Tucson Highlights

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We just returned from a week-long trip to Southwestern Arizona. It was wonderful! Andy, Aiden and I, along with Grandma Chris and Uncle Kenny traveled to Tucson to stay with Andy's Mom's cousins, Carol and Mike Dolan. The Dolans have such a beautiful spot in NW Tucson, with a nice big yard for little ones to play in the sun. And was it ever sunny! We had 8 straight days of cloudless, mid-eighty degree weather (which i gather is not unusual in this part of the country). If we ever had 8 straight cloudless 80 degree days in Vermont, people here would call it a miracle and start seeing the Virgin Mary's likeness on their morning toast.

Andy and Aiden and I got our own private digs in the Dolan's spacious camper, which worked out great. Except that we had to block access to the driver's seat with a big suitcase after a day or so. Aiden thought he had made out big-time with his own personal T-R-U-C-K and wanted to press all the buttons and pedals constantly. He SO enjoyed himself playing outside that he soon forgot about the camper steering wheel... it seems like forever since Aiden was able to play outside in a t-shirt and shorts, and he definitely took advantage of every opportunity he could get to run around in the yard and play with rocks and sticks (and the occasional cactus).

On our first day in Tucson we visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which has to be the coolest "museum" ever. It's part botanical garden, part zoo (with animals in natural habitats, no cages), part museum, part nature center, and also part national park (Saguaro National Park). It's the kind of place you need a good week to cover, so we barely scratched the surface in one day.

Kenny, Carol and Mike at the Sonora Desert Museum

A saguaro up close, with nesting holes (woodpeckers, owls...)

Some of the desert flora

Saguaro National Park vista

Aiden watching hummingbirds in the aviary

They have daily raptor free-flight demonstrations at the Desert Museum, where they let their rehabilitated (but unreleasable) birds of prey fly out in the desert in front of a crowd of onlookers. On the day we went, they brought out a Great Horned Owl, a Ferruginous Hawk (below) and a Chiuahuan Raven. The raven was the coolest because he just looked like he was having a great time swooping and diving about 3 inches above the heads of everyone watching him. The Dolans have a friend who volunteers with the raptor demonstrations, so they were able to finagle us a "backstage" visit to the areas where the birds are kept. It was great to get such close looks at the differnent southwestern species, and even better knowing that these birds were able to be nursed back to health and can live out fulfilling lives at this great facility.

Ferruginous Hawk

Western Screech Owl

Speaking of BIRDS, we did see a few of them (in the wild) over the course of our trip. We saw 120 different species to be exact, of which 43 were life-birds for both Andy and I! And we both reached our 500th bird species seen during the week (for which we recieved endless ribbing from everyone we were staying/travelling with....the price you pay for being a birder geek). Andy's 500th bird was a Scaled Quail, and mine was a Lucy's Warbler! Only about 9300 species left to see on earth...

A Gambel's Quail (in the Dolan's front yard)

Black-Throated Sparrow (again in the Dolan's yard)

Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson


Cinnamon Teals at Sweetwater Wetlands

A Mourning Dove nesting in the backyard- she almost got eaten by a Cooper's Hawk while we were there.

Cactus Wren

Hanging out in the Dolan's yard

St. Patty's, Birthdays, and Early Easter

Here are some photos from the past week or so... we're off to Arizona for a long-planned and much-needed vacation today so I don't have time to write much, but enjoy the snapshots!

Aiden in his Ireland sweater on St. Patty's Day

Sap Bucket extravaganza

Birthday Dinner for Mom and Micah

Aiden's first Peep...mmmm...Matt looks jealous

Aiden sugaring



Here Timbit, have a cracker...

The coolest

Micah and Aiden



Dad and Aiden

??????

Coloring early Easter eggs with Grandma

The final product

Notice the color of my hands and face!

Big News!

We have some big news in the Deegan household for those of you who haven't already heard... we're moving! To New Hampshire, where your two choices are "live free or die!" Most of you know that Andy has been pretty unstimulated for quite awhile now at his current job as a real estate attorney. There are only so many closings you can run before you have pretty much learned all there is to know about that topic. He has been looking for a job that will combine his undergraduate degree in natural resources with his legal and real estate experience. Specifically, he had been looking for a position in land conservation within VT for at least a year now, and although he has had a few interviews, nothing worked out. So we decided recently that he should expand his job search to neighboring states (there aren't many land trusts in VT) and right away he got a job offer. He'll be working for Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust in New London, NH, which is right near Lake Sunapee.

Soooo, we're kind of in shock right now. We put an offer on a house in New London and are in the midst of those fun negotiations now. Looks like we'll be moving in early June at this point, though Andy will start work in May and commute back on weekends until we move. Everything is in chaos, and I can barely think straight these days. We're very sad to leave Vermont, and especially being so close to family here, but also we're excited to begin this new adventure. I have no idea what kind of job I'll find there, but my first priority will be to get us moved and get Aiden settled and adjusted.

We'll keep you posted!

Tapping Time Again

It's that time of year again! Lots of sugarhouses up here are already boiling sap from the few warm days we've had so it was time to help my folks at "Timber Hill Farm" get ready for maple season. We prepped all the buckets in a few hours on Saturday of last weekend, planning to get in as many taps as possible by working all day Sunday. Unfortunately, we had a major ice storm on Saturday night (see pics above) and my parents woke up to a chilly house without power. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to get the generator started, and a subsequent debate over whether my Dad should try to find a Honda generator for sale on a Sunday morning (turned out to be impossible), we finally just left it to the power company and went outside to tap trees.



We only had two cordless drills, with four half-charged battery packs and no way to charge them, so we worked until the drills were completely dead. That turned out to be most of the day, and about 170 taps, which was only about 30 shy of the total for this year. So not too bad for one day's work with no power.

The sap was definitely not running when we were tapping, unlike last year. Too cold!

Buckets are up and it's starting to look like a sugarbush again.

Mom lit a fire in the woodstove to take the chill out of the house and volunteered to watch Aiden while Dad, Andy and I worked outside. It was so nice and toasty that Aiden slept for 3 full hours after his snack and missed his opportunity to help with the tapping this year. Which is OK, there are still lots of opportunities to help with the sap collecting and boiling this year. We'll put him to work soon! Oh, and the power did come back on some time the next day...

Three Little Piggies

We also had a very quick visit with Aiden's cousins Emma and William while we were on Long Island. These 3 are getting to the point where they seem really close in age (which they are, only 8 wks between any of them at most) but they could not be more different little individuals! You would never guess they were related, really. We all agreed that the only thing that all three have in common is translucently pale skin! We'll all be slathering on the SPF 55 once the warm weather arrives.




Emma nicely shared her cool toys with the boys and we had a yummy breakfast courtesy of Melanie & Brian. Even when it's really quick, it's so nice to see Aiden's cousins (and my cousins too, of course!)

Emma with her favorite Pooh bear

Carrie and William

Meanwhile....

While we were at Jared and Rita's wedding, Aiden was having a great adventure of his own. About a dozen relatives, two cats and a dog came to visit and play with him for the day. He played lots of piano, ate lots of fruit salad, and got tickled mercilessly. By the time we got back from the wedding, Aiden's visting party had dwindled down to a few, but he was still running around like a crazy man.







Actually the biggest star of the party was not Aiden but Dan & Paulette's new puppy, Munson. He's an adorable little maltese who will fit in the crook of your arm at this point. Munson was very playful and tolerant with Aiden, considering that he was being stalked 90% of the time.

Here, little doggie....

Everyone snuggles with Munson...

Awww....

We MADE IT to a Wedding!

Last weekend we made an extremely short (less than 2 days total) trip to Long Island to celebrate the wedding of one of Andy's oldest friends, Jared. We've had a pretty poor track record of making weddings lately - we were not able to make it to the last 3 we had planned to attend due to weather-related flight cancellations or family emergencies (sorry Jen & Karl, Katie & Randy, and Allison & Malcolm!). So we were mildly surprised to actually make it to this wedding with no major glitch or crisis involved. The weather cooperated, flights were all on time, and even Aiden was in a pretty good mood for the travel.


Jared's fiancee (now wife) Rita is the sister of another close friend, so there were lots of old friends at the wedding. It was good to catch up with people and relax a little. Though there were lots of babies in attendance (Dorothy & James' 10-month old girl, Elizabeth, was an adorable flower girl) we were happy to leave Aiden at Grandma Chris's house in Patchogue for the day. Aiden enjoyed it a lot more than he would have enjoyed the wedding, Grandma Chris was thrilled, and we got to act like a couple of lovebirds for the night.

Kevin, Mai Lan, and Dorothy

James and Elizabeth



Jared and Rita

Wedding scenes...

Andy and Steve being goofballs