6 Feb 2012 - Mesa News

When I woke up the morning of January 21st, I didn't know it wasn't going to be just another day. If someone had told me I was going to buy a house that day, I would have been pretty surprised. But that's what happened. My mother told me that her neighbors were selling their home (she lives in a mobile home retirement community) at a very good price. I found out the price was even better than I'd thought it was, and I felt like it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I'd been thinking that I would buy a place here in Mesa as my winter home, in a couple years or so. And I'd looked at this particular home a year or so ago, when the price was much higher. It's been well-cared-for. I am excited about having my own brick home again.

So I'm going to have to change my description from "full-time RV-er" when I take possession the end of March. It's a small house with two bedrooms. But it's plenty big for me. After the 22-foot RV I've been living in, for the past four years, it feels huge!! :-) So much storage space! So many cupboards! Such a big closet! And, most important, room for company!!! :-)

I've been taking Joey out for hikes often since I got back from California. It's good exercise for both of us. (One reason I wanted to get a dog again - I get a lot more exercise!!) We've been going to my favorite place, the Water Ranch in Gilbert, where I've seen lots of birds, as always. We go to Riverview Park and the Tempe Canal [left] the most frequently, as they are the closest to where I live. I finally made it to Papago Park [below], and was impressed with its beauty. I discovered Cosmo Dog Park and we have been there several times. It's rated the #1 dog park in the country, complete with a lake for the retrievers to swim in. Joey loves running off-leash full-speed on the grass. I went on a bird walk at McDowell Regional Park; it was my first time to that part of the park. We went to Fountain Park in Fountain Hills for the first time. That fountain is impressive, the highest fountain I've ever seen, for sure - 330 feet high! Imagine! [In the photo, those tiny little smudges along the shoreline are people.] Another park I went to, for the first time recently, was Pioneer Park, in downtown Mesa. I was impressed with the beautiful trees, of different varieties. And learned that Mesa was settled by the Mormons (I should have guessed that, with all the Mormon churches, and the temple, here.)

Just recently I took the Moonlight Hike at Lost Dutchman State Park, and saw the hazy moon rise over the Superstition Mountains. We listened to some of Nakai's beautiful Native American flute music as the ranger told us one of the Apache stories about a great flood that killed all the people except those who climbed to the top of the Superstition Mountains. And we listened to "Dutchman's Gold" by Walter Brennan (1960), as she told us the story of the Dutchman's secret gold mine. It was a beautiful night, perfect for hiking (temp in the 50s?). The Moonlight Hike is their most popular hike, which surprised me. But I enjoyed it, that's for sure.

Probably my most favorite place is the Cottonwood Wetlands, which is on the native reservation close by. I see many birds there, but I've never seen another person. It's quiet, and you can easily forget you are in the middle of a city. Last year I even saw a bald eagle there. Sometimes I drive down the road a ways, and park at a vantage point where I can see the sun setting over the Salt River. Gorgeous.

I could hike somewhere different every day of the year, and I don't know how many years it would take, before I would finally have tried them all around here.

As always, Mesa is a birder's paradise. The number and variety of birds here is amazing - some who winter here, and others who migrate through. I've already seen several "new" birds, for me, and have a good start on my 2012 Bird List. [Gila Woodpecker at top, Green Heron next, Canvasback near bottom]