Quattro Falco

Four American kestrels (Falco sparverius Linn.) sitting side by each.

Vacation, all I ever wanted

Mini Vacation, Summer 2007, Day 1 update:

BeanSS and I woke up at the crack of dark this morning to hit up Agua Caliente Park over on the northeast side. The AZ/NM bird listserv has been lit up since June 5th with sightings of a fairly unusual hummingbird at the park, so we headed over to the Tanque Verde Valley for some semi-urban birding. Its far closer than San Manuel Crossing, to which I've wanted to take BeanSS to since my seven tyrannid species day there earlier this month. Plus, the worlds best tortilleria is in Mammoth, and I didn't get to stock up last time.

The lower San Pedro River will remain an adventure for another day, but there at Agua Caliente, just before 8:00am, we added the plain-capped starthroat (Heliomaster constantii Delattre) to our respective life-bird lists. There were about 10 people stationed around the appointed snag to see this large, lanky, long-billed, drab, and highly insectivorous hummer and once it had made an appearance, hugs, high-fives, and even one high ten, were exchanged. Plain-capped starthroats are essentially Mexican and Central American birds, so it was a pretty big deal. I very well may never see one in the U.S. again. I understand there's a gentleman hoping to fly from Florida just to see it.

The "twitchers" packed up and left the instant the hummer flew off, but BeanSS and I stayed and looked for the blue-throated hummingbirds (Lampornis clemenciae Lesson) that are known to be nesting there this year. We struck out on the blue-throats, but did get several long looks at male and female broad-billed hummingbirds (Cynanthus latirostris Swainson), a lifer for BeanSS. Actually, the big dark hummer that BeanSS saw driving a male broad-bill from his perch could have been a male blue-throat, but we'd have needed more than a tenth of a second view of a small, fast-moving bird to be sure.

We also saw all sorts of other birds, including a coupla' species of diurnal raptors (my main reason for birding). Other vertebrates included numerous whiptails (Cnemidophorus spp.), a snake I didn't recognize, and a cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus Say and Ord or S. arizonae, depending on the taxonomy followed). The springhead pool was a who's-who of exotic cichlids, no doubt deliberately released from aquaria.

Upon the conclusion of our zoological expedition, it was off to Einsteins for a very late but delicious bagel-based breakfast, a quick stop at Tucson Bicycles for a sling-style frame pack for my vintage Fisher Montare, and then home to play with Clayton and take an afternoon nap. The sleepy time seemed unaffected by the gallon of coffee we'd collectively downed at breakfast. I guess many nights of insufficient sleep followed by hectic days at work, plus bike commuting and the lifting of weights in the mid-June inferno will do that. And damn if I don't need to head out into the backyard for more of the former activity right now.

This vacation may end up wearing me out completely, but isn't that the whole point sometimes?

When did they fix that?

My man Veelz started this blog for me as "Bovines Bite" back in December of 2005 and within a day, he removed his administrator status. Drunk with power, I kicked him off even as a guest, changed the name to FBAZ!, and got on with things.

Electronic Karma caught up with me because last November, when Blogger was going around "improving" everything, Veelz mysteriously reappeared as the primary author. Worse yet, I found myself out on the curb, with no access, not even as a guest. He kindly added me back. Having apparently learned nothing from the experience, I immediately tried to re-remove him. Denied! The same thing happened with my wife's BeanSScene blog - I reappeared as an author, had to invite her back in, and then could not extricate myself.

Today, while noodling around in the settings, I saw that the "remove" link was once again live next to Veelz's name. Click. Gone. I dashboarded over to BeanSSer's blog and did the same with my name. Success! Everything is once again in order in our little corner of the Blogosphere. Better yet, instead of two hyper-linked screen names over there in the upper right-hand corner, you once again have my ugly face, lumpy body, and comically small-looking bicycle to look at.

P.S. Two posts in a single day, and its Saturday, no less. The soul-cleansing dry heat of June has sent the last of the snowbirds back home, the trails are empty, and yet, I'm camping out on the web instead of on the Rim. What's up with that?

Here's the deal. I've already ridden my road bike back and forth to work all week in the heat. BeanSS has the pickup truck up in Phoenix, so I can't really get to the mountains for, you know, mountain biking. Most importantly, I'm having some excellent father-son quality time with Clayton, our dog. We're in full bachelor mode: wandering the house shirtless, eating without utensils, and pissing in the backyard. There'll be ample time for adventures beyond the walls later on.

Rest stop

After having spent about six months working more or less on one big project at work, I'm finally finished. I'm unfortunately only in the eye of the hurricane, as the next phase will begin in a week or two. I suppose I had better enjoy the break.

Maybe its time for a vacation. I've got a few general ideas: see my Dad in Glendale and fish the ASU Research Park lakes in Tempe for bass on the way back to the Old Pueblo; swap in a 32:20 on the singlespeed and take it to Flagstaff with BeanSS; or head to Silver City and go birding on the upper Gila River. Maybe I should go crazy and do them all. On the other hand, I'm so burned out that I might settle for a "staycation". Actually, no. I need to out of the Tucson Basin for a while.

I also reached a bike commuting milestone coincident with wrapping up the big project - I clocked my 1,000th round trip since I started keeping records of such things in 2000. The next goal will be the same as in any year: ride to and from the office no less than 100 times (I came up way short in '04 and '05). I'd also like to beat last year's total of 130-something trips. I have 2,200 miles to go before I reach 10,000 miles' worth of biking to work, so that's also something to shoot for. This commuting has its health and stress reduction benefits, results in zero emissions, saves on gas and vehicular wear and tear, and has kept us from "needing" a second car for many years, but I think the main reason I've kept at it is that I just sort of feel a responsibility to keep my numbers up. Saving the planet is just a side benefit.

And lastly, where the hell is Veelz?

Got out

I got in a short ride at Starr (Scar) Pass this morning. It was the first time I'd ridden the full length of the new alignment coming out of the big parking lot near the golf shop. I'd like to say the new trail was a steep, unforgiving bitch but that would just be my fatigue doing the talking. Maybe its time to dial down the weight lifting, or at least not go so hard the day before a ride. It might also be time to leave Team Ludd and install a suspension fork.

Bike art

Here's a random piece of lens work on my old singlespeed the day I stripped it of its components in order to build up a new ride. If you enlarge the photo and look closely, you can see the horizontal crack just above the seat tube weld. I accepted that the low-end frame was history, but I was bummed that it took the NCSSWC '02 and 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo (not visible) stickers with it.