Hubris

Six letters, heavy word. A friend dropped it on me today.

The footnote when I read the classics in college, dubbed hubris "overweening pride."


It was the downfall of lots of Greek guys who were greater than I can ever hope to be. Heroes. Warriors. Kings.


But I guess that doesn't make me exempt.


I had written a friend, thinking she might enjoy my blog.

She wrote: "I saw it once... I'll be truthful.... I feel some personal things don't need to be put out there on the internet where they could hurt people. It's a bit too much hubris for my taste."

Whew! Got it. I thanked her for being straight with me. Whew!
My brother had me read Boomeritis. Is there a theme going here?


(Full moon in Aries tonight. Good time for starting new things, turning over new leaves.)


I looked at my blog again, and she has a point. One could easily get the impression from it that I'm pretty self satisfied, even smug. And there are those I've encouraged to read the blog who, I can now see, may be hurt by some parts. Hmmmm. Sorry. Really. And please, forgive me for being insensitive.

Guess I hadn't thought it through. Guess I'll think it through.


One thing I'm going to do right away. I'm going to rewrite my Bio. If you're reading this, it's changed.


We'll see if I do. :-/

Who is this masked man?

Haunted

I had a terrible scare this morning... I opened up the Haunted House Flash file (that I've put at least 20 hours into)...




and the only thing there was the parchment graphic I created yesterday to go under the event info... and no way to access anything else that might be there.

Worse: I hadn't backed up the file!

I tried several things, and nothing worked. Finally, in desperation, I exported the file as a movie... and could tell that the whole piece was running behind the graphic.

So I eliminated the parchment from the library... and it was totally there. Whew!

I reimported the parchment and placed it. And backed up the file onto the server.

How'd it happen?

Gremlins have been blamed.

Senseless

My friend Dave Kelly called me yesterday as L. and I were editing wedding pictures.

I could hear in his usually well-modulated voice some anger, frustration and some sadness.

Someone had just stolen two of the three really nice aluminum signs that I'd designed and had Kinko's print for him. They were stolen from the intersection of Sandario and Orange Grove.

Man, I get his anger and frustration, don't you?

Dave and Karen have a really nice small business, selling well-loved trees and other plants at prices even L. and I can afford. They're dedicated (by motto, even) to service and quality and education. And they live what they believe.

They're not rich, they live in small place in the middle of their nursery, and they have two kids. They're hard-working, honest people making a living by delivering quality, education and service. I think I can say that they want to make the world a better place, to assist people in having Better Lives Through Plants. Really.

And yesterday someone made off with the signs between 3:00-4:00 p.m. Dave knows this, because he learned years ago to leave nothing on that intersection overnight. So he went to bring in the signs at 4 o'clock.... and they were gone. A friend of his says they were there when he drove by about 3.

These aren't the first signs that have been stolen from them. Dave says any time he's put anything nice down there, it's disappeared.

You feeling the anger and frustration yet? How dare someone do that? I'm angry and I'm frustrated!

Then, I can relate to the sadness, too.

For me, it would be because Life isn't fair and some people aren't nice, and, by golly, it should be and they should be, no matter what anyone says. Maybe that's just me.

So, now what? Dave says the local police won't do anything. He can't afford having the signs reprinted only to have them disappear again.

He's thinking of reverting to the handmade signs he's so meticulously lettered in the past. He's also considering adhesive letters. Or he was telling me about some old guy who hand-letters cheap signs onto postboard, not really caring about how they look. They're crap, but he's very prolific.

Personally, I don't think Dave could handle turning out much less than the best he can do.

She da one

So, this is one of 1241 pictures Lisa and I took at Debbie and Eric's wedding at La Mariposa. We worked Friday from 2:40 to 10:20 p.m.

Wow, the Big Guy loves that woman. He looks like he's not even touching the ground! It's such a blessing that they found each other.

The wedding was fabulous, a great party, even though L. and I were working. Dream setting, intensive planning, and great people who mostly behaved themselves. :-) It was casual and elegant at the same time. What fun everyone had. There are lots of pictures I'll Web publish soon. Promise.

Hey, Debbie and Eric: Mozoltov!

IN RELATED NEWS: The Arboretum was temporarily closed Saturday, as Lisa and I stashed ourselves away with iPhoto, Photoshop and 1200+ pix, for a marathon edit. We worked pretty steadily from 10 a.m. to 9:15 pm, when we hopped into my car and drove to Debbie and Eric's open house carrying some prints and two hot-off-the-burner DVDs. We just made it in time to put the goods into their hands.

We missed food and drink though, as they were just closing down the Clubhouse. So I drove us to La Parrilla Suisa for dinner. We'd worked all those hours together, two creative artists with strong opinions, and were still delighted to be together. And then we came home and Lisa gave me a full body massage.

You know what? For me, she da one.

The last work sunset, really

I was in working early Tuesday, so I left the building 15 minutes early last night.

What a fabulous sunset!

Hieroglyphics

This is my friend Eric Peery. He works with Lisa at Access Tucson. The first plant named at the Arbor-etum was a saguaro named after The Big Guy.

And he's getting married today.

I took this picture Wednesday night at his "Guys Night Out" Party.

Eric's a good guy. One of the reasons I know he is, is that Wednesday night he sat next to the first kid he met in first grade... who said he was. And is.

Bunches of Eric's childhood buddies were there: David and Bubba, and Mitch, Ricardo, Paul and Jim to name a few. And his big brother and his nephew. And Brian and Don, friends met through Access Tucson.

Eric told a story about everyone there, and then had us tell stories about him. It was warm and funny and mythic. All we lacked was the campfire.

The Arboretum wishes him and Debbie every good thing.

Deja

Yesterday morning we officially named our new tree "Deja."

It's a big, strong Thorny Chilean Mesquite. Lisa says the tree bit her when we planted it.

Before Deja the Tree, was Deja the Horse.

She was Lisa's sister Nancy's horse. Deja was big and strong and willful, and Nancy loved her with a passion. She was lovingly and regretfully put down a few short weeks ago, her daily pain too much for her or Nancy to bear.








We
welcome
her spirit
to the
Arboretum.

Now it's personal

We picked up another Chilean Mesquite at Sun Valley Growers yesterday.

That's Karen Kelly with Lisa.

I was telling Karen that I grew up in Indiana (she's from Michigan), and I knew just a very few trees by sight: maple, sycamore, oak... but that now, since we've started the Arboretum Project, I've become aware of trees everywhere, and I can tell a Foothills Palo Verde from a Blue Palo Verde, and a Chilean Mesquite from an Argentinean. And I love it. And it's fun.

Now it's personal, she said.

Yeah, it is. Especially with Bill and Betty, Hobart, Screwy, Mr. Berlandier, The Mexican, Kyra and Deborah, et al.

Karen said that a friend of hers had named a lamb after her, and... it died 2 weeks later. Awful.

We here at the Arboretum have a very strong commitment to not let that happen.

Because now it's personal.

Reaching for rattlesnakes....

We're a little more cautious here at the Arboretum since Tuesday when Scorpion and Rattlesnake paid us a visit.

Watering at night now seems to require flashlight vision and very attentive listening.

Is that just the sound of water... or something moving? Is that the hose? Is that just a shadow behind the hose? Is the shadow moving? It's... weatherstripping? How did that get out there?

I can just hear my Mom saying, "Now you be careful with those snakes out there. Watch where you're walking... Maybe you should switch to watering in the daytime."

Maybe Mom's right.

And, you know... since it's getting darker earlier, it could be a sign that the trees need less water now. Maybe I can water them Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and once on the weekends. Hmmmmm.

Good thinking, Mom.

Of sunsets and ebony

This is the sunset from I-10 as I was driving home from work. It's only significant in that it's about the last one I'll see while driving home for six months....

I really don't like driving in the dark, and that's what's up. That, and watering after dark. As you can see by the rattler a couple entries down, that might be downright risky. Brrrrrr.



Here's the Texas Ebony we just planted at the Arboretum Sunday. Its name is Tex. Of course.

















I just realized today that the trees I'd been admiring in the Tucson Newspapers parking lot... are Texas Ebonys.

3D dreams of a studio

An integral part of the master plan here at the Arboretum is the addition of a studio/guest house. I designed this one in SketchUp, the best, fastest and free-est program I've ever encountered. Download it for FREE here. Be sure to download the free version on the left, not the Pro version on the right. There are a wealth of great, simple lessons and tutorials on the Web. Don't hesitate, do it today!

A view of the work area, restroom and guest storage area

A futon doubles for sitting and bedding; the wall behind lets down
over the futon to make a work table

The view through the front doors

Two immediate reasons for emotion

Insignificant in light of the date, but nevertheless...

• The Texas Ebony we planted Sunday... is blooming!






















• I swept a 3" scorpion out of the kitchen with a newspaper and a car-
washing brush just about 20 minutes ago.

Whew!



Addendum: Lisa got home about 9, and went out the back door to hang out her workout clothes. I warned her to watch out for the scorpion... and she almost stepped on another visitor...

Makes for an exciting time watering after dark, too....


Click on the picture for a bigger view.

Lisa wants a pond...

The Arboretum's resident Sagittarius is a water lover... and, as you may have read in the Critters posting, an animal lover, too.

And did I mention she loves water?

I remember when I loved water. The swimming pool Grandpa Trueman built for his grandkids, and the very large horse trough that preceeded it. The hose, the sprinkler. And, wow, the ocean when my parents took me and my brothers there. Even freezing Lake Michigan was tortury fun.

Best ever? Deer Creek, the few times my mom let me go a mile away with my cousins. We never swam there, but we fished, and watched the water bugs play. I loved that.

Things I hate about the water: The shock of cold wetness, the likelihood of mosquitos, and Marco Polo.

Hopefully, I'll never be forced to play that stupid game again. That leaves the cold and mosquitos....

Except, now I've learned mosquitos are not inevitable with a pond. My (just-retired) friend, pond owner Gary Gaynor, swears by mosquito fish, and he should know. He's built himself a small lake in his yard so he can fish the days away.

Seemingly, mosquito fish are also beloved by the people who belong to Tucson Water Gardeners, a local club that promotes... well, gardening in water.


L. and I did their tour yesterday, seven (?) water gardens, ranging from one about the size of two washtubs, up to a monster holding 350,000 gallons. Didn't get bit once....

So that leaves the shock of cold wetness. Lisa assures me that the water in the pond we're going to build someday will warm up in the summer, or at least the cool water will feel good enough in 100+° heat that I'll be happy to join her in the water. Maybe she's got a point.

Anyway, I'm onboard. L. has been studying about natural-style ponds, that use a shallow bed of water plants to keep the water clear and algae-free. Sounds good to me. Who likes slimy water?

Not even Lisa.

Artists' concept. Pond would be slightly larger.

Comparison

January 21, 2007














September 9, 2007

Critters

This is a picture of the baby rattlesnake we found coiled outside our back door about 3 weeks ago.

Lisa thought it was cute, because of its over-sized head and its "personality," i.e. the way it reacted when she urged it along with a stick.

My friend Lee Shainen thinks she's loco. Guess you think that way if you've found yourself almost nose-to-nose with one while crawling around working on the pumphouse floor. Or had a neighbor severely bitten and hospitalized for a week.

We have kind of a truce with critters here at the Arboretum. When we first moved in we were overrun with Sun spiders, weird creatures that hold their back legs up in such a way that the uninitiated take them for scorpions.

Speaking of scorpions, Lisa has carted a couple outdoors in the last month....

Then there was last year's male tarantula-in-heat thinking our house must be the local Swinging Tarantula Club. He ran right by L. and into the house before she could stop him.

One day we were working outdoors, and Lisa thought she saw a dog, but when she called to him to come to her...the coyote looked at her like she was crazy, and trotted off.

I had a multiple encounter. I was watching birds at the bird feeder, and along came a Roadrunner. As I watched, he moved off under the creasote, and his mate joined him. Cool. Then the coyote stepped out of the brush. I couldn't see the Roadrunners, so I guess they ran off. Eventually the coyote trotted off across our neighbor's land.

We have Harris' Hawks next door. Once we saw them mating atop a saguaro. I just happened to have my camera set up.

We also have Harris' Antelope Squirrels. The place is overrun with Harrises.

We've seen evidence of javelina, but have yet to see them.




Here's a picture of an American Kestral. He sat there one morning for about an hour.


The Arboretum is a great place for critter watching. Just one thing: we're on Bobcat Lane.


Is spotting a Bobcat too much to ask?

The thunder woke me up....

6:45. I hear rumbling, and it's not the usual pickup bouncing down the dirt road. I get up, go to the bathroom, crawl back into bed. Then the rain begins. Hard.

I walk out into the living room, and discover the back door is open (the screen is closed), and the pounding rain is amplified through the house. So I slip into some boxers, grab my camera, and step outside.

As far as I could stretch it....

Well, all the lumber from my old paintings has been used, recycled into lawn furniture. My whole philosophy has been what I refer to as The Madras Explanation: The chubs and apparent defects in this product are a natural byproduct of the handmade process, and are therefore features, not defects.

In other words, it's funky, get over it....

I came out almost even.

Lisa said she'd heard an interview with Del Webb, who said that when he started building houses, he and his men got the game down so well they could cart off all of the leftovers in a 5-gallon bucket.

I didn't have that much.

Building furniture was kind of fun. Using recycled materials appeals to me. As I was working on it, my mind got off and running on the idea that maybe I could build a business around this and make a buck. What could I call it?


I kind of liked "Sow's Ear Furniture." No silk purses here, I'm not even trying.

"Let It Be Furniture" has a certain bundle of connotations that I find appealing. And I could answer the phone," Let It Be...."

Confessions of a (Reformed) Perrier Addict

I could never drink enough water to satisfy my Grandmother Harris.

Eight glasses? An impossibility. I was always dehydrated, though I rarely knew it.

I'm not a soda drinker, but for really quenching my thirst, I need that burn of carbonation in the back of my throat.

I'd always liked Perrier, and then Costco started selling half-litre bottles by the case. In no time, I developed a $30 a week habit. Absolutely necessary, but financially crippling in these mortgage-poor times. I knew I should do something different, but I didn't know what to do and couldn't find the strength to quit....

But then Lisa and I got to worrying about our contribution to global warming.

I already drive a Prius and we keep our air-conditioned house at 81 degrees (and wear fewer clothes). But how much carbon, I wondered, was put into the atmosphere to draw Perrier from its spring, bottle it in plastic containers, and ship it across the Atlantic Ocean, then 2500 miles across country to the local Costco? What could I do?

It hit me one day. Someone must manufacture a home carbonation unit. I Googled and bingo! Here it is.

The unit cost me a total of $127, which, at my rate of consumption, will pay for itself in a month. After that, I'll occasionally have to restock the carbonator cartridge.

Now I use the filtered water that comes out of my refrigerator door, and in seconds have Perrier on steroids. Go for the burn!

Hard times for saguaros

The Arboretum recently suffered a beauty setback when neighbors-to-be totally scraped the lot behind us.... knocking down Eric, formerly the largest and saguaro-est saguaro in the neighborhood. His remains lie moldering within our view.

Wikipedia says: Harming [a saguaro] in any manner ...is illegal by state law in Arizona, and when houses or highways are built, special permits must be obtained to move or destroy any saguaro affected.

I wish I could find a confirmation of that I could trust. Lisa and I are outraged and bereft from the loss. But what can we do?



Meanwhile, last Saturday when the big storm hit, our friends Karen and Dave Kelly at Sun Valley Growers were awakened by a blast of lightning and thunder right outside their window. They were talking a few minutes later when they were startled by an enormous crash, and then another one a couple minutes after that. When Dave went outside, he found that the lightning had hit the saguaro right up next to their house, which caused the arms to fall off, thoroughly crushing their rear awning. Fearing the rest might fall onto the house and harm them, he hustled the whole family over to their friend and business partner Ruth's house for the rest of the night.

The next day Dave, Karen and Ruth managed to top what was left of the saguaro, and got it to fall "safely" between their house and the potting shed. They cut it into sections and hauled to the back corner of the property.

I think it's temporary....

I seem to have a corrupted file for my iWeb blog. Damn! I was going to spend the weekend getting all my websites in shape, and with iWeb down, I couldn't do any of it.

The worst part is I may have totally lost the whole Avra Valley Arboretum website.

Guess I'll just use this temporarily, until Apple Support tells me what's up.