Quick Visit to Arizona
Ouch!
Thanks to Kirk, of Kizmai, AZ
for this classic postcard.
Sticking to the saguaro theme -
here’s one of my old unused postcards.
Shy strange woman standing beside a saguaro.
Ouch!
Thanks to Kirk, of Kizmai, AZ
for this classic postcard.
Sticking to the saguaro theme -
here’s one of my old unused postcards.
Shy strange woman standing beside a saguaro.
April 5th, 2005 at 10:48 pm
Does Kirk have a blog? I was wondering where the heck Kizmai, AZ was, but I saw an earlier post on Ed Kemmick’s site and figured it out.
Apparently there is an annual “Montana in the Park” in Chandler/Mesa/Apache Junction (one of those). I have’t made it to one yet, just wondering if Kirk had yet.
April 6th, 2005 at 3:30 pm
Yeah - that would be good to find out for myself too…nice to have your comment on my blog too…thanks for looking!!!
April 6th, 2005 at 5:53 pm
Is the shy strange woman in the 3rd picture named “Moos”? Hope you found all your bearings and rivets okay, and things are back running smoothly on the ranch. Sure am enjoying this warm spring weather!
April 6th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
From the bridge of the Starship Enterprise:
No, I don’t have a blog, primarily because I doubt I have anything to say that anybody would want to hear.
My actual residence is Mesa, which is a small town of about 400,000 souls which gets up around 600,000 in the wintertime when folks come south to drive 15 mph in a 45 mph zone. (Dooley’s first law of traffic: There is never any oncoming traffic when the solid yellow line is in your lane.) I made up the name Kizmai, just because I always wanted to have that as a return address (it is pronounced Kees-My–you fill in the rest
).
There is a Montana picnic at Pioneer Park in Mesa (just across Main Street from the Mormon Temple east of downtown). I went one year (if memory serves–and mine usually double faults–it was about 8 years ago), and asked if it was for winter visitors (we call them Snowbirds here, when we’re in a good mood) or if an expat could join in on the free grub (it is sposored by the local CofC). I was told that I was indeed welcome.
Everybody signed in (the signup sheets were by home county) and enjoyed the hot dogs, burgers, and beverages (adult and otherwise). The problem was I was 40 at the time (actually I was in the second year of being 39–for those folks who remember jack Benny), and I would venture to guess that the vast majority of folks there were members in good standing of the Geritol-for-lunch-Bunch. So I’ve not been back. (I left just as the polka band was warming up. I always hated the accordion–and my Dad still has the one I tried to learn to play when I was a kid.)
I believe the wing-ding is usually on the first Sunday in February, so wait ’til next year. (Just like rooting for the Cubs.)
For those folks who’ve never seen the majestic saguaro cacti (which can only be found here in the Sonoran Desert), a word of advice–don’t lean up against one. The suckers are armed to the teeth (as are most of the fauna in this state)!
The only thing good about the wet winter we had here (if we could’ve sent some of the moisture your way, we’d have been glad to) is that the desert–which is usually a pale red with some gray–is in bloom, with wildflowers everywhere, and the mountains are green.
The bad thing about this is that the 100 degree days–and nights–are just around the corner–it was 90 here in Phoenix today–which means all that foliage is going to dry real quick. Can you say weinie roasts on steroids, boys and girls?
Beam me up, Mr. Scott–my 15 minutes are up….
Kirk
April 6th, 2005 at 8:54 pm
I love that first postcard! I think that would be a bad way to die though, hopefully no one was in the car when that happened.
April 7th, 2005 at 10:21 am
I’ve got a similar photo. Those saguaro are amazing. I understand there is quite a bit of “rustling” by unscrupulous landscapers looking to provide black market cacti to city dwellers.
Montannie
April 7th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
Great photo on the first postcard! I wonder if it’s real or it was “staged”?
April 7th, 2005 at 6:10 pm
Captain’s Log, Stardate 4052005:
The postcard was not staged in any way. As you can probably tell from the automobile, this incident happened in 1980, which was the last time we had as wet a winter as we did this year. (The Salt River actually flowed through Phoenix–which is what we call a “flood” around here–and all the river crossings were washed out with the exception of the Old Tempe Bridge. Cars were backed up for ten miles trying to get from Mesa/Tempe/Chandler to Phoenix. Since then, several more bridges were built at places where the road was on the dry river bed.)
Despite their great hieght, saguaros have a very shallow root system. As a succulent plant, cacti soak up rainwater like a sponge, and this one had drank its fill from the three-day rain. With the ground saturated, the roots couldn’t hold the cactus up, so…TIMMMMMMMMBER!
No animals were harmed, as this happend in the middle of the night.
By the way, the saguaro is a protected plant here in the Grand Canyon State. Digging one up without a permit from the state can get you more time in the hoosegow than if you sold cocaine on the street in front of a grade school. (That’s, of course, if you get caught.)
Kirk, out.