When the sky started to lighten we went for a walk. she was wearing some sandals that had the thing in between the toes and could not wear them very long as they caused pain. So we were walking down the road with Jo occasionally being barefoot. we walked to the top of the hill and down the other side. there is a stretch of desert in-between the two roads and Jo braved putting on the sandals for crossing it. we saw tracks and thought they looked odd, not like a dog.
Maybe they were bobcat. the ground was still soft from all the rain we had had a few days ago I took a picture and would it check out online when I got home. We saw many birds and heard coyote yips in the wash.
When we got home Jo went to practice her guitar, she is very good. We all had breakfast when Mary and Ron came out. Ron had an appointment at the doctors about his toe that morning and Mary an appointment that afternoon for her hair. Jo and I decided to go and walk the hieroglyphic trail . We had both done this trail before but she had never seen water in it let alone waterfalls.
We made a grocery list and Ron left for his appointment promising to pick up chinese for lunch on the way back. we listened to music and sang along with the songs that we knew. we also talked with the landscapers about the names of plants. the mesquite tree, the Apollo verde, the agave and the aloe, the big surprise was the jumping cactus. It seems that the fuzzy cactus that is everywhere, If there is a vibration large enough , it will cause it to throw its barbed spines So it throws or jumps at passers by. Talk about ignorance is bliss. I had last week taken a picture of a birds nest inside what was actually a man eating plant.
In no time Ron was back so we had a great lunch and headed out to our hike. Ron dropped us off just before the parking lot so that they would not be ate for Mary's appointment.
The weather was summer. It was very warm around 75F and sunny with clear blue skies, only a few cirrus clouds way up high. When we got to the parking lot and headed up the trail Jo ran ahead of me, for someone who is 8 years older than me she is in very good shape physically.
I continued up the trail and thought maybe Jo had gone up to the hieroglyphics that some pictures on google earth had shown me were just past the waterfall. I did not get quite that far the last time I was there. She had seen them but not with water in the canyon when she hiked up there. I took some photos of flowers and the scenery which is so beautiful. Popcorn flowers, Fiddleheads and Blue Dicks. I also started to see how many jumping cactus there were. The gods of the desert must certainly have been looking out for me to not have disturbed that cactus lat week when I had got the shot of the three birds eggs in that nest. I had my hand right inside so my arm was totally surrounded by spines.
Just then Jo called put my name. I stopped and looked around but no one was there. I called out to her to ask her where she was thinking I had imagined it or maybe it was an echo from the canyon but no one answered. I turned to continue up to the canyon and behind me came Jo. she had taken a different trail to see where it went and then had caught up to me!
we continued up the trail together. When we got to the spot where I had not been able to go forward she said that I was at the hieroglyphics and pointed out where they were. Right across the stream in plain sight. She then showed me hot to get over to them. On the trail the heat had been getting higher but next to the water it was definitely cooler and there were some folks getting right in to cool off. We played in the water with our hands. The water was not cold like in a mountain stream in the spring.
We headed back with only 35 minutes to go before Ron and Mary were going to pick us up. at one point Jo went ahead of me so that they would not leave without us. I did try to jog in the clearer sections but running downhill on a gravely rocky path is dangerous and I don't know how Jo did it. I swear, she is in such good shape. It is a good thing that she did go down ahead of me as Just as she got there Mary and Ron were there.
They did not have to wait for long waited for very long, only about 10 minutes. Poor Jo got a blister on her heel though, from wearing her mom's shoes.when we got home we sat out on the patio drinking cool drinks and eating oranges while Jo played the guitar. it was lovely. then supper of chinese and icecream for dessert. a little TV and off to bed.
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