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Day 2286

Saturday January 6th 2024

Dear Journal:

Well it is a damn cold this morning here in Arizona, we had rain over most of the night and with the cold temperature we must be almost cold enough to have snow. There is no sense of urgency to get to the visitor center before a rush of visitors, so we have a second cup of coffee as we know it will be a tough day. I actually download an extra e-book as I’m thinking there may be some extra reading time. The cloud cover is very low and the top of Picketpost mountain is no where to be seen.

There are a number of events scheduled in the arboretum this morning as with most weekends, today we have a “Forest Bathing” session happening, it was planned for an open area in the Arboretum now there is a scramble to move it to a covered area. I will try to explain Forest Bathing to everyone once I understand it, all I know for sure is that it sells out when ever offered. As the first Arboretum visitors are mostly the Forest Bathing participants there is lots of time for for me to catch up on my reading.

One of the staff just came to the booth as she had never seen snow and today we are seeing the occasional flake falling, it is hard for me to understand someone never having seen snow, but it is a rarity in the Phoenix valley, although common enough at higher elevation. Which could explain the common driving hazard here in Arizona when after a snowfall at elevation the valley folk drive north on Interstate 17 then pack the shoulder of the highway to walk or play in the new fallen snow, causing a real driving hazard.

Miss Laurie snapped this photo from behind the admission booth mid morning when the cloud had lifted to expose Picketpost Mountain, a spectacular photo of Eucalyptus tree, Saguaro cactus, the sun peaking through the clouds and a skiff of graupel on the ground, even the 100th centennial sign at the visitor center.

Well we made it through what seemed like a very long day, and other than the Forest Bathers early this morning there were very few visitors today, there are some members that come out just to see the Arboretum when it is wet, and as much as it has been a cold rainy day the creek is still not running. This type of day is so good for the gardens as it allows the moisture to seep into the soil as opposed to just running into the creek.

There was a wet winter forecast this year and it has been with lots of gentle rains, and unlike last year when Queen Creek was running hard so much of the time this year the water is soaking in and I suspect there could be another super bloom in the spring. Not a lot more to be said other than it was a long day in our little booth.

Blog 501

Day 2285

Friday January 5th 2024

Dear Journal:

Ah our first day of volunteering in 2024, but first is our regular workday routine, a cup of fresh perked coffee with a wee Irish blessing with a little of local and national news. Our usual breakfast on volunteering days is some cold cereal before work. Miss Laurie packs us a sandwich, a fruit cup, and usually some potato chips (one of my nemeses) along with our water bottles. We know it has been a cold winter week in Arizona and the weekend forecast is not looking good which while making our days easy also makes them drag as we are better when busy.

This was my view from the ticket booth this morning, since we last volunteered some of the Arboretum centennial celebration items have been mover into place. This is always a very popular photo opportunity in the Arboretum as it overlooks some of the Arboretum as well as having the Picketpost Mountain in the background and displays Saguaro cactus and Eucalyptus trees. I also have to point out that in true Arboretum fashion it also overlooks the port-a-potties in the background as well, this little oversight is not unusual I’m sorry to say.

As the photo shows it is an overcast day, this is not unusual January and February are winter here in Arizona so cold weather, with rain and the occasional skiff of snow are not unheard of. But the average temperature for Superior Arizona in January is 61ºF (16ºC) / 43ºF (6ºC) with 4 days of rain, that is at 2800 feet of elevation, the Arboretum is located at 2400 feet, so very similar. We do not come to Arizona for hot weather, we come to Arizona in the winter for sunshine, as an example Yuma records over 300 days of sunshine every year and Phoenix is just under the 300 mark and while the days are not hot the sunshine is warm and is our reason for being here.

This is my view on my volunteering days, and Miss Laurie sits four feet to my right, workstation, cashdrawer, ticket printer, mouse, scanner, and credit card machine, and of course my Yeti. You my notice how ergonomic that it is not with the keyboard of my workstation being on my left which make typing a wee bit difficult for a right handed guy, and every transaction requires entering a zip or postal code and often we have to look up members by their name or phone number. The display screen is a touch screen but again designed for a left handed person. Again the whole admission booth was designed by someone that had absolutely no idea what was needed. And the only reason it is as workable as it is, is because we reworked what we could with the counter and orientation. You may also notice there is not a human in sight, and this was taken around ten o’clock, usually one of the busiest times for admission on a Friday.

The only thing worse than being overworked is being underworked, and with today being the best looking day of the weekend, I’m thinking it could be a long three days … jus’saying.

Blog 500