Keeping Busy in Tucson

.We haven't been housesitting for the past year and a half.  There has been alot going on at home to keep us busy.



Amy, JP and I after finishing the 2012 Arizona Distance Classic 5K.

I learned to speed walk and entered my first 5K.  I finished 4th in my age group; the top 3 were runners.  I have been polishing my technique, losing weight in the process!  Who'd a thunk at age 60 I'd become an athlete.  Har Har!   I've continued my speedwalking, entering the Saguaro 5k and then the 2013 Arizona Distance Classic quarter marathon. 




Amy and Bill cutting down the olive tree.  Dan and I were on the ground doing our jobs.

Owning a home comes with all sorts of duties.  The olive tree in the front had been planted too close to the house.  It had gotten too big and was rubbing against the edge of the roof.  Down it had to come.  Amy did the cutting, with Bill standing on point to help.  Dan and I were on the ground to give the pull so the branches would land in the proper place, or at least close.  We left the stump, which has grown out from the ground, keeping it pruned into a bush, with a stump to put a potted plant on if we want.

 

We added a fence around the front yard to keep the javalena out.  They so enjoy eating all the plants and uprooting the ones they don't want to eat.  The fence is a combination of wire and Ocotillo fencing.  The Ocotillo blooms after it rains, but the rest of the year it is just sticks with barbs to discourage visitors. 

 

 

The front yard also needed something else, so I built a patio from brick pavers we already owned.  We added a few chairs, a couple of tables. Viola!  A comfy place to sit and watch the world go by.