A beautiful day up north

We had a wonderful time up north last Friday. It's March so we wanted to see some snow before it's gone. After we left a busy city traffic, the road was beautiful and picturesque with all the idyllic mountain's scenes.

We stop at the Beeline cafe in Payson for a quick bite and coffee, grabbed a bare root black cherry tree at the local store to plant at home and went to a snowy forest.    

It's beautiful in a snowy setting. The pine trees are huge and you feel yourself so small next to it.

We saw some coyote tracks and later we noticed 5 deer right next to where we were.

A beautiful day! Now we are getting ready for a spring!

Desert hike and the jumping cactus

Spring has come to the desert! It looks like the cactuses are ready to bloom and it is just a matter of time when we'll see them in full bloom.

The sun is shining and the temperature is just right. A perfect time for picnics!

We were lucky to find some time for a short hike in the desert. There are many people there right now. Everyone is very friendly and it is pleasant to exchange simple hellos and good mornings when we meet on the narrow trail.

It was an interesting moment while we were there and it happened with us for a second time now. There was a group of teenagers standing on the trail next to a teddy bear cholla cactus, known also as a jumping cholla. They said they are waiting to see when the cactus is actually going to jump.

The thing is, it will not. The cactus got its name because that little balls of barbed spines cholla stems are easily detached when brushed against. The spines give it the soft furry looks of a teddy bear.

It is tempting to touch it (believe me!) but beware. It will end up on your skin or clothing. The little balls are a young plants which will root when they hit the ground. They can be carried away by the animal or unsuspecting person and will root in another corner of desert. This is the way the plant reproduce and spread itself.

If you get this on you, don't try to grab it and pull it off because it will now be in your hand also. The best way to remove it is with a hair comb by placing it in between you and a cactus and flicking it away. Make sure nobody is in the way where you flicking it! Pick out any thorns still there.

A little botanical lesson, huh :)

Anyway, it was nice to get some desert air and see that things are ready for spring. It was a cold winter this year so we are ready for some sunshine.

How to free a lizard from a sticky trap

July here in the desert is hot and humid thanks to occasional rain clouds or even rains. It is hard to stay outside so we are really limited on outdoor activities during monsoon season. It is the only time of year when cicadas are so loud. There are lots of bugs in the garden and it's really a paradise for hungry lizards who are hunting under the cover of leaves in flower beds.

 

Talking of lizards, I just remember a very good tip I found online last year. There are a sticky pads offered by pest control companies to get rid of bugs and spiders. It is so sticky that you can not free yourself once you touched it. The lizards don't know this, so when they are going to eat the bugs on a sticky trap they can get stuck, too.

So, if it will ever happen, do not try to free the lizard by pulling it off the pad, EVER! Their skin is thin and fragile. Instead, get the sticky pad with a lizard to a flat surface in the garden, place a very shallow plastic container underneath. Pour some vegetable oil in a small container and have a table spoon ready. Wear a protective gloves if you want. Hold the sticky paper with a lizard a  bit up at the head area that oil would not get into the mouth or the eyes. With the table spoon, start pouring the oil on the paper at the lower body area first and continue until you free the animal completely. Lizard will run away as soon as it can so hold your paper next to the ground.

I found this tip very useful. Whatever we humans do, it has good and bad sides, so it's nice to know how to help to reduce the negative effect on nature.

Good Morning

If you wake up early in a morning and explore, you might see some pretty cool things. The ones you normally can not see during the day.

We wake up at 4 AM (or even earlier) every day but most of the time we are starring at the computer screen sipping tons of coffee. For a difference, we decided to take a walk in a desert yesterday and I am very happy we did!

What we saw on our way:

- lots of huge trucks full of carrots and the whole carrot field full of people working at gathering them. They were not for public sale sadly.

- gorgeous red wing blackbirds hiding in a barley field. I don't see them around our neighborhood.

 

 

- blooming cactuses. They are simply gorgeous...

... and very thorny, by the way!

Felted acorns

When we opened our shop on Etsy in the summer of 2009 I came across a lot of wonderful people, got many creative ideas and learned about new techniques. I loved many of them but one of craft areas attracted my attention most was felting.

I don't have any plans to make this my full time hobby but I'd like to make something small for myself from time to time.

So of course I have been looking at easy-to-follow tutorials since this is a new craft for me. I was thinking of cute felted acorns I saw on Etsy and I was hoping to make something like this. I searched some blogs and found this great tutorial from Tonya.

I immediately purchased some roving wool and made some of these yellow mustard colored acorns.

Aren't they cute?

The process of making beads is not very simple. The beads don't want to be perfectly shaped and some of them still have a little crack in the middle. But it was my first attempt so hopefully it will become better with practice. With the additional I am going to make I may have enough to decorate our Thanksgiving table next fall.

Thank you, Tonya, for the great tutorial, I really enjoyed making these!

Mother Nature Approved - new Saturday treasury!

I woke up this morning with birds... and my two lovely little dogs who just could not wait to go outside! It was so fresh in a garden! I was so inspired with the beauty of nature that I quickly grab my perfect Saturday Morning Cup Of Coffee and made this treasury - collection of wonderful eco friendly items from Etsy sellers from all over the world! Each item is like it was approved by Mother Nature itself! Well, at least I think so ! :)

Please take a look and enjoy - I have to tell you, 2 items out of 16 was sold, already! Congratulations, BlueberryCream and Gaiaconceptions!