Pollinators 'a Plenty

There's this out of control pyracantha that's currently blooming like crazy -- which makes it more difficult to consider cutting back, because the robins love the red berries which will ripen this fall.

Right now the bush is very attractive, not just to me, but to a big batch of pollinators. Primarily bees. Surprisingly, I've only seen one or two butterflies.

I don't know what brand of bees my current visitors are. There's been a lot of press lately about the disappearing honey bee -- though this popular social insect is actually a European interloper in the American ecology, necessary, perhaps to pollinate our many imported food plants. However, entymologists have started looking into the use of native bees; 1000 species are found in the Tucson area alone, to give one example. Most are solitary insects, dwelling in holes in the ground or trees.

This guy I call the Darth Vader bee -- he's larger than the others and is dark, dark. Certainly no honey bee, he.

My real question is: when will those bees swarming my pyracantha come visit the little yellow blossoms on my recently planted tomato plants? If I'm really lucky, a specialist, tomato-loving bee will show up, but that would truly be unexpected!

Seeing Stars

The first night my husband arrived in Arizona, he was freaked out by the brilliance of the Milky Way. We came here from Chicago; a narrow corridor aiming out across Lake Michigan was the only piece of comparatively unlit sky where we could get a decent look at the stars and planets. Believe it or not, my first sight of Saturn's rings was inside the city of Chicago!

This is all by way of saying that astronomy was high on the list of reasons that brought us out to these parts. Get a ridge between yourself and Prescott and the seeing can be impressive. Not suprising that we have an active astronomy club here. The recent exhibit at the new, improved library is just one of their activities that range from star parties to telescope making to educational meetings at the library. The last of the spring star parties will be held this weekend at Watson Lake; check the web site above for further info.

There are several private observatories in the Prescott region; I know of one in Hootenany Holler, another up in the Mountain Club area, and photographer/blogger Edward Registrato operates two, one in Dewey and the other in Peoria. When we first moved to the highlands, one of the country's pre-eminent grinders of astronomical glass lived and worked here; we also met a chap who was making interesting refractors back in the aught-80s.

Our most exciting discovery when we settled down on the other side of the Prietas was a comet, a new one that didn't get mentioned in the papers for several days. Our two most discouraging discoveries were 1) the desert dew problem and 2) the chill you can get at night in mid-summer, radiating all your heat into outer space (temp., slightly above absolute zero, which is why long underwear and an umbrella are recommended for long observing sessions -- even in the hottest weather!)

In passing: there's a permanent outer space display on the ceiling at the Booknook over on Gurley Street (above). Marilyn, the proprietor, is an active amateur astronomer and also specializes in astronomical titles.

The Arms of Hollywood

One of my breakfast buddies is both a gun fancier and a well known gun leather craftsman; he insisted that I should attend a major showing out in Chino Valley Saturday. On display on the grounds at Doreen's: pieces featured in classic Western TV & movies plus a few SF extravaganzas.

It was not our usual sunshine sort of day -- instead, grey, chilly, with rain in the distance if not at the scene. Chino was a surprising location for the Stembridge Gun Arsenal Collection on display. Speculation: possibly a major client out that way or perhaps its location near Gunsight.

Rifles and shotguns from major films...

...featuring fine workmanship -- plus the aura of the stars who used them.

Note the policeman. The rep from Little John's Auction Service claimed some rather astronomical values present on those tables.
Guns and leather worn by the Cartwrights on Bonanza.

A pair of ladylike pistols used by Batman's Catwoman, plus Richard Boone's Derringer. Among others.

The odd looking broomhandle Mauser in the corner was brandished by Han Solo in the original Star Wars. The auctioneer man says they expect it to fetch around $150Gs.

More hand guns, including specials from Terminator II, The Blues Brothers, and Magnum PI.

And real fantasy pieces created for Wild Wild West.

The collection had been bought from the Stembridge prop house by Robert Peterson, publisher of Guns & Ammo magazine. Gossip has it that he was interested in founding a museum, but his heirs just aren't. Hence the auction.

If you feel rich enough to buy into the Hollywood dream, plan on an Anaheim trip June 5-6. Details at Little John's.

Blogfest: Meeting People I've Already Met

And so a group of Prescott bloggers who knew each other only via the Internet met one another in person for the first time Saturday over at The Raven Cafe. Thanks to Andrew of Coyote Radio, who master- minded the whole shebang.

A fascinatingly diverse bunch of people it was. And they represented very different points of view and interests! For instance, travel and the outdoors...

...personal life (here ... here)...

...local politics ... the media ... and critiquing the media... Not two mention two photography bloggers (here ... here) as well as one writer.

The final touch: everyone was interviewed by Coyote Radio for the Prescott Arts Beat podcast and radio broadcast (on 89.5 FM -- hey, Andrew, what day and what time?)

Maybe a third of the local bloggers were present; here's a local who's who on-line. (One of these days, I'll finally pull myself together to post my own blogroll of local, Arizona and worldwide blogger friends.) We're planning to meet again a month from now; I'll keep you posted.

Chutzpah?

Or is this local bank really a subsidiary of the giant? Or: who owns that bench and is selling space? In any event, this looks like a picture of David vs. Goliath, for sure!

In the meantime, as I was taking the above picture, the other giant across the street was apparently announcing its intention of making friendly. A heavy application of PhotoShop to that sign just now revealed that Chase was inviting everyone to a big bank Bar-B-Q. But then I don't have Superman's eyebones; as a result, missed a free feed (and pictures) on Friday! Too bad.

Note: what with Hollywood gun memorabilia, a cowboy bar and the Prescott blogger meet-up all in one day, I'm suffering from severe input overload. Maybe by tomorrow, I'll be able to pull some of it all together.

City Living -- in Prescott???

When this building wore a "for sale" sign recently, I gave it a second look, though I didn't know its history. The top floor looked to be a wonderful huge room with high ceilings and, even better, tall tall windows on three if not all four sides offering what the real estate types call "forever views." The Plaza. Thumb Butte and the Bradshaws. Great big blue skies.

On my last pass by the building, it had apparently been sold. Too bad. I can't move downtown, after all. However, this old-timer made the pages of the Courier yesterday. Turns out that the big top floor was originally the Knights of Pythias Hall; the building itself is one of the few survivors of the Great Fire that destroyed almost all the downtown in July of 1900.

A friend had known folks who rented that inviting top storey briefly; apparently there was no heat and the one winter spent there was miserable. Says the Courier, the new owners are thinking condo, complete to a roof top garden. Yeah, another $million property, no doubt.

Now, I had my days of living behind (not above) the store (a bookstore) in the big city. The sorts of people who lived in the middle of commercial streets were certainly not $million loft sorts of people. They generally were poor students or would-be artists or sometime writers. You know, the kind who first move into the abandoned factory because it is C*H*E*A*P and nobody is looking over your shoulder. Certainly not because lofts are fashionable.

It seems to me that the local developers are jumping the gun! First, Bohemian types should move into the unmodernized upper floors of such buildings as the 3-storey hulk down by the old depot or above the corner just vacated by the Christian store at Gurley & Montezuma. At that point, living in the middle of the action would become chic and the students, sometime writers and would-be artists could be forced out by well heeled young lawyers, financial advisors and similar gentrifiers.

At least, that's how it would happen in an orderly world. Perhaps I just don't understand the world anymore!

Tall Figures -- Solid & Ephemeral

These two guys have been sitting in a "to do" folder, waiting for a third, long enough! BJ, above, is reminiscent of an earlier day in the life of Prescott, back when the local & rural louts longed to be cowboys, not rap stars. Don't know how long he's stared down Fair Street, but I've lived here over 20 years...

This fellow, on the other hand, was swaying in the wind when I caught him as my friend and I drove by. He wasn't very substantial that day and he had disappeared by the next week. Omen of a coming deflation, possibly?

Not All Desert Pictures Look Like Arizona Highways!

The secret to those smashing Arizona Highways pictures is to avoid the midday sun -- like the plague. Get out in the early morning or late afternoon, when there are shadows and the light is that famous reddish color. Else you fry and your pictures are likely to wash out. I didn't have that option the day I had persuaded LindaG and Eeyore of The One Acre Wood to take me down to the Santa Maria for spring wildflower pictures last year. It was my first major photography expedition and I was totally new to the digital camera.

Along the roadside heading down to the river, all was greyed out green. Except that if you squinch your eyes, you can see that there's a touch of pink in the photo above. That's why we stopped the car.

On closer inspection, a pretty fairy duster plant in bloom (above). And a close look at the "duster" itself (below.)

Of course, cacti are a major attraction down at lower elevations. The sahuaro were not yet in bloom (and we didn't have a tall ladder on this expedition.) But there were two types of mammary cactus that were open. FYI, the Santa Maria is at about 1200 ft. elevation at the Bagdad Road. True desert.

Another feature of the Arizona desert is ocotillo which looks like a bunch of tall dead sticks with stickers until it gets water. For a rustic and highly effective desert fence, ocotillo canes are rooted in a row, spaced tightly together; not much gets through -- or bothers to try.

Now here is what my late husband and I consider perhaps the most photogenic of all Arizona wildflowers, the prickly poppy. The slightest breeze catches those big, delicate petals -- LH could scarcely restrain himself from photographing every poppy we saw! BTW, the stems and leaves of the plant really merit the word prickly; they are nasty! Though this plant is classed as a desert dweller, it is common enough at Prescott's elevation (5200-5400 ft.); there used to be a nice stand over on McCormick Street before Freas' place was turned into a parking lot.

Just to prove that there are patches of bright green during a dry desert spring, there's the mesquite tree, like other acacias a member of the legume family.

This pink flower is, I believe, one of the zillion types of buckwheat found in Arizona.

We also found this one lone red penstemon frying in the heat, plus the daisy below. Both were probably leftovers from the cooler, earlier portion of spring.

For the record: these pictures were taken on April 21 of a year with very low winter rainfall. Any year that we have what used to be considered "average" winter rainfall, the time to visit the Santa Maria River area for beautiful, non-cactus wildflowers would be early to late March. There's a graded county road (dirt) on the east side of the river between the Bagdad Road and US93 where you will find a wonderful mix of Sonoran and Mohave desert flowers in a good spring. However, note that the paved road which parallels the river on the west isn't nearly as florific. A final note about wildflowers hereabouts: we've recently had a spot of rain, which seems to be enough to sustain the little patch of wild delphiniums in our neighborhood. I may have pictures soon!

More Offices, Condos & Shops, Oh My!

So the Summit Bank building is a done deal. I guess it's an OK building; doesn't particularly excite me, though. However, it appears to be the first in a new wave of downtown Prescott construction. I know, lots of stuff going on out at the periphery -- but, hey, that's not my turf; I walk and concentrate on the city part of the city.

Here's the site of new action: shops topped by condos at not one, but both corners (above and below) of Goodwin and Montezuma. After I don't know how many years of interminable "mitigation" of the one-time service station property abutting the Chamber of Commerce building, it's ready for the new age. The big question is how many flush metrosexuals we have in town who can afford a new, modern, $$$$ loftish downtown condo.

Already well underway -- new shops and offices at the Old Firehouse Plaza. Take note of the intimate scale; no edifice complex here.

This phalanx of equipment parked at the Middle School bus parking lot just off Goodwin Street is ready to pounce of an evening to mend various street problems.

And, while West Gurley, over by Casa Sanchez and the vacant shopping center isn't downtown exactly, it's still within my perimeter. No idea of what's going up -- probably one more office for a medico or financial planner. Yes, it's still a pity that Trader Joe's can't see fit to fill that beckoning commercial space that Fry's emptied so many years ago.

In closing, here's an object lesson the city faces with any new construction -- the question of scale ... of proportion. Look at how the Dinner Bell is dwarfed by the modern condo building. (Look also at how two of those $million condos are still on the market.)

Other Notes: Today a very good friend showed me her new blog, The One Acre Wood; you'll enjoy reading about the problem presented by the full moon. Spring is already sprung down in the desert; Arizona Babylon has three posts of cactus and other flowers, plus critters. And if you're interested in blogs, bloggers or blogging, Coyote Radio is hosting a BlogFest this coming Saturday; particulars here. While there, click on the "blog" link; I was amazed at how many locals are listed.