Rattlesnake encounter

I came across this beauty on the walking trail in our neighborhood. It was stretched out across the path, soaking up some early morning rays. The snake is about 3 feet (1 meter) long.

They're usually camera-shy, so I was happy to see it wasn't alarmed and didn't move. I took a quick photo and stepped around it.

I love the smell of creosote in the morning

Slowsand

If you stand still too long, you'll gradually sink into the ground.

Just outside St. David, Arizona, not far from the Holy Trinity Monastery/RV Park/Pecan Stand

Bisbee

Photos from a visit to historic Bisbee, Arizona, in June, 2016. At the turn of the 20th century, Bisbee was the largest city between New Orleans and San Francisco. Its success was due to the presence of copper in the hills. Copper was mined there until the 1970s. With the closing of the copper mines, the population dropped steeply. Bisbee is now a sleepy, small town known for its local artists.

Post office / gift shop

Sleepy, small-town street

Streets lines with artists' shops and galleries

Picturesque, small-town scene

Bisbee mining museum and resort hotel

Mining equipment on display in front of the museum

Keeping track of who was underground at any given time

Miner humor

Saguaro in bloom

This stately old saguaro stands in a median at a shopping center.

My first radish

Now I am a farmer.

Reach for the sky!

At the intersection of Yesterday and Tomorrow

This is a view along Camino de Mañana (Road of Tomorrow). At the stop sign, the road intersects Yesterday...the unsustainable Yesterday of 20th century industrialism.

A couple of blocks from that point, machines are scraping the life off the desert and spreading a layer of asphalt, concrete, and glass.

They eat the desert
and excrete shopping centers.
Soon: No more desert.

Camouflage

Many denizens of the Sonoran Desert rely on camouflage as a defense against predators - lizards, jackrabbits, snakes, insects, suburbanites, and many more.

Desert camouflage.
Now I am invisible.
You cannot see me.

Hawk in the backyard

This hawk perched atop the tallest saguaro in the natural area behind our house to survey the hunting ground.

Photos (the good ones) by Jose Rodriguez

How you know you've left the city limits

Here's how you can tell when you've left the city limits.

Well, this is a clue, too.

Biosphere 2, May 2016

Left to right: Biome structure, visitor center (original crew quarters), south lung

Ocean biome

Rainforest biome

Aquaponics experiment

Fog desert biome

Equipment in the two-acre basement ("technosphere") that operates the facility

Inside the south lung. The "lungs" allowed for air within Biosphere 2 to expand and contract during the closed-system experiment in the 1990s.

Original electrical energy generation facility

A view of the south lung with Pusch Ridge (Catalinas) visible in the distance

Original crew quarters on display for visitors

Marine science work area

Lunar greenhouse experiment

Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) - long-term experiment to study the water cycle of the desert southwest. Constructed in the area the original crew used to grow their food.

Tucson Mountain Park

Quick stop in Tucson Mountain Park on a late afternoon in May, 2016.