros. The 5,500 acres of foothills, canyons and streams invites camping, picnicking and bird watching — more than 150 species of birds call the park home.

A Cactus...

Just one of the many things in the desert that want to hurt you.

Santa Catalina Mountains

Water in the Stream

Tucson’s 2021 monsoon season ended as the third-wettest on record. The total amount of rain received during this monsoon, which runs from June 15 through Sept. 30, was 12.79 inches. The wettest monsoon on record was in 1964 with 13.84 inches of rain. The average rainfall for a Tucson monsoon is 5.55 inches, according to the weather service. In 2019, Tucson only received 1.62 inches of rain, making it the second driest monsoon on record.

All of the rainfall earlier in the year led to a beautiful, green November.

Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea)

The saguaro is a columnar cactus that grows notable branches, usually referred to as arms. Over 50 arms may grow on one plant. Saguaros grow from 10–52 feet tall, and up to 30 inches in diameter. They are slow growing, but routinely live 150 to 200 years. They are the largest cactus in the United States. The growth rate of this cactus is strongly dependent on precipitation; saguaros in drier western Arizona grow only half as fast as those in and around Tucson. Saguaros grow slowly from seed, and may be only 6.4 mm (1⁄4 in) tall after two years.

So Much Color

Dead Saguaro

Saguaro Genome

For the biotech fans...
The saguaro genome is around 1 billion base pairs long. Sequencing has revealed that the genome of the saguaro's chloroplast is the smallest known among nonparasitic flowering plants. Like several other highly specialized plant taxa, such as the carnivorous Genlisea and parasitic Cuscuta, the saguaro has lost the ndh plastid gene, which codes for production of NADPH dehydrogenase pathway, but unlike those taxa, the saguaro remains fully autotrophic; i.e. it does not eat or steal part of its food. The saguaro is remarkable for the scale and completeness of gene loss; essentially no traces of the 11 ndh genes remain in the plastid (can you believe that?!). The genes appear to have been copied to the nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA, but those copies are non-functional. How the saguaro thrives in a high stress environment without working copies of this fairly important gene remains unknown, but it is possible that the functions of the ndh genes have been taken on by another pathway.
:)

Saguaro

A saguaro can absorb and store considerable amounts of rainwater, visibly expanding in the process, while slowly using the stored water as needed. This characteristic enables the saguaro to survive during periods of drought.

Conservation

Harming or vandalizing a saguaro in any manner, such as shooting them (sometimes known as "cactus plugging") is illegal by state law in Arizona. When houses or highways are built, special permits must be obtained to move or destroy any saguaro affected.

Related Darwin Award Nominee: In 1982, a man was killed after damaging a saguaro. David Grundman was shooting and poking at a saguaro cactus in an effort to make it fall. An arm of the cactus, weighing 500 lb, fell onto him, crushing him and his car. The trunk of the cactus then also fell on him. The Austin Lounge Lizards wrote the song "Saguaro" about this death. It's worth a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_9LDLur5P4

Tucson from Tumamoc Hill

Yes, we climbed Tumamoc Hill a few too many times. The views were nice, but that hill! Sheesh!

Kora and Bodhi Lynn

Introducing Bodhi Lynn. Born on Oct 11, 2021. What a pleasure to meet this little sweetheart!
Congratulations to Kora (Lauren's niece) and Tim!

Sisters

Ariana holding Bodhi.

Bodhi

Windy Point Vista, Mt Lemmon

Mount Lemmon is the highest point (9,159 feet ) in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson.

Gayle, Helen and Lauren

We drove to Windy Point Vista with Helen, Mark and Gayle to honor Ted, who passed away earlier in the year.

Helen Turner

It was so nice (as always) to spend time with Helen!

Seen here with her copy of a book from the Tucson Tome Gnome... A mysterious person who occasionally leaves up to 30 copies of a book around Tucson for people to find, read and pass along. We happened to find this one near the farmers market one Saturday morning and thought that Helen would like it. It's a great story (The City We Became) by a fabulous author (N.K. Jemisin). The Tome Gnome is one of our heroes!

Madera Canyon Nature Trail

This is a really nice trail about an hour south of Tucson, near Green Valley.

Nessa Cannot Resist Getting in a Creek

Nessa at our AirBnB

Hiking at Sweetwater Preserve