JMT, ACD, and I traveled to Tucson for Xmas w/ HLT. Mom climbed her first 5.7,
Heather made funny faces, and Ann was busy Grossinating and Insultinating people.
| JMT indirectly eyes the persimmons (her garden) and tangeloes (HLT's garden). |
| The Throop stohlen appears. |
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| HLT's orchid hopes to reproduce faster than she will. |
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| JMT demonstrates how she plans to use her new apple-butter masher. |
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| AHT arrives in fine form! (Mr. May features him in the Superstition Mountains, AZ, while the cover pinup has him freighting on the African Neptune at an undisclosed location overseas.) |
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| Ann begins the Grossination experience! (`I'm gonna make... a gross ... stinky ...') |
| HLT also can't resist the fun. |
| HLT demonstrates proper use of her new sun-dried tomato action figures (courtesy of JMT's garden and the historic drier). |
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| Chesapeake observes with great interest. |
| Chessie (?) examines the water also with great interest. |
| Oranges are juiced. |
| ACD prepares fungi. |
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 | Saguaro. |
 | Teddy bear cholla. |
 | Jumping cholla. |
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 | Prickly pear! |
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 | Skeletons are still threatening. |
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 | Saguari, both dead and alive. |
 | Twisted limb. |
 | Same limb, a bit closer. |
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 | Some sort of bug thing, I guess? |
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 | JMT plays with the barrel cactus. |
 | Ooo! A prickly pear lives inside the saguaro! (Not tricked -- it's really there.) |
 | A tree has fallen, but it is not in the forest. |
 | Prickle pear! |
 | More prickly pears. |
 | I have been jumped. |
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 | JMT composes. |
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 | Agave... |
 | Some sort of cactus thing. |
 | Palo verde (in not very much verde). |
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 | Before setting off for the road, proper donuts are a must! We stock up. |
 | JMT is enticed by the deep fat fryer. |
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 | JMT looks forward to a role in Krispy Kreme management! |
 | Jumping the canyon! |
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 | A watering hole is surveyed. |
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 | One of many sycamore trees on the canyon floor demonstrate why this canyon is so-named. (Allegedly there are 76 geographical features named `Sycamore Canyon' in Arizona alone.) |
 | JMT keeps demonstrates many years of AHT-inspired geological loupe knowledge. |
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 | HLT and ACD survey the bouldering problem. |
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 | The lovely and talented Heather Lynne Throop, PhD, demonstrates why she is so revered around the world. |
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 | JMT prepares to channel. |
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 | Vehicles on S. Bryant Ave are lit brightly in the flare of sodium. |
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 | Orion rises over a 4"-tall agave. |
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 | 3/4 of Orion's key stars rise over the ocotillo. |
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 | Ocotillo at HLT's abode. |
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 | JMT, ACD, and HLT prepare to climb the Stronghold Dome, Cochise (AZ). |
 | JMT's hat blocks our path on the descent (shown in red). The climb on the S. side of the Stronghold Dome was our destination. |
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 | JMT shows off those colors! |
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 | HLT demonstrates nominal Whisperlite usage. |
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 | Stars above the campsite. Note Andromeda galaxy, Double Cluster, Pleiades, and Taurus. |
 | HLT's teeth are brushed. |
 | I walk with the headlamp. |
 | Holy cow! Check it out -- it's a rainbow at night! There's some random guy
walking with a headlamp at the bottom, and then a rainbow above the mountains.
It was too faint to see naked-eye, but it randomly turned up in the image
afterwards. Sure enough, the (full) moon was rising from the east... I tried to take a few more pictures of it, but it must have vanished quickly. It is visible (just barely) in the previous image, and even more faintly visible in the curent image is a double rainbow (needs a bit of a contrast stretch). |
 | Clouds pass by JMT as she observes Orion. |
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 | We are attired properly for the Queen Mine in Bisbee. |
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Last modified Thu Jan 13 18:40:14 2005