Mysterious ants

This summer I acquired a new ant hill near the road. I guess I'd call it medium sized though certainly of a small enough size that I've found it impossible to photograph the occupants. Then one day this past week, I noticed that I had suddenly had a second ant hill about 8-10 feet down the pike from the first. There was a great flurry of activity between the two mounds. Not very photographable, I fear, had I had presence of mind to try.

However, the next day I noticed that the entrance to ant hill #1 had been completely closed down (above) and all activity was taking place at #2 Ant Hill Place. Things were so quiet at #1 that a small snail moseyed across the grains of sand so laboriously excavated. All these changes certainly caused me to wonder what suddenly went wrong with the house where the colony had happily resided for several months.

Here is the new premise (above), with a large welcoming entrance complete with a small pebble to secure the hole. The excavated sand heap isn't nearly as high as at #1, but the ants appeared to be busy moving boulders.

That was the situation for a couple of days, but now there's a new wrinkle to the story. Today, a handful of ants was at work at the old place, where an entrance had been re-opened. Not a big hole, but big enough. I am puzzled. Left with questions for the ecologistt Sson or the soil scientist SIL. For instance, what would cause an entire colony to pick up stakes and move next door; couldn't be anything that I had done, though maybe all that to-ing and fro-ing involving the Pinzgauer might have had some effect. What are those guys who stayed behind up to; was there a revolution that they sat out? If a colony splits in two to accommodate growth, how do individual ants know which crowd to join? There you have it, my curiosity of the day.

The Pinzgauer arrives

Saturday I arrived home from the Prescott Photo Walk to find this lovely parked at my house. The Sson's new back country toy had arrived from Iowa. A Pinzgauer, a military vehicle of choice in Mittel Europe and many other countries, originally made in Austria.

As yet, Sson had not driven said vehicle and it was time to give it a whirl. See all those controls? It's apparently a good enough off-roadster for the Swiss army to take almost anywhere in the Alps, for example.

And so, after he was comfortable enough, he invited me for a spin up the Thumb Butte Road. I have to say that we got plenty of respect on the road (below), though this is a much smaller, lighter vehicle than either the German Unimog or the American Hummer.

Before parking off the road, to give me a proper photo op, the Sson did suddenly pull off, circling over stumps and some pretty rough territory. Vehicle did fine, especially considering that its clearance is much higher than our civilian 4-wheelers, not to mention other serious features.

And, oh, what glorious shooting I could do through that high, wide and handsome flat front windshield. Assuming, of course, that it had been cleaned and no new splats had occurred.

Cool lacings!
According to Sson, there are fewer than a thousand of these neat trucks in the US, all made in the 70s and 80s. Though the machine is still made, now in the UK, the newer trucks don't meet our current American safety & other standards, though they're good enough for the picky folk in the European Community. Besides, they cost upwards of $100Gs+. The older vehicles basically qualify as collectibles; the Governator, for example, owns several.

I suspect the Sson has been lusting for a Pinz ever since he was stationed in Germany during the 70s. Though we have a nationally known Pinzgauer/Unimog dealer out Iron Springs Road, he was fortunate enough to find this particular vehicle on an eBay auction at a much better price.

Photo Walk Blogs: Several local bloggers have posted their pictures and reports of Saturday's big picture-taking extravaganza, including Rich, Sadira, Tombo and Dagny. Worth a visit to each!

Walking Prescott, 50-strong

Prescott Photo Walk 2008. We gathered at the Sharlot Hall Museum grounds, 50 strong, to celebrate our town in picture. Only two hours to discover all manner of sights, from the museum grounds to the Whiskey Row alley to Courthouse Square. I was as fascinated with the photographers as I was with an area of town I've walked with my camera many, many times.

The Corn Mother -- from a different angle, one that I can only wist after at my age and condition!

Ditto for this close-up in the alley. Not to mention a dash up several inviting staircases, such as the cool, angular set at the city parking garage below. Did I mention that the day was clear, which means that it was Hot -- and the lighting Garish, not something one can easily PhotoShop away.

The crowd reached the courthouse. Here (above and below) are two opportunities to play Count the Cameras!

At the end of the trail, refreshment time at Pangea Bakery, inside with the air conditioning and outside with a breeze.

Even though it was time to relax, more than one last photo was taken -- after all, we had clouds finally forming after a week of hot and dry.

And here's Rich, who organized the entire affair. Many thanks to you, Rich. And just in case you'd like to see some wonderful pictures of Prescott, just hop over to Flickr. FYI, a similar event was happening in many cities around the world. Scott Kelby, a PhotoShop guru, was the mastermind.

The Box

The Sson arrived. And. He's wonderfully like his dad, my LH. Much of the afternoon we spent talking about what ... oh, something like shoes & ships & sealing wax. You get the drift. One subject that came up was the book that my SIL plopped in front of me while I was in Alaska. He had purchased it, based Amazon's recommendation specifically to him. It was called, simply, The Box. Less simple, the subtitle: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger. The author: Marc Levinson.

These containers that I photographed on my way to the Anchorage airport (above) aren't really the Real Thing; after all, they're small enough for air transport. What Levinson talked about in his book was the super-sized, standardized sea-going container that brought about a mighty logistics revolution, behind my back and the backs of most American consumers. A stealth revolution that birthed WalMart, Costco and big box stores in general. Came close to destroying several unions as well as centuries-old ports around the world. Helped invent the Chinese economic miracle. Not to mention holding inflation at bay. Fascinating reading.

But the Sson, who had been well aware of these changing times, brought to my attention the further fate of the very same box -- as an architectural unit, for example. But then, he watches Home & Garden TV; I don't. And so I consulted The Google and found sites here, here and here among many others. He also talked about Pods, the new way to stash your stuff by bringing in a container which you fill & which the company then takes away to store Elsewhere until you're ready (if ever) to need your junque once again. Also, incidentally, an easier way to move your household by container train & truck from Town A in Maine to Suburb B in SoCal. (Reminding me, BTW, of the GrannyJ family move from Chicago to Arizona way back when. We had at least a small bookstore's worth of books, plus a personal machine shop as well as miscellaneous Science Stuff. The husband settled on hiring a semi trailer to be sent via piggy back. There was, after all, a railroad siding over in Kirkland.) Fascinating afternoon, wouldn't you say?

A shoot at Sharlot Hall...

...museum, that is. Like everybody else, I say "Sharlot Hall," which is the name of the lady who founded the museum; somehow it sounds like the name of a place, but properly speaking, one should say "Sharlot Hall Museum."

The reason I was there this morning after breakfast was photographic. No, not the cool bit of old mining equipment above.

Nor the huge flywheel, made, I believe, from granite which most likely also came from an old mining or refining operation.

Not even this splendid decaying stump from a large tree that once shaded what is now the museum's parking lot. Nor the rusty corrugated roof next the museum grounds.

No, the photography in question was of these three gents in the rose garden (below), all members of the Arizona Rangers reenactment group. Purpose: illustration for a brochure to promote a new event, Prescott Heritage Days, scheduled later this year.

It was a beautiful day at the museum, and after the shoot, we admired the corn, now full of tassels. An odd landscaping plant, you might say.

However, the plants are there to honor the Corn Mother. Every year, maize is planted around the sculpture.

Restocking

Thus far, since my return home, I hadn't been desperate for anything that required shopping. However, earlier this week I had word that the Sson was showing up tomorrow, yet, to pick up the Pinzgauer he had acquired on eBay from the Iowa survivalist. Huh? I guess there's a story there that I can possibly relate tomorrow night. In the meantime, a larder that will support GrannyJ for several days is a dud when it comes to her Sson. Off to Albertson's it was this afternoon.

I was replenishing my supply of instant hot chocolate when the Ovaltine shelf caught my eye. Oh, memories! If you're in my age group, you belong to one of two groups: those whose mothers said that Ovaltine was simply too expensive (the Depression, you know) and those mothers who gave into their (spoiled) kids' desire for a mysterious Little Orphan Annie secret code ring (or maybe the wonderful Little Orphan Annie circus), which required the inner seal of the Ovaltine container. As you might guess, I owned neither a ring nor the circus; a neighborhood girl whose father was a doctor did get a circus once -- which was a very disappointing cardboard punch-out affair. I think I learned my lesson about premiums at that point! FYI, Little Orphan Annie was on the radio right after school let out way back then.

Here's another display that deserves comment. To be specific, just how would you describe your generic version of a Triscuit (a trade name thoroughly covered by copyright, of course.) No, I would never have considered the term "woven", but I suppose that it is descriptive enough. More likely the fibers for both sorts of crackers are actually extruded back at the factory!

I bombed on one important item -- the AA battery charger, having left my little unit back in Alaska along with most of my pictures and a collapsible walking stick/monopod. Important that I have plenty of batteries ready for Saturday's Prescott Photo Walk. Tried, variously, Staples, Walgreen's & Albertsons. #1, it turns out that battery chargers are usually sold as a premium with batteries, not separately. The only set of four batteries plus a charger that I found was at Staples, but it was limited in use to special hi-tech cells. So I bought another set of four and borrowed a charger from the neighbor.

Do you get as frustrated as I at the distinctive mums that show up in the supermarket floral section? I've tried planting them, but never been successful. These are today's tease.

Out in front of the store, patio furniture was on sale. Huh? Since when have grocers been in the home furnishings biz? Can't answer that one, tho Albertsons as a smallish store has to display its merchandise atop the highest gondolas (the cheese and sandwich goody section, I believe) unlike Fry's, which has an extensive department. However, I must say that this "sale" is a modest affair compared to the "new" Banana Tree store down the pike which put up its liquidation sign (below) as soon as it opened.

Finally, I spotted the elephant car in the parking lot as I waited for my ride home with the supplies. Maybe a little bit too smiley, but a nice change from all those serious cars in any event.

Lifted litter on display

Do you ever stop by the display windows at the back of our downtown library to see what curiosities they are showing this week? If not, you should. All sorts of strange things make an appearance. Here's a good example: what weird items do those admirable volunteers pick up beside the roads and highways, aside from bales and bales of supeermarket plastic bags and fast food leavings? Answer in these pictures. Everything from old shoes (singles and in pairs) to toy bones for Rover...

...from dishes and balls to rubber duckies. Not to mention eyeglasses and shades or straw hats, license plates, and dead real estate signs. I think that padded pink heart up above is a particularly poignant specimen from our throw-away culture.

All together, now, let's give a great big cheer to the Litter Lifters who are doing such a splendid job picking up after our country's slobs!

Some Stats & Further Info: So you want to help clean up the highways and byways? Check in with ADOT (or your own state highway agency elsewhere). The agency supplied the Top 10 trash list for the number-minded: fast food detritus, 32.7%; cigarette filters, 23.3%; store bags, 6.8%; plastic bottles, 5.1%; beverage cans, 4.8%; cardboard, 4.0%; glass bottles, 3.5%; cigarette wrappers, 3.0%; tire parts, 2.8%, and bottle caps, 1.8%. While I find the store bags category figure hard to believe, it may be that the percentages are based on number of items, rather than square footage or vision-blockage. One each cigarette filter or bottle cap destroys a lot less landscape than one supermarket plastic bag! BTW, one of my "solutions" to the eyesore problem is to pass a law mandating that to-go packaging be the color of kraft paper, like plain cardboard boxes. A lot less visible against the similarly colored earth than gleaming white, with or without bright red printing.

Monsoon rains equal a green world

Arizona in August is a different world. The monsoon rains green the hills from the deserts up into the high country; what was hot and dusty is now verdant.

Walking my little hillside to see what changes had happened during my Alaskan holiday, I discovered that the wild morning glories were absolutely covering the barren ground, except near the new monster ant hill. Where there were shrubs (below), they were in climbing mode. No flowers yet; it seems that the morning glories only start blossoming once they figure they can't shoot up much further.

The buckwheat plant that I call the white fluffies is putting out many many long stringy greygreen stems which will be covered with tiny white flowers as we approach autumn, hence my name.

No surprise that the recent rains have awakened more mushroom spores.

The miniature hen & chicken I planted by the mailbox decided to spread -- and to open pretty little flowers -- while my datura has grown four buds. This time I have promised myself to draw up a perch and sit with camera ready the evening the first flower is scheduled to open; I hope that a hawk moth or two shows up to fertilize the blossom. And yes, I discovered that another datura has come up. From seed, no less. With my previous track record, I feel accomplished.

While I was inspecting the back forty, I flushed the battle-scarred interloper, who seems determined to take over from poor Max. Spotted a couple of places where he had left his calling card.