Recording Session

A couple of weeks ago, I played for Ryan Tree's live acoustic video shoot at Uranus Studios. We played one of his originals, "White Lights," and a cover of Green Day's "Good Riddance." These are the final cuts of the videos from that shoot:

White Lights

Good Riddance (Green Day Cover)

Snow on the Superstitions

Today there has been much frenzy over desert snow in Phoenix, Tucson, and many other towns in Arizona. Facebook has been covered in discussions about it and people have been posting all sorts of pictures of the snow. So, I decided I had to go out and get some shots of snow on the Superstition Mountains:

The next couple of shots were taken on the road to Canyon Lake.

This is the view of Usery Mountain Regional Park from the Superstitions.

Meet Our New Tortoise!

So, at the beginning of February, we got a pet tortoise. Bill's cousin's neighbor found it in his backyard and we got to keep it. When we first got it, we weren't sure what kind of tortoise it was, what it ate, where it should live, or how old it was. We decided to name him James T. Kirk (Jimmy or "Little Dude" for short) and then we got to researching.

This is him sitting on Bill's desk while we were looking for pictures of different tortoises online. The coins next to him should give you an idea of how big he is.

  He didn't like my camera lens too much lol.

We discovered that's he's a Sulcata or "African Spur." They're originally from the Sahara Desert region. A perfect tortoise for Phoenix! They live for around 150 years and can reach 200 pounds. Good thing we have plenty of space in our backyard! We talked to someone at a reptile store and they think Jim is a few months old.

An adult sulcata.

  This was our initial experiment for his "house." The log and the flipped over paper bowl are "hides" because baby tortoises are used to hiding most of the time from predators. The light above is a UVA/UVB light to help him get enough vitamin D and the red light to the right is a heat lamp. The other two containers are his food and water dishes.

We put him in here to show him his new "hide." He promptly turned around and went under his heat lamp because it was too cold in there. We had to change this cage arrangement right away because we woke up in the morning and he had flipped himself over trying to climb up the log. Apparently baby sulcatas do this all the time because they like to try and climb on everything lol.

This is Jim taking a walk around his new cage set up.

At night, we turn off his UVA/UVB light. Reptiles can't see the red light from the heat lamp, so they can sleep with it on. He often sleeps on his basking rock.

I decided to make him a new hide out of a lunch meat container since it would stay warmer than a paper bowl. It's his new favorite spot.

 His front door.

 What his cage looked like after we rearranged it.

Jim hiding under his log while Bill moved his water dish to a better location.

Jim could see the outside through the plastic walls of his container and kept clawing at the walls, so I put paper on the sides. He kept clawing anyway lol. Apparently if these tortoises can see anything that they want outside of their cage, they'll go after it.

He likes to sleep in the corner by his basking light.

 Jim likes to pace around his enclosure when he's feeling energetic. This day, he paced so much that he rearranged his dirt.

Sometimes Jim likes to hang out by his new 'pool' and let one leg hang in for good measure.

Sometimes he falls asleep this way.

This is Jim soaking in his paper bowl. We have to soak him frequently to keep him from getting dehydrated. Baby sulcatas spend most of their time hiding in humid holes in the wild. The adults are more suited to being exposed to dry air.

Jim's walk around his enclosure.

Watching Jim eat and walk around his cage makes me think of a tiny dinosaur. It's adorable. Every time I see it, The Rite of Spring animation from Fantasia (the one with the dinosaurs and volcanoes) goes through my head. So, here is Jim eating and walking set to The Rite of Spring, 1st movement.

Last Week's Adventures: San Tan Mountain Regional Park

Winter is the time to go on adventures in the Phoenix area. The weather is beautiful all day long (highs in the 50s and 60s, lows in the 30s and 40s--you know, spring and summer weather in many other places lol) and it's still sunny and clear just like every other time of year. Last week, I went on two outdoors adventures.

The first was San Tan Mountain Regional Park. I'd never been there or heard of it before. I was just looking to explore somewhere different. It seems to be a park that isn't very well known. Barely any information is listed on it anywhere. The only facts I can seem to find about it are that it is 10,200 acres in size and that it is a good example of the "lower Sonoran Desert." I kind of laughed about that  because the Sonoran desert extends down into Sonora, Mexico, which is quite a bit further south than Queen Creek, Arizona, so I'm not really sure what is meant by "lower Sonoran Desert." I spent some time researching and I can't find that phrase written anywhere else when describing different areas of the Sonoran Desert region. Maybe it refers to the range of plants found at this particular elevation? I'm not sure. I guess it will remain a mystery for now.

Anyway, back to my adventure. I drove down to San Tan Mountain Regional Park in the afternoon so I could catch the sunset. When I stopped to pay the fee at the front of the park, I told the woman at the gate that I wasn't looking for any trails in particular. She remarked that I was just "looking for an adventure." She knew! lol.

San Tan Mountain Regional park is not set up in a loop with several trail heads like you may see in some of the other Maricopa County Parks. Instead, it appears that there is one main parking lot at the entrance where you can access most of the trailheads. If you want to access other trailheads or start the trails from the opposite direction, you have to exit the park and drive around it to the other parking lots. I decided to park at the main entrance. I looked at the trail map and picked the Goldmine Trail. You'll see why by reading the description that was on the back of the map:

Trail Length/Distance: 2.4 miles
Trail Rating: Difficult
Description: If you desire adventure, then you will love the Goldmine Trail as it takes you to the highest point on any trail at roughly 2,300 feet in elevation. The trail begins at the San Tan Trailhead near the visitor center and ends at the Goldmine Trailhead located near Skyline Drive near on the north side of the park. Enjoy a nice workout with breathtaking views from Goldmine Mountain. Don't forget to visit the graves of two miners Mansel Carter and Marion Kennedy, buried near the Goldmine Trailhead as you learn about their unique way of life.

There was more factual information about the park listed in that hiking trail blurb than on anywhere on their website! I always know to take it with a grain of salt whenever any Maricopa County Park lists anything as "difficult" or "steep." Generally, their trails are only "difficult" or steep if you've never hiked a day in your life. Turns out, I was right (not that I was complaining lol).

The trail map. "GM" stands for goldmine.

The trail near the beginning stretch. It's really well established and used by horses often.

Some "horse puckey" as my dad likes to call it. I took a picture because I was perplexed by the rocks on top. Any ideas?

The view of San Tan Valley from the park. The air in Phoenix has been very dirty during the last couple of weeks.

Some cholla hanging out in some volcanic rock.

It was nice and cool outside, but the late afternoon sun was still blazing!

I'm not sure what these are, but they were all over the place in among the tiny blades of grass.

I will say, it was kind of a grueling climb up this hill. It wasn't too steep or treacherous, just a long ascent up the hill with few places to rest. This is the view of Queen Creek and the Superstitions to the north.

I made it up the hill just in time to catch the sun beginning to set over the San Tans. It was a race!

A 360 panoramic view from the spot where I was standing. The farthest right section of the picture is where I just hiked from.

More sunset.

The last bit of light before the sun disappeared completely.

After the sun began to go down, I had to turn around and head back to my car before it got too cold. The air here is very dry and does not contain enough moisture to prevent the temperature from fluctuating dramatically from day to night. It was about 70 degrees when I started my hike, but dropped to about 55 degrees by the time I returned to my car. The low that night was 40 and the lows a couple of nights later were in the 20s. I'd definitely like to go back when I have more time. I want to see the miners graves and the other side of the park. 

Check back later to hear about my adventure with Bill in the Superstitions!

Downstream Photography

As you may or may not know, I've started taking classes in web design. In one of my classes last semester, I had to create a website from scratch using HTML5 and CSS3 and a notepad editor only. For my first website created without the help of a website editor, I created a website for Bill's photography business, Downstream Photography. I made two versions of the site, a desktop and a mobile version. If you click this link from a desktop, you will see the desktop version, and if you click this link from a mobile device, you'll see the mobile version:

www.downstreamphotography.com

These are snapshots of what the homepage looks like in the mobile and desktop versions. As you might have noticed from the "Vote Now" button on the homescreen, Bill has entered a contest to photograph Soundgarden in L.A. The contest is decided through a combination of popular vote and a decision by the judges. In order to vote, you must have a Facebook, Twitter, or be a member of Talenthouse (The site running the contest. It's actually pretty cool. If you become a member--it's open to artists, musicians, etc., you can enter their various contests. Membership is free.) If you'd like to give Bill a vote (I'd love it if you would!), click this button: