Hi Zach,

Have been planning to come post here, but just never get around to it since I hardly ever come here anymore, thanks to the Nasty Popup!

Congratulations on your "big move," and hope you're getting Settled In and are happy with your New Locale by now! I didn't realize you were moving quite that "quick!" Which Natl. Monument did you say you're working at now?

I checked on a map to see just where Buckeye is and discovered that you're not far at all from the Tohono O'Odham Rez! You should drive on down there some day and say Howdy!

With your new "gardening project," is there any chance you could build some fairly big wooden boxes, sort of like small raised beds, but with bottoms in them, to give you somewhere to plant some Green? A long, narrow one along each wall would give you some "backdrop" at least. You probably wouldn't have had time, but if I had realized you were leaving that fast you could have come to Thornton and picked up a "cactus garden" I have! It's indoor/tropical cactus, but WAY down there it would be an OUTDOOR cactus garden! Just in a little pot, but if the cacti were planted in bigger pots and actually got some SUN, I'm sure they'd start growing! It was given to me a few years ago by somebody--who didn't know I don't take much of a hankerin' to plants that bite! Have been trying to think of somebody to give it to! If you ever get back up this way and have time to drive up to the north end of town, and I still have it, you're welcome to come on up and pick it up! Could throw in a couple houseplants too--outdoor down there! I have a couple nice ornamental Aloes! And am about to start rooting some more jades!

I'm sure glad you like the heat, 'cause I couldn't live down there at all! I can manage shoveling snow every now and then (and I DO think it's pretty!), but I could never deal with the HEAT down thataway, and I really hate living in a "closed up" house "in air conditioning!" (We could get a little bit of snow tonite, BTW!)

When you get some bigger--or just more--pots, keep us up to date on your Hot Land gardening down there. And I'm sure the (few) people left around here would love to see more of your "nature" pics whenever you have time.

Good luck in your new life down there. Hope everything works out as you're planning.

Skybird

I sent you and email (the one under the "Skybird Forever" name) I think you said it was your olde email, so hopefully you still check it. Its the only email address I have for you!

Anyhow, I am settling in here in Arizona pretty well. The scenery is absolutely stunning and the climate is just perfect for a cold blooded critter like myself haha. The move was rediculously quick. I got the official job offer at the end of August and the start date was the 2nd of October. September was little more than a blur, between the lease on our apartment in Centennial ending August 30th and trying to find a house here in the Phoenix area before the end of September and then moving. My eife, Krista, and our little boy are still in Denver staying with my mother in law however until she is able to find work down here. So, being away from them is pretty rough. It is nice though, that we are avle to actually live in a house rather than an apartment (and paying less in rent than we were in Colorado to boot!).

I am actually working at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, waaaay down south, along the international border with Mexico. Its definitely a bit of a "culture shock" being down there and the unique challenges that our southern border presents. Not only from the illegal activity that flows between the two countries, but also the conflicts between different federal agencies with very different missions and priorities and the effect that it has on managing the natural resources down there. Its funny you mention the Tohono O'Odham Nation, they actually form the eastern boundary of the monument! I would think it would be interesting to visit, but I guess I really don't know what there is to do if I did!

As far as gardening, I have been thinking about building planters to go back there. There is definitely no "in ground" gardening going on. Nimver one, we are renting, but even so, the caliche soil around here makes Colorado clay seem like the deepest, blackest, most fertile Midwestern prairie ground. It looks like dirt here, but I'm almost certain the good Lord simply paved the ground with cement at the creation. But, in any event, we are "technically" headed into winter here, so planting will have to wait. No, not because of temperatures, I actually think many perennials would probably be better off planted now than in the spring, but the garden centers around here seem to be pretty low on selection. I'm HOPING its my timing and not a permanent situation and that come February or March they will have the salvias and penstemons and agastaches, which should grow exceptionally well here, in stock. So, building planters will definitely be a good "winter" project for me.

I will absolutely be back in Denver, fairly regularly. Our family is still all there after all, and thet might send in the calvary if I don't visit (especially once their only grandchild gets down here). I do like cactus, although "plants that bite" is perfectly accurate. So far there are precious few plabts that grown here in the Sonoran Desert that DON'T have "teeth." Dozens of cacti species, palo verde, mesquite, acacia, and ocotillo just to name a few.... But they are wildly facinating. From the towering saguaros and the deceptively named "teddy bear" cholla to the spindly armed ocotillo topped with its brilliantly carmine red flowers. They may be violent, but the desert is sure a sight to behold, at least to this sod stomping prairie pounder that is used to a flat sea of grass. Not to say that the plains aren't beautiful in their own way, but this place has the added benefit of novelty and wonder yet.

The climate isn't all that bad. Yes, it was definitely hot the first part of October, and I have yet to experience a summer, but we have only had a couple days over 99 and the evenings really cool down nicely. Being told that the average low over the winter months is in the 40's and 50's is fantastic, and the past week or two has seen highs only in the 80's (it was high 70's on Sunday). So really, I think MOST of the year is pretty bearable, with the height of summer being about the same "comfort wise" (albeit opposite in temperature) of our winter.

I will definitely keep you guys up to date in my gardening adventures down here and also, once I get a computer and internet (right now I'm doing everything on my phone) I can share all the pictures I've been getting on my nature adventures, too!

I hope everything is going well with you, and how was your fall trip down to the Four Corners?! With RMG being so slow its hard to catch up with folks. Most of tue time it seems like just me and Steve trying to keep the place even breathing. Hopefully in the spring it will pick up again.

Well, take care my friend and I hope to hear from you soon!

Thanks for letting me know about the email! I found it at the GardenDenver address, which I only check every few days! Have something going on for the next couple days, but will reply as soon as I have a chance. I checked the Tohono O'Odham site and it looks like they don't have any sort of "tourism" on the rez, but they do have a Cultural Center--will send a link--and some other links about them that I've saved! I've been saving links because their rez is in both the U.S. and Mexico, and the wall--which is only a fence so far on the rez--is really messing with their lives and culture. Have been following it for quite a while now!

I do "check" RMG almost every day to see if "anything" is going on--but there's less and less around here--can't help but wonder how much the "lack of traffic" has to do with the Nasty Popup! I am seriously wondering at this point if it will keep going at all in the next year. I guess we'll find out!

I'll be back to you in a few days. Glad to hear thing are going well for you!

Skybird