Solo-dad camping trip with the girls to Woods Canyon Lake on the Rim.
Amazing campsite, great lake time, ride before breakfast, and a rental canoe! Beckie was missed in dispersion of laundry, and meal choice. Hot dogs, cantaloupe, chips, cantaloupe, or hot dogs is enough calories for 2 days. The bikes worked. The boat worked. We had gallons of extra water. The girls overindulged in a cheap solar shower. We didn’t die. Dad’s work is done here.
I met Bluebird 10 years ago, on a group ride from Crown King to Lake Pleasant. He drove the shuttle bus. I re-met him recently through the NoDDC efforts. This should be declared as a campaign donation, its been so cool.
Two weeks ago Bluebird hosted me, G and ‘lana on a walk through the State Land off Pima and Dynamite. He’s a naturalist, a survivalist, and otherwise a normal guy with an iphone. He showed us how to eat palo verde seeds, and mesquite pods. How to see mice trails in the ground, and hair and bones in coyote poo. The hands-on training had all 3 of us stoked about our 5am wake-up, and what we learned.
Two weeks later Bluebird hosted a saguaro harvest. G and I were both fired up to go! So, we are going to use some dried saguaro ribs, wrapped together, and whack the fruit off the top.
Split it open. No needles on the fruit, but fetching them off the ground G and I were constantly pulling needles out of our gloves. Everything in the desert bites, and everything that fell bounced down into a crack that had collected needles and burs
Respect to our place in the world prior to kickoff! No one kneeled for this national anthem. In our group of 6 we had 4 generations, a couple hippies, a couple kids, an ex-cop, a solid Republican or 2, and a hooligan. NoDDC has brought me together with all these people to find what we have in common.
so many barfing jokes.
This was so sweet and full of seeds, it was a natural goo shot. Fruity, freshy, but mild. It snuck up on us 1000 calories later when we all felt grossly full once the jelly and seeds broke down.
Next day breakfast, G needed flavor for plain yogurt on her pancakes. I too started my day with some scoops. We held a few and cut a few to see what the fridge and porch did to them. And will keep at this for a few more days. Yay Food!
I have a thing about not wasting food, co-influenced by knowing nothing about hunting or fishing. I can grow a plant, harvest it, use it to lure meat. This session was very empowering.
Bluebird showed us how to make a rope out of aloe spears. This is the next thing I need to learn from him!
Actual battle of non-stop bickering sisters proving the power of this rope. Because, they couldnt even stop bickering enough to pose. They just had to fight.
