Arnco-Sgt Outdoor Learning Areas

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After the Storm

Raindrops are so multi-fascinating! They sparkle like diamonds in the grass. They nourish all living things. They bring relief (since the area is currently experiencing drought conditions). They cause the earth to smell refreshed. They are such itty-bitty things, but when unified, so significant to the world.

Digital Photos

I am currently taking a digital photography class. My camera is a point-and-shoot type of camera with automatic everything. Here are some interesting photos so far.....

Arizona sunsets....

This is a dust storm coming in along the base of the hills in Arizona.

Random Shots.....

I wish my camera could do better macro shots. Can you see the dragonfly in each picture below? It has a turquoise head, and its wings are a blur since it is flying. Every once in a while, it appeared that the dragonfly would open and shut its mouth and eyes! Cool!

Return to Hometown

Return to Hometown

I recently visited my hometown. There is a saying "you can't go back home" as things aren't the same as when you lived there. I took pictures of things from my past. Of course, many of these things no longer look as they did when I was young, oh....but the memories they evoked!

This was the first house we moved into when I moved to Safford, AZ at the age of 8 years old. The house used to be painted a pale blue with white trim. Back then, the wooden fence extended around the corner to the driveway on the side street. I would walk that fenceline everyday, practicing my balance, and perhaps even a bit of showing- off to the neighbors. The most challenging part of the fence was the curved part that went around the corner. The fencing changed from wood rails to heavy-duty strips of curved metal, sized and painted to match the wooden part that made up the rest of the fence. Since the metal part had a narrow edge at top, I couldn't keep my balance and would fall off. I would then have to pickup my fence-walking on the other side of that metal section in order to reach the end of the fenceline. At the end of the fenceline spiny,tall hollyhocks grew. I had to make sure I jumped off the fence in time to miss landing in all those fuzzy, itchy stems!

My best friend, Anne, lived across the street. I spent a lot of time at her house. We would play dolls, dress up, play games, and have sleep-overs. We loved to read books, too. In those days, the library was a couple of miles down the road. It was even safe enough from child predators that we could ride our bikes, by ourselves, down to the library and back, so we could refresh our stock of reading material. The Nancy Drew and Tarzan series were our favorite check-outs. We were able to enjoy this wonderful friendship for about 2 years, when we both moved to a different place. I moved across the other side of the river to the airport. Anne moved far away to another state.

Safford is a farming community, with cotton was the main crop. The Gila River meanders through the area, and is the water source for crops there. From what I remember about irrigation, water is drawn from the river by a pump and is shared amongst the farmers by a maze of ditches. Some ditches are earth and some are lined with concrete. Each participating farmer has an allocated time/day to irrigate his field(s). A farmer accomplishes this by setting up "ditch gates," which direct the water flow along the ditches towards his field. Then, the water is pulled from the ditch by pieces of heavy black tubes extended into the ditch. The beginning of the tube is immersed in the ditch water, the middle of the tube arching over the ditch bank, and ends at the beginning of the field row. The tubes siphon water from the ditch into the rows of the field. This water travels down the row to the end. Thus, irrigation. Many times you would see a heavy plank placed across the ditch, which allowed the farmer to cross over when placing the tubes.

(One summer I worked for a aerial crop duster, who would spray pesticide and fertilizer from the sky onto the crops. He would have to be very careful in dodging all the power lines in the vicinity when dropping a load. The airport office/hangar was a rather odiferious place to work!)

Watch out for those power lines!

My grandparents lived next to the cotton gin where the local farmers brought their harvested cotton crops in trailers. Oddly enough, this area looks the same as it did back in my day. Here are some shots from that cotton gin today:

When I was not quite sixteen, my family moved closer to town. Our house was (still on the other side of the river) on top of a plateau at the base of the foothills. (My house is the one where there are several candle stick trees in the yard.) It's a great view up there!

Some things are still the same...the Arizona sunsets are awesome!