Meeting up

 

 

…with my great horned owl friend again.

 

 

 

An invitation to a play

 

 

 

A performance.

 

And an opportunity to mingle with the players after,

 

complete with autographs!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Let the Thanksgiving food prep begin!

 

 

Judy made three pies and cranberries today.

 

I made two quarts of ice cream for a start.

 

I’ll make two more quarts tomorrow morning.  Matt’s friend Mike is smoking a turkey.  Last headcount I heard was seventeen.

 

Gnarly

 

 

 

A leaf lying on the grass

 

 

 

Another leaf fluttered down and landed close to it.  But the second leaf fluttered sideways while there was no wind, so I walked over for a closer look.

 

A Dot Lined Angle moth.  Native from Argentina to the Caribbean and the southern U.S.

 

Darn quail

 

 

There are a lot of them here, but they stand around in the shadows, then dash through the sunlight and back in the shadows.

 

Hard to get them in good light for a Kodak moment.

 

 

 

 

 

Family Photos

 

 

Lola and Jesse

 

 

 

The morning view

 

 

 

And more.

 

 

But now we’re back to Chandler and Gilbert with the family.

 

Quick Trip Map

 

 

Catalina State Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

We think these two saguaros might be named Steve and Judy.

 

The Valkyrie

 

 

Some of you may remember the Valkyrie, a kit car that McKee built in 1969.  I’ve mentioned it a few times before.  I don’t have any pictures of it from the 1960s but it looked something like this.

 

It’s a mid-engine V-8.  I think it started out as a small-block Chevy.  This Valkyrie has been through several iterations.  Don used to drive it on the street.  Then for years he trailered it to autocross competitions; the races that are often set out with cones in large parking lots.  Then he drove it on a high-speed road course outside Aspen until the fiberglass bodywork on the back end started to melt from the engine and exhaust heat and caught on fire.  The Valkyrie has been garaged for years since then, in pieces.

 

But it is showing signs of life (again).

 

Everything is getting a redo.  The bodywork is still in another part of the garage in pieces.  A completely new frame bent and welded.  A different engine; now it’s a Ford Coyote.  An exhaust system that matches tube lengths and bends for all the cylinders so they will each have identical backpressure.  Some higher tech tires than were available way back then and require a redo of the original wheel well dimensions.

 

A heck of a project.

 

It’s fun to watch.  Maybe next year I’ll get a roaring ride in it.

 

There

 

 

In the tree.

 

And another one in this tree.

 

Great horned owls.

 

I found their daytime roost.

 

Happy Birthday, Arie

 

 

 

 

With help from little sister Ayla.

 

Eleven years old today.

 

Completing the cycle

 

 

The tree in Becky and Brian’s back yard.

 

Summer.

 

Fall.

 

Winter.

 

Stay tuned for a fresh start in the spring.

 

A neighborhood walk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along the way

 

 

There were ravens in Yellowstone.