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Tuesday, October 27, 2009 Mountain 2, Monocogman 0
The mountain won again! (My post about the first attempt is here.) The preacher and his cohorts tackled Spirit Mountain again on Monday. Not only did they not reach the top, they found they were on the wrong mountain! It might have been a good idea to read the guide book before setting out on a big trek. My dear man did check some blogs and forums to see what other hikers thought would be the best approach to the mountain and the best path to take to reach the summit. What he didn't count on was the other hikers not having a good sense of direction...
Ever try to live the Christian life without the Bible? People do it all the time, choosing to read something about the Bible instead of checking out the real Guide Book for directions. Oh, how those little side trails can get us off the track, eh? This adventure was fraught with good sermon illustrations! 
The men set off at sunrise for a five-mile hike, expecting to reach the top in time for a hearty lunch. They hit several dead end trails and some sheer cliffs -- great terrain if you are a free-solo fan, but not for these men who have a bit more sanity, not to mention the responsibility of a family life. One false move in this wilderness can result in death. "If the desert heat doesn't get you," says a Las Vegas and Southern Nevada hiking guide, "the sun, sharp rocks, twisting canyons, lightning, flash floods, prickly plants, rattlesnakes, scorpions, elevation, or mountain lions might." Mildly funny, but true! A snake bite or even a broken ankle can mean the end, so as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't have to be free-solo to be risky. The guys wisely turned around and made the descent, but not before setting a few boulders free. (Don't tell anyone. The cactus-huggers might get after them for changing the landscape.) 
The scenery is gorgeous (if you like brown -- hey, it's a nice fall color!). Check out the rest of the hike info at the Monocog Blog.
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Proverbs 16:25
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009 Morning at the Lake
It's amazing that after we get all our lake stuff into the van there is still room for us, but we did fit. Barely. Somewhere out of view we have three chairs, numerous noodles and rings, a cooler, several bags, and three more people. We're good at this packing business (see this post for evidence).
The lake was gorgeous today. We got there early enough that my internal thermometer was not quite threatening to burst through the top of my head. The water was oh so clear...
And the beach was almost empty.
Everyone found something to do.
As it got later in the day, the beach began to fill up. Scads of people parked their stuff under the one tree on the beach, creating a scene reminiscent of Go, Dog, Go! The only thing missing from the book was all the activity taking place IN the tree and ON the tree! We saw two people wearing shirts in the water. I could hear the man's southern accent from many yards away, and then I knew for sure they weren't from around here.
I attempted to take a panorama of the landscape, and if I can figure out how to stitch the photos all together I'll share that later.
It was a beautiful day!
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Monday, July 6, 2009 Still Alive in the Desert
The official temperature reading here on Sunday last week (this was in my drafts too long) was 117°, and 113° the day after. Dad and the kids went to the lake to "cool off", but they almost overheated before they got to the beach. No one complained of such a thing, but I know they must have -- it's the reason why I did not go with them! It does help to walk that half mile with one's toes in the water, but honestly, that kind of heat makes me feel like my head is the top of a thermometer, and the mercury is about to burst the glass.
But there are some advantages to the heat, at least one. I'll try to think of two.
This week my girls changed roommates, and in the process we washed all the sheets and mattress pads. It's such a quick job. Throw 'em in the wash, then throw 'em over the line. The sheets are dry before the next set comes out of the washer.
And, earlier I had to pour the last of the honey into a smaller jar, but it had crystallized and thickened at the bottom of a plastic gallon container. The answer -- put it out in the sun for a few minutes!
The hot evenings keep everyone inside. At this moment my girls are in the living room harmonizing through the hymn book. Now that, I like!
Okay, that was three. Now, reasons to be thankful for (or in spite of) 113°:
1. No snow to shovel.
2. The AC is working.
3. Since I don't want to leave the AC, I can't spend any money. (That's a good one.)
4. I don't need an electric blanket.
5. It's not 120°! (Yet.)
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Saturday, September 13, 2008 Ten Reasons to Love the Desert
When we first moved here, I hated the desert. In fact, I had already decided BEFORE we moved here that I was going to hate it. And that decision wasn't made when I found out we were moving here -- I already knew I would hate living in this wilderness years before, when, as my DH and I drove through Wikiup, Arizona and we saw a big billboard advertising forty-acre lots for $15,000, he says, "Sal! Do you see that?! Look how cheap land is out here! We could buy forty acres and move here someday!" He sounded like he was joking, but somehow, at that moment, I just knew he would jump at the chance if it ever came along. If I remember right, I stared at him in disbelief, and when I got over my mild shock, with all my wifely submission having flown right out the window, I simply said, "NEVER." I swallowed hard. "There's nothing out here but rattlesnakes! There would be nothing at all romantic about living in this hostile wasteland!" I think I might have threatened to go home to Mother if he even thought about it. Sure, before we were married I agreed to go anywhere with him, told him I could be happy anywhere as long as we were together and all that romantic kind of talk, but I was assuming he would never want to live anywhere I wouldn't!
Well, you know what they say. Never say never. A few years went by, and we were living in Kansas. Once in a while I would see my DH poring over the Arizona page of the atlas, and I would give him one of those looks we women use. Little did I know he had actually been praying about moving out here! That's cheating, don't you think? Well, the opportunity did come and when it did, he was mentally ready to go. It was one of those "Honey, while you pray for us to know God's will, I'll start packing" sort of things.
So you see, my mind was already made up a long time ago. I just wasn't going to like it. ...Forward five years. Here we still are. Living in the desert has been exactly what I expected, except for the fact that we have not seen one live poisonous creature since we moved in. It's hot and it's dusty, it's brown and it's hostile, and, well, it's just men's territory. Men and boys love this stuff for playing in. I think it makes them feel manly. My DH gets on his mountain bike and climbs a grueling mountain "just because it's there", and I think maybe when he finds a wild and lonely place out there, he becomes Terrell Sackett (you have to know Louis L'Amour) until he has to make his way back down the mountain and back to his definitely non-Sackett wife.
But you know what? Something life-changing happened recently. I had a recollection of a day long, long ago, when I was maybe ten years old, when a missionary visited the church where I grew up. I remember hardly anything about her and nothing of what she said, but I do remember that I told the Lord I would go anywhere he wanted me to serve him -- except AFRICA!! Oh God, please don't send me to Africa! And the Lord was faithful to answer my prayer. He has not sent me to Africa. (Well, almost. But we don't have lions or hyenas here, and we don't have termites devouring everything made of wood.) When I thought about that, I felt very ashamed that I had come here with such a bad, unwilling attitude, in the very place where I knew he wanted me to be! Here I have been in rebellion against his will for nearly five years. No wonder I didn't like the desert. No one can be truly happy or content when they are in rebellion against the Lord. As much as I love the Lord Jesus Christ and want to be used of him, my heart simply was not submitted to his authority over me as his child.
I decided that I had to find some things about the desert to thank the Lord for, or else I was going to shrivel up and die out here, and it would be because of my own selfish attitude. I confessed my willfulness to the Lord, telling him I was sorry for my hard-heartedness, and immediately I felt a weight lifted from my heart. When I began to make a list of the good things about where I live, I could only think of one positive thing. LOL! (How pathetic!) Now I'm up to ten eleven twelve thirteen oops, I have one listed twice. Okay, seventeen. The desert kind of grows on you. (I can't believe I'm saying this.) Here is my list so far, and as I come up with more things, I'll add them to this post:
1• We have no mosquitoes!
2• We have no grass to mow.
3• The climate is comfortably dry, at least after you get used to it.
4• Lots of sunshine.
5• No mold or mildew!
6• We have a clean, clear, algae-free lake.
7• No hurricanes/blizzards/earthquakes!
8• No snow, snow-shoveling, snow tires, salt-induced rust, heavy winter clothes.
9• My clothesline is the super, extraordinary rapid-dry model.
10• Gorgeous sunsets (due to all that nice dust in the air)!
11• There are people I love here!
3 again• The dry air really is comfortable after you get used to it. The cracked lips learn how to stay moisturized, and that sharp, pointy booger sensation in your nostrils goes away. And you quit drinking a gallon of water every half hour.
12• When it is -40°F in Minnesota, I will be enjoying 65° F! LOL! (Thanks for reminding me, Jane!)
13• Glorious fall mornings.
14• No neck ache from hunched shoulders, to keep the cold wind from blowing down my jacket.
15• No jacket!! (yet)
16• This time of year, all the windows are open at night.
17• Some interesting spiritual applications can be made here:
~" The rebellious dwell in a dry land" Ps 68:6. Oh me! (There are lots of rebels here besides me.)
~" But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert." Ps 106:14 Oh me, oh my!
~" Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work;" Job 24:5 We have quite a few wild asses locally, and I do mean this in the literal sense, lol.
~" For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water:" Is.35:6,7 We're definitely parched around here.
~" Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:" We have lots of rough and crooked places around here (it's all rough and crooked!), and we have mountains and valleys, too!
~" Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited."Jer 17:5,6 It's definitely a salt land, and mostly uninhabited. I'm thankful to have a city here!
~And last, this one is a fright! " They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And HE GAVE THEM THEIR REQUEST; BUT SENT LEANNESS UNTO THEIR SOUL." Ps 106:13-15. This is why I never ask God to move us away from here -- I'm afraid he'll answer my prayer and give me something worse!  lol!
I don't mind the desert so much any more. Heh heh, actually, I'm kind of glad to be here!
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Monday, May 19, 2008 Beach Day
Well, guess what, I did go to the lake, after all, and I took a zillion pictures (thank the Lord for digital cameras). These photos are going to look just like the ones I took last year at the lake. Same lake, same hot sun, same kids, same swimsuits, even! It was 115, just like I thought. We didn't get there until 3 pm, and we still sunburned. I put my toes in the water a couple of times, and I can't believe the kids actually got in. (My DH did, too, but he's like that. ) The beach was packed, well, there might have been 50 people there, but that's too many for our liking. We go wayyyy down on the end where there isn't anybody. Problem is, we have to walk by all of them on our way out. Sorry about all the pixelation. Someday I'll figure out how to post photos right, but not right now. I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow!
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Ocotillo (O KO TEE' YO)
UPDATE: To my horror, I have found that my research on this plant was quite faulty!! Here is the content of a comment I received on this entry:
I wanted to write you concerning the article you wrote on the ocotillo. It is commonly mistaken for a cactus but it is actually a plant. The leaf on the plant we have grows just above the base of the thorn but the leaf is not a part of the thorn. There may be a variety that is actually a part of the thorn, not sure, but the one we have the leaf comes out just above the thorn at the base. Thought you may want to check the info out for yourself because I am not a botanist by any means. Just wanted to make sure someone who lives far from the desert and had never seen the plant didn't actually mistake it for a cactus.
Thank you, Cherie, for enlightening us! (I did wonder about those new little leaves growing above the thorns...)
My earlier post on cactus (with a little help from a kind commenter) has inspired me to try making cactus jelly. We will have to wait until later in the summer to do that, but in the meantime I have suddenly become interested in photographing and learning about the other species we have in our yard. This one is my favorite -- ocotillo. This pd photo is nicer than the one I took with houses in the background.
When the leaves have all dried up, only the stalk and thorns are left. But as soon as it rains, here come little buds, just above the thorns. I prefer these obvious thorns over the nearly invisible, fine stickers that many other cacti are armed with!
And for those of you who are trivia buffs or mathematicians, I have two more pieces of interesting news. One, Alison discovered the Fibonacci spiral when she looked down the length of a cut piece of ocotillo stalk. Two, if you are ever stranded out in the desert wilderness, and you just happen to have a match, and you also just happen to have a good, dry piece of ocotillo, you can start a good signal fire. Burning ocotillo sends up a black, greasy smoke. (File that away with my earlier tip on Elmer's glue.) 
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Sunday, April 13, 2008 Cactaceae (It's Latin to Me!)
I was putzing around in the yard the other day and discovered something I had not seen before, cactus seed pods. Excuse me, ovaries. I don't know how I thought cactus multiplied -- I guess I just figured they budded from the ground, sort of like irises do, from tubers or something. I hollered to Alison the Curious, and we sort of dissected one. Here is what we found:
The little clusters of spines that you see in the photo to the right, above, are called glochids. These spines are very fine, very small, and very difficult to remove without knowing a few tricks. Alison got her hands full of them, but Elmer's glue pulls them out easily if you spread it on and let it dry, then peel off. (File that helpful tip away for your next family vacation to the desert.)
Below you can see a bud, then the flower, and on the right, the dead, dried up blooms sitting atop their ovaries. In a while, these dead blooms will look like the seed pod (no, ovary) in the top photo. These beautiful flowers last just a couple of days, and the whole plant only blossoms for a week or two. God designed it this way to conserve water lost by evaporation through the soft petals. (He knows what he is doing. )
We have a long, thick row of these beautiful cacti growing along the west side of our home. I wish I had a photo for you -- about a week ago they were all in full bloom and oh, so pretty! (I'll have to check with the resident plant photographer, Booklover/Amy, to see if she has one.) The blooming desert is a brief but beautiful reminder that there is life this barren wilderness, after all.
I hope you enjoyed our lesson -- we did!
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Thursday, February 21, 2008 Mohave Thorn Scorpion
As you know, we did some desert hiking last week. Well, truth be told, I can not include myself in that word, "we". I personally enjoyed some very sedentary quiet time, which was a blessing to me. I really didn't need the sedentary part of it, but the quiet was very nice. So anyway, my family goes hiking out there in our wilderness, which has been determined to be safe and snake-less this time of year, and look at this scary creature that hitch-hiked home with them! The dreaded Mohave Thorn Scorpion. Here it is crawling across my kitchen floor, trying to get me!
No, it doesn't bite, or even sting. Actually it's harmless, unless you accidentally sit on it.  It's really a piece of barrel cactus skeleton. (Too bad this isn't April -- this would have made a great April Fool's joke!)
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Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Where Are the Snakes??
Copied from a comment on the previous entry:
No. The snakes know it is still winter (and many of you would agree, I know), and they are hibernating, or at least cold enough not to move around. Well, let me do some research... tick tock tick tock tick tock... Okay, here ya go. All of the info I saw on snakes says that they come out of hibernation after the last frost. Oh. Heh, heh, we don't have frost around here too often... Well, let me think about this.... okay, here's a good theory: The area where we were hiking is a couple or three thousand feet higher in elevation from where we live, so it is cooler there, and the nights are still cold. So we are safe, right?  We have hiked around here for over four years, and we have yet to see or hear a live snake. We have not even seen a dead one. Most of them are timid and will get out of the way when they hear/sense someone coming. We do have one aggressive variety, the dreaded Mohave Green Rattlesnake (no, that is not one in the photo -- that one is rubber, ha ha!), but locally, every time someone has been bitten the idiot victim was trying to prove something to his drunken buddies and was harassing it or trying to pick it up. This does not happen often in these parts. (The biting part, I mean. The drunkenness happens a lot, unfortunately.)
So the answer is, at this time of year we are about 99.5% safe from snakebites. We don't start hiking until about November, and we don't hike into April. But we probably could. There are plenty of poor ol' homeless fellows, real Louis L'Amour types, who sleep in the desert year 'round. I'm sure a few of them have had a snake or two curl up in their bedrolls at night. Eeeek! But us, we're safe. Right? Right, Cherryblossoms? We're safe?
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Wednesday, February 13, 2008 The Desert in February
Congratulate me! I do believe I have set a personal record for non-blogging, eight days! I have been keeping up with most of my blogging friends, but we have been so busy enjoying the lovely local weather here that I have not been posting anything, not even comments! And sometimes it seems I just can't come up with anything interesting to say, even though things have been happening, Emily is still asking questions, and there have been lots of informative and interesting posts out there (made by other people, not me!) to share with you all. Call it blogger's block.
This is the time of year when I used to call home crying, "Please let me come home, I HATE the snow!!!" I lived on my college campus in Minnesota. I hated February and March, and we were always blessed with a blizzard in April, too. Shudder. So I am very happy to say we have had some delightful days here the past week, and I feel so sorry for some of you who are still in the land of Winter!
We have some fun and exciting visitors with us this week, my MIL and FIL, who drove all the way from Virginia to see us! Here's what we have been busy with the past few days. Don't hate us. We can't help it that we live where the sun shines.
The big girls skated to the park this morning while Nana and Emily walked, then I did some errands and joined them at the park with Emily's bike:
We broke the rules. Wheelchairs only!
Yesterday everyone but Emily and me went for a desert hike. (We had a nap. That smiley is me. This one is Emily:  ) These pics below were taken either in California or Nevada, somewhere close to where they meet on the map. Yes, behind those heavy, snowy clouds hovering over those of you who are in Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc, the sky IS blue still!
Nana brought along something I was supposed to take home with me when we were with them last year, a vase-painting kit for the girls. (We didn't have one extra inch of space!) So the girls enjoyed painting yesterday morning with the warm sun on their backs:
And the big guys went for a macho bike ride. Out here in the West, image is everything, you know. That is why my DH is wearing long pants and is barefoot, lol! Yes, he always wears long pants (modesty is for men as well as for ladies), and no, he does not really bike in his bare feet. We call him Pants Armstrong, lol.
One of the reasons we enjoy having Nana and Papa with us is that they always bring such good things to eat with them! This time they loaded us with oranges and grapefruits from Phoenix, as well as cookies from Germany, and roasted almonds from Costco, lol. I think I will be 10 lbs fatter after this week, just when I was hoping to lose some weight. Well, I am ALWAYS hoping to lose some weight. It never happens, and I know that is because weight loss DOESN'T just happen! It's so much work. Totally against my personality. Like housework. Housework and weight loss. Same kind of thing!  sigh.
This morning my own parents left for a two and a half week trip to Thailand. Not my first choice, for sure (I hear Bangkok makes Las Vegas look like kindergarten, and I know what Vegas looks like!) but I do enjoy seeing new places. I think I got that travel bug injected deep into my veins when I was a little kid. Unfortunately my DH seems to have been immunized against traveling, so we pretty much stay home. But home is where the heart is, right?
Well, I am just blabbing for the sake of posting something, so I had better get off here and go do something real. I'll see you all here in the neighborhood somewhere!
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Monday, January 7, 2008 There's Snow in Them Thar Hills!
Some time ago Emily began praying for a violin. She got a violin. She also prayed for a bunk bed. She got a bunk bed. And she prayed for snow. Did she get snow! Look real close at that first photo, and you can see a little bit of it way off in the distance. Much to my desert-loving DH's chagrin, he had to make good on his promise that if it ever snowed close enough to home, he would take the girls up the highway a piece to play in it. Did it matter that our collection of winter gear consists of a hodge-podge of old mittens and two pair of $5 winter boots? Did it matter that two of us are sick and one is getting over it? Of course not! It was Emily's first time ever, but all the girls were thrilled. So tonight Emily is thanking the Lord for snow, and her parents are thanking the Lord we don't live in it.
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Thursday, September 6, 2007 Another Great Day at Lake Mohave
This is the beach, below. If the scenery looks familiar, it is because we always go to the same spot! Pretty desolate on a Wednesday afternoon after Labor Day (school has started, yay!) in 115 degrees! This photo is taken from the far end of the cove, which is our spot. My girls love to go to "the island", which is about 40 yards from the shore, but that means a long walk! As you can (barely) see, there is no nice grassy place to lay your towel here, like there might be at a midwest lake. But there is also no mud, no leaches, no mosquitoes, and no green scum on the water. It is sooooo clear!
This is looking the other way, from our spot:
The swimmers of varying abilities have made it to the island, where there is a nice spot for diving in. Until I was able to see if for myself, I was afraid someone would hit the bottom head-first and end up a quadraplegic.  It must be the ex-lifeguard in me.
The sad non-swimmer is left behind with boring Mommy:
Doting daughters:
Relaxing:
The unhappy non-swimmer was given the important job of lifeguard, and from that point on she was content to supervise:
I also tried my hand at some wildlife photography. I NEVER have my Audubon book along when I need it, so I can't tell you what species this dragonfly is:
I also photographed the red ants that were swarming all over our stuff and our spot, but with my skill they are too small to make a good photo! They were nice enough not to feel the need to crawl over our feet. Ants really are fascinating to watch. I dumped our granola bar crumbs too close to our towels and stuff, and Emily and I watched the ants help each other to carry the proportionately HUGE oat pieces to where ever they were trying to take them. You could almost hear them talking to each other. "Hey you guys, come over here and help me with this!" And, "Oh, you look like you could use another set of arms (legs) to get that load home. Here, let me help you." Great lessons for a three-year-old and a self-centered Mommy.
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Philippians 2:2-4
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Monday, August 27, 2007 Typical Desert Dweller
Friday, August 17, 2007 Something Else Strange and Wonderful!
Saturday, July 14, 2007 Another Great Morning at the Lake
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(Above photo by Amy.)
