Good morning Winter 2019!Gorgeous day to walk along the San Juan river downtown.And appreciate the ice crystals on the plants, the shadows, and how the snow piles on the rocks.Snowshoeing around the block with neighbors.Winter Fest brought hot air balloons and cold temperatures.So colorful and fun to watch them inflate.A good crowd of spectators.Beautiful mountain scenery.And they like to do “touch and Go” on the lake leaving a skid mark in the snow.Maybe that is what our frequent visitor is waiting for.Or maybe he is just enjoying the view like us.
We will wake up to this view in master suite. WOW!
Hot air balloon checks out the new construction.
We spend our evenings and weekends building the interior stair.
We created a landing with a north window – a view of the mountains.
Lower stairs are set at 15% angle as this is transition from main house to garage/second floor on a curved site. Second step extended for a seat towards coat closet.
We also installed the balcony railing and Trex decking. We ate many of our lunches here during construction!
Friends came for the weekend and helped us paint. Incredible! We were so tired from the priming coat on everything, 2 coats on ceiling and walls.
Another weekend, friends came and helped us assemble and install the IKEA kitchen.
Atlas Shrugged! Power Girl! We sooo appreciated their enthusiasm and experience.
This was all the kitchen packaging – yikes! A few trips to the Transfer Station to recycle it.
Friends helped us move in and it was over in less than 2 hours! There are still doors to be hung but for now, we have a cup of java and enjoy this milestone moment.
IKEA Kallarp gray turquoise kitchen with Kashmir Granite. Front of island has door panels of IKEA Besta Laxviken – also used on built in in dining room.
J & J (link to their photos) came for 2 weeks and stayed for 4. They helped install the garage doors, finish kitchen cabinets, build the stair railings and installed bamboo floor. Much more fun to do together – and so much appreciated their dedication to helping us finish.
The railing is black powdercoated “hog fence”, set in an aluminum channel and supported top and bottom with an oak rail. Our metal fabricator made the posts, then welded top plates in place – very sturdy railings.
We made cardboard templates before cutting the hog fence. Took all four of us to get these made and installed!
We found a very artistic landscaper who created this rock wall for us at the lake shore. Property had receding shore line so we wanted to not lose any more land.
This is south facing for solar and maximum lake views. Brackets are for future photovoltaic panels. We love how rock wall undulates. Native Blue Grama Grass “Alma” is planted between patio and lake with future landscape beds on either side.
Metal roof,trim, and wainscot, stucco walls, Milgard windows: North view from street with Xeriscaping in progress- lots of rock! We thank our contractor, all his subcontractors, and suppliers who made this house a reality!
Our cozy sun filled main room with fabulous view of lake and mountains. Main floor is a polished natural concrete – slab on grade to maximize winter solar heat gain.
This redwood sign was near the Cactus Picnic area in Sabino Canyon in the Coronado National Forest. This area is used to host school groups. Smokey is looking like he could use a little sprucing up.
Here is a detail of the deterioration. The paint kept the carved out letters from aging so they protruded from the background.
We used Bondo on the edges to give a strong weather protection. There is also some wood filler. We had to reattach the boards with new screws.
We patched the old bolt holes to keep the water from penetrating as well as patching some of the larger deterioration spots.
In the field, we cleaned up the vegetation and repainted the sign metal supports.
We painted the entire back ground Forest Service ‘Brown’ before painting the details with ‘Adobe’.
Using a very fine brush and lots of patience!
After extra indoor drying time, Smokey is ready to return to the forest.
Well here we are flanking the restored sign!
This project maintains the legacy of those before us that carved this sign for their care and love of the forest. We are proud to give this sign many more extra years of life to reach more of the visitors to this picnic area.
Morning fog in Sabino Canyon after a night of heavy rain.
This fog bank is soon to overtake us as we watched it move from the creek up the side of the canyon.
We read that Sabino Creek was dry for 154 days – very unusual for the winter months. I am very happy to see it full of water this morning. This is the only photo in this posting taken with the phone.
Eight of the Nine dam/bridges had water on them. We have spent many hours clearing these bridges of vegetation and debris.
These stonework wonders are interesting engineering as they are designed for the high waters to flow over, but to act as dams by creating recreation pools during lower water levels.
The up stream side of a bridge has a quiet reflecting pond, even while the water is pouring over on the other side of the road.
The water had bubbles and was dark with tannins like an exquisite root-beer.
We checked out Anderson Dam area for trash…we did find some floating debris but mainly just enjoyed the beauty of the waterfall.
Gneiss!
We also pulled some of the grasses and weeds from the 3.7 island we had planted earlier in the season. So much easier to pull from wet soil!
It seemed like a good day to improve this little corner of the park. We shoveled out the base of the sign, moved some cobblestones and placed on the slope, backfilled with dirt and will wait for the rain to push the dirt between the rocks and clean things up. We will check on it next weekend…
We drove to Phoenix to be with these wonderful people! My aunt and uncle have another seasonal rental in Sun City. We coordinated our visit to also be with Mom.
We met J & J who were camped at White Tanks for an outing.
The ladies all looking good in turquoise or is that teal sky!
And the guys in khaki…not like we coordinated our hiking outfits.
We are doing maintenance in the parking areas and pullouts on the Catalina Highway. With all the cigarette butts, we are amazed there is not a fire every day. Smokey Bear must be watching over us.
Lots of cyclists working hard for 23 mile climb to enjoy the tuck back down to Tucson. A Sky Island is an isolated Eco system: this is the equivalent of going from Mexico to Canada with the change in plants as the elevation increases.
Picnic lunch at Rose Canyon Reservoir to appreciate the scenery.
Complete with ducks begging for scraps.
Taking in the view south from Windy Vista with the road winding its way back to the valley.
Sabino Creek starts on Mt Lemmon. Sabino Canyon National Rec Area is at the base of the mountain – contiguous with the Santa Catalina National Forest for hiking but you have to drive through part of Tucson to get to it by car.
It is great to see other people out enjoying this beautiful day!
We deserve a bit of a break after raking the picnic areas and cleaning out the grilles. Great placement of this table!
We realized doors were not insulated, so we carefully removed cover panels on the back doors and sliding door.
We lined the cavities with 2″ thick batt insulation. We are happy with the results as it seems to cut down on cold air drafts as well as hot air infiltration.
We used a total 7 rolls of 16″ x 48″ unfaced fiberglass, purchased at the local Home Depot.
This is the lower portion of the sliding door. We also used some Great Stuff “Big Gap Filler” insulating foam sealant on the top and bottom 8″ of the sliding door for more efficient seal.
This is the back passenger door before insulation. There is option for a storage compartment but we wanted the insulation.
This is back driver side door which also shows an option for additional storage.
A view of our picnic area. Ready for some errands in Tucson.
Along East Bear Creek Trail – an easy 3 mile loop we walk from our camp.
Looking down on the island at 3.7 miles on the road from Phoneline Trail.
This is 3.7 island and the end of the road for the trams. This a little garden area we have adopted by adding an occatillo last year, and this year a staghorn cholla, a barrel cactus, as well as an agave (at my feet). We pruned the beautiful hop bush and left a few other interesting plants. Many people touch the rock as an achievement for running or walking to this point so we made it a bit more accessible. We make weekly trips to water and keep the weedy grass from regrowing.
Another beautiful sunset in the canyon from our camp!
A hike to 7 Falls — no water at all in any of the stream crossing. And no water falls but a beautiful reflection pond is still retaining some water.
One of the many art shots we took while appreciating how the reflection was more scenic because of heightened contrast.
A really nice spot to hang out and contemplate before our 4-mile walk back to camp.
The Canyon during the three day government shutdown: the parking lots and visitor center were closed, creating work for law enforcement.
We spent a day at Catalina State Park with Joan and Jim – we hiked some of the trail to Romero Pools, enjoyed a picnic lunch together, wine o’clock at their camp followed by Joan’s delicious beef stew. Nice day.
Back on the job, we refinished 4 teak benches at the visitor center. Lots of sanding, bending over, and 2 coats of linseed oil.
Two of the larger benches that get more sun damage.
Oh but they feel sooooo nice. Such a good job~!
Couldn’t resist a detail shot!
Storm clouds but still no rain. It is extremely dry — very different from last January! But enjoying another beautiful sunset.
And the full super blue blood moon rise.
We enjoyed one night from our camp site and the other at Saguaro National Park West with the native flute music.
