spend more time outdoors

Kathy and I spent Saturday-Sunday with the Sierra Club at the Mahogany Grove campsite near Mt. Charlestion in the Spring Mountain Range. Our tents were pitched at 7,500 feet. I had forgotten what altitude camping is like. Talk about breathless! Pictured is the view from our tent this morning. Talk about breathtaking!

Temperatures are getting close to 80F in the daytime. The grass is coming in green once again, the lantana is creeping forth and blossoming, and flowers are popping up everywhere. It’s a great time to be getting outdoors more.

Today while I was watering the lawn, I took some time to inspect the vines that grow along the side of our house so lushly whether I water them or not. Their purplish-blue flowers abound now. For the past two years, I’ve often wondered what kind of vine it is that grows so well without much tending. So today I did a search on the Internet and discovered it’s really quite common, something I first learned about as a child from a box of Crayola crayons. It’s Periwinkle.

the weather was beautiful (67F, clear skies, no wind), so we took the dogs for a walk. It’s great to get outside after spending winter weeks indoors.

In 2006, most of the leaves on our mulberry had fallen by Halloween. This year, they hung on till Christmas. Now, at last they are down, and this year I’ve got a mulcher, so I managed to get them all into a single trashbag today instead of using six like I did last year.

The days are cool once again, and it’s a great time to be outdoors (instead of at this computer!). The past week I’ve been doing yardwork, aerating the lawn, replanting flowers, and generally getting everything ready for colder weather before the leaves on our mulberry tree start falling by the bagload.

During our recent two-day camping get-away, Kathy and I traveled a little out of the way to visit Cathedral Gorge State Park, just north of Panaca, NV. What incredible landscape! It reminded me somewhat of Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s famous cathedral in Barcelona. But these spires and vestibules are all carved by nature. We hiked several of the caves and upward trails, took a lot of photos, and had a wonderful afternoon outdoors. How is it that in nearly a decade in Nevada, neither of us had ever heard of these amazing formations? More of this kind of exploring is definitely in order.

Kathy and I both have weekdays free now, so there is absolutely no reason why we can’t indulge our camping urges when the sites are uncrowded. I’ve got a post-it note on my monitor that reads “Utah Camping.” A friend had recommended Pine Valley and I’ve also looked into Lake Panguitch. She’ll be back from a trip to Orange County tomorrow. There is nothing to stop us from planning a Utah camping trip for the middle of next week.

On Saturday we visited the newly opened Las Vegas Springs Preserve. Lots of interactive exhibits, great gardens, and the feel of being far away from the city, while still within sight of the Stratosphere. This is a wonderful place for children and adults to spend an afternoon or a day. I strongly recommend it to visitors and locals alike.

I was outside almost the entire weekend, finishing the xeriscaping of the front of our house. I weed-proofed about 200 sq. ft. of yard, moved a ton and a half of gravel, mowed and edged the lawn, mulched fallen leaves and oleander blossoms in back of the house, and watered all of our plants, including our vegetable garden, which has suffered greatly from the triple-digit heat of the past week. I drank lots of water and had a healthy appetite by evening each day. It’s good to go to sleep physically tired, not mentally exhausted. Sometimes a working weekend is the best kind.

Spring has sprung and it’s time to get back out in the yard, cutting grass, pulling weeds and landscaping. The fertilizing I did for the lawn over the winter seems to have paid off. We’ve got some lush green grass coming in. The front yard looks so much better than when when we moved in 10 months ago. Kathy has planted snapdragons and lantana along with the existing roses along the walk leading to the front door, and I’ve patched and reseeded the lawn and tended to the desert flora we added next to the driveway. Next project: xeriscaping the northside of the house with gravel. Then we want to plant a vegetable garden on the south side and get a couple of fountains, one out front and one in the back yard. So many ideas…and we don’t even own the place! Our landlord truly loves us.