Memorial Day Weekend Adventures 2008!!!!

We wanted to go camping in the Chiricahua Mountains for Memorial Day weekend, but alas the weather turned cold here. When the temperature is 104 one day and four days later it is in the mid to lower seventies ITS COLD FOR US ARIZONIANS!!! Not to mention the top of Mount Lemon saw snow for the first time in recorded history this late in the year. When it snows up in the mountains it usually means rain down in the valley. Needless to say we went for a 7 mile one way (total 14 mile) bike ride on Saturday and Monday we went on a beautiful 7 - 8 mile hike up Mount Lemon. Oh to be young again and that the joints could put up with the abuse!!! We hiked to Sycamore Creek Dam. It is an out in the open trail so there aren't any trees to offer any respite from the sun, until you get down to the bottom where there are trees galore. A very beautiful reward after being in the sun!!!

We hiked part of the Arizona trail. That trail spans the entire distance of the state.

Carrie by the Sycamore Creek trail sign.

Part of the trail

The top of Sycamore Creek dam

Sycamore Creek dam

A Job!

(Carrie) I started a new job at Sunquest Information Systems on May 12. It feels great to have a job again, after a two month break. I am working in the Quality Control group doing regression testing on computer software that is used in hospital labs. Basically I will be performing tests on the program to make sure there aren't any major problems before it is sent to the customer. I've been in training the past two weeks, but will be given some projects to work on this week. I'm excited to learn alot at this new job!

Recipes this month

(Carrie) I haven't tried many new recipes this month, but here are some that we both loved. I got the first two recipes from my sister-in-law Rachel, and the third from a Taste of Home cookbook.

Chicken 'n Peaches Piquante

2 chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper
1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 cup coarsely diced red bell pepper
1 15-ounce can sliced peaches, drained and liquid reserved
1/2 cup thick and chunky picante salsa
1 TBSP frozen orange juice concentrate
2 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 90 to 10 minutes until no longer pink in the center. Remove to platter.

Add bell pepper to skillet. Reduce heat and cook while stirring for 2 minutes until crisp-tender.

Add reserved peach liquid, salsa and orange juice to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add peaches and cilantro; cook and stir 3 minutes until hot. Add chicken and any juices that may have accumulated on platter. Spoon sauce and peaches over chicken and stir until all are warmed. Serve over rice.


Curry Chicken

3/4 pound chicken breast halves
1 TBSP curry powder
1 tsp oil
1 small onion, stripped
1 small zucchini, cut in 1/4 inch slices
1 medium green pepper chopped
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Cook chicken in oil and curry powder. Add vegetables to skillet and fry until soft. Add milk and spices to the skillet. Cook until sauce is heated. Serve over rice.


Pear Custard Bars

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts

FILLING/TOPPING
1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 can (15-1/4 ounces) pear halves, drained
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the flour and vanilla until combined. Stir in the nuts. Press into a greased 8 inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Increase heat to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Pour over crust. Cut pears into 1/8 inch slices; arrange in a single layer over filling. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over pears.

Bake at 375 degrees for 28-30 minutes (center will be soft set and will become firmer upon cooling). Cool on a wire rack for 45 minutes. Cover and refridgerate for at least 2 hours before cutting. Store in the refrigerator.

Hike a Bike

(Carrie) Charles took me on my first real mountain biking adventure on the Starr Pass trail this morning. I rode the bike most of the time, walking only over the more rocky and steep parts. I really enjoyed myself! After about two miles, Charles noticed my back tire was flat. Charles pumped it up a few times, and it went flat each time. We didn't have the right tools with us to fix the flat, so we ended up hiking our bikes out the rest of the two miles. I enjoyed the bike ride and the hiking part wasn't bad either. My first Hike a Bike experience!

(Charles) What a great time we had!! It was great to be out in the desert for 5 lovely hours. I think we are paying for it though. Body aches remind me of days gone by, when I could ride for hours and not have any joint pain. I should have paid attention to the promptings to bring the tube repair kit with me, though. But I thought, oh its a new bike there won't be any problems!! We had a liner installed on Carrie's bike that was supposed to solve all of the tire problems (thorns, pinched tubes, etc.). What did I learn from this mistake, other than I hate Hike a BIKES - pay attention to the simple promptings whatever they may be!!! My bike is the cadillac of bikes. It was a pleasant surprise!!! Yesterday was really the first day that "the bike" had been out on a true singletrack trail. I was blowing through the course. I can't wait to get it back out there!!!!


At the start of our adventure

Charles riding up the trail

The Saguaro cacti are in bloom right now

Another flowering cactus

Flowers and a Bike

(Carrie) Yesterday we celebrated two months of being married! Charles brought me two types of flowers after work. He said one was an early Mother's Day gift. I sure married a fantastic guy! I gave Charles a pillow he wanted repaired (I know it's nothing fancy, but it's what he wanted!). We had chicken curry for dinner and homemade chocolate cake with mint chocolate ice cream for dessert.


After dinner, we took my new mountain bike for a ride on the trail along the wash. We picked it up at the bike store right before we ate dinner. We rode for 45 minutes and were covered with little green bugs at the end. It was a fun ride even with the bugs! We shopped around at different bike shops in the area, and decided to get a Trek 3700. It is a fantastic bike for me. We are both excited I finally have a bike!

Critters

(Carrie) There are a few critters that like to spend time right outside our apartment that are fun to watch. There are a bunch of doves that like to sit on our stair railing. We also had a dove sit in our window sill for a few hours last week. Every night we have two lizards that like to feast on the moths outside our front door. They run and hide in the corner above the door when we come home.

Kitt Peak Observatory

(Charles and Carrie) Last Saturday (May 3) we spent over 5 hours at Kitt Peak Observatory for their Nightly Observing Program. We had a fantastic time! We made it to the Observatory at 5:30 pm and looked at the exhibits at the visitor's center. At 6 we ate a turkey sandwich boxed dinner. After dinner the fun really began! We were introduced to features of the Observatory, taught how to read star charts, learned how to focus binoculars the correct way, and given our very own red light. You can't use any white lights after the sun goes down, or the images captured from the telescopes could possibly be messed up. Because we couldn't use white lights, we couldn't take flash pictures after dark and we had to drive one mile down the mountain (after the program was over) without our headlights! That was an adventure!

We got to watch the sun set over the desert. Then we spent time looking at the night sky through the binoculars and even saw a few shooting stars! Then we were divided into groups of 12 and taken to different telescopes to look more things in our universe. Looking through the telescopes was the highlight of the evening!







The next two pictures are of a telescope that can be operated through the Web.




The triangular structure is used for viewing the sun. Alot of time on Kitt Peak is spent researching the sun.



Sunset over the desert.




The first 3 pictures are of constellations we viewed through binoculars. The rest were viewed through a 16 inch telescope. Granted what we saw wasn't as clear as these pictures because we were looking through the earth's fuzzy atmosphere. But when we saw Saturn, everyone in our group thought it was a picture taped to the telescope. That is how clear Saturn was to us! We were able to see the rings and 4 of Saturns' moons.


Castor: This binary system is a reflection of the constellation in which its resides- Gemini, the Twins! These two stars of similar brightness and color are relatively easy to discern through a modest telescope under steady skies.



Coma Berenices: "Berenice's Hair," a giant Y-shaped open star cluster. It is only 100 lightyears away and appears a bit east of Leo.



M44: The "Beehive Cluster." A large, bright, diffuse open star cluster containing about 400 stars. It lies fairly close at a distance of almost 600 lightyears away. Another nickname: "Praesepe."



M5: A bright, large globular cluster, 30,000 lightyears away. "This superb object is a noble mass, refreshing to the senses after searching for fainter objects." - Admiral Smyth, 1838.


NGC 3242: The "Ghost of Jupiter." A shroud of gas puffed off by a dying star, a few thousand lightyears away. The gas is illuminated by the collapsed, hot, blue core (a white dwarf).



M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy. This galaxy gets its name from its bright and prominent spiral arms. It lies at a distance of 38 million ly. It also has a smaller, companion galaxy (NGC 5195). The two galaxies are in the process of a massive collision in space.



M82: This lumpy streak of an irregular galaxy is seven million lightyears away, and perhaps 30,000 lightyears across. There are vast gas clouds here, where suns are being born at an incredible rate.



Saturn, the second-largest planet in the Solar System, is known for its showy but thin rings made of ice chunks as small as dust and as large as buildings. Its largest moon, Titan, has an atmosphere and hydrocarbon lakes; at least 51 smaller moons orbit Saturn.


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