The Latest from Tucson

Here's a sampling of sights from the past week in Tucson...

On this mornings bike ride we had an unusual sighting...deer in the desert! We knew they were around thanks to road signs and meeting an archer on a trail one day who was hunting them, but we'd never seen any around Tucson. These two were fairly well hidden and it was pure chance that we even saw them.

The Tucson Gem Show is a big deal. There are hundreds of vendors at dozens of sites through out the city for two weeks every February. We visited one site one day and were amazed at the variety of stuff besides beads and gems and rocks.

There were some enormous pieces on display.
It's hard to imagine the effort some of these vendors put into attending this show!

Stone lamp shades and sconces!

Walking through the desert one afternoon out behind our RV park I came upon a Coopers Hawk perched in a palo verde tree.

He gets ready to fly off...I was making him nervous about 20 feet away.

Walking through the RV park one morning we caught a pack rat enjoying a prickly pear cactus breakfast. I had no idea they ate cactus!

This Pyrrhuloxia had been eluding me for weeks. He hides deep in the cactus and flits around anxiously whenever I pass nearby. Sitting still for hours near the bird feeders, with a book and camera at the ready, I managed to capture this beautiful bird in his element.

This is one crazy, confused barrel cactus!

Rosie is enjoying this park, even with all the cactus!