Friday, March 5, 2004
SKP Saguaro Co-Op, Benson, AZ - March 2-May 5
Now we are at the Benson co-op, where we have been for over a month (SORRY to be so slow at keeping in touch!). We have accomplished an amazing number of tasks on our "to-do" list while here. Maybe that is our "excuse" for not writing sooner. Plus just being caught up in the social whirl that exists in a place with so many organized activities. There is so much to do both within the park and in the surrounding area that it is hard to have a moment to ourselves.
In early March they had their Spring Fling weekend, this year with a Mardi Gras theme, which was quite enjoyable. The next weekend we had a visit from our Denver friend, Victoria Naman. We visited Saguaro Natl Park East, on the east side of Tucson on the edge of the Rincon Mtns, and Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mtns, an area of fantastic rock formations where the Chiricahua Apaches under Cochise hid out while they fought to keep their homeland in the mid 1800s. We also found an excellent Thai restaurant in Tucson. We had a wonderful visit with her and were looking forward to our next time together. Tragically, we learned early this week that she passed away in her sleep on 4/2.
It is a great loss for us, and we will miss her greatly.We have visited the San Pedro Riparian area, about 40 miles south of here, for several birding activities and plan to visit a couple more times. They will be banding hummingbirds later this month. We saw them banding other birds in mid March. We have seen several new life species -- Gray Hawk, Scott's Oriole, Broad-billed Hummingbird, Lucy's Warbler, and Doug saw a Bell's Vireo. We joined Lainie Epstein (an excellent birder) several times trying to find a very rare Rufous-capped Warbler, reportedly seen in a nearby canyon. Others saw it, but none of us was lucky.
We continued with a bit more medical stuff, including an unexpected trip to the ER when Willie had an painful attack of what turned out to be diverticulitis. Quite an unpleasant experience, but hopefully it is over & done with and won't return!
We visited the Amerind Foundation in nearby Dragoon. This is a private anthropological and archaeological museum & research center dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Native American cultures and their histories. In addition to enjoying the excellent museum, the grounds are also lovely for picnicking, birdwatching, or just relaxing. We also attended a hummingbird banding session sponsored by the Southeastern AZ Bird Observatory from Bisbee, which was held at the San Pedro House. The woman who runs this program is quite knowledgable (in fact she wrote the Peterson guide to hummingbirds), so it was a very interesting experience. Adding a little culture to our lives, we attended an all-Beethoven choral concert in Tucson one Sunday, with a dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant afterwards. It is nice to have Tucson so close to provide such "cosmopolitan" outings.
Our stay at the co-op was topped off by our actually being able to purchase a lot the Saturday before we left. Another mad dash to Tucson was involved in the financial details. We are hoping to change our rather unattractive bare gravel lot for a nicer casita later in the summer.
After we leave Benson, we will volunteer at Chaco Culture Natl Historic Park, just south of Farmington, NM, for about two months. This will be our first experience as long-term volunteers, and we are looking forward to it. We will be cg hosts and also help with the Night Sky programs. We should learn a lot. Keep this area in mind if you are planning an early summer camping trip. It's not the best road for an RV, but it's a great tenting spot.
The cats are all doing well (Gracie's special kidney diet has reversed her negative signs for early stage kidney disease). They especially enjoy it when we have a warm sunny day. They did not enjoy having our carpet cleaned -- they had to spend the day in their truck cages!!# posted by Doug and Willie @ 5:46 PM 
