Lay of the Land

I just returned from the annual August Diva retreat. After the dust storm settled, this was the mountain view.

A few of the Divas were asking questions about the neighborhood we live in so I thought I'd try to give some context.

Our house is the odd-sized larger lot on the corner by the arrow.  As you can see, we are one street away from the western and southern edges of the development.  Today, I took a walk to the gray path that runs from east to west along the bottom of this map.  The map shows a cut through from Hazeltine to a dirt path behind the last row of houses.  If you look to the west, there is a fence between the neighborhood and the cattle ranch.

I don't know how many animals they have at the ranch.  I've only ever seen about 6-8 steer at any given time.

The reservation lies to the south and, along the pathway, you can see the signs that this area floods pretty intensely when we get a heavy rain.  Neighbors in this stretch have posted dramatic videos of temporary, fast-moving rivers in this area.

If you walk towards the east, you get a view of the San Tan Mountains.  These pictures were taken in the cooler morning hours but the mountains look most dramatic in the late afternoon when the shadows show their character.

The map also shows the neighborhood school where Brady catches the bus in the morning.  He and Mike ride their bikes along the western perimeter path (gray line) in the mornings and afternoons.  Across the street from the school is the community pool, park, and gym.  All of the areas not colored in yet are either open dirt lots or under construction.  The empty areas have some entertaining animal watching with little herds of quail and their youngsters or desert hares chasing each other while kicking up clouds of dust.  The blog banner photo was taken at the school, facing west.  There's a canal and more cattle roaming area in that section so the sunset photo opps are usually the best from that spot.








Sherman is happy that I'm home and that he can continue to stare at me all day in hopes that I'll play with him or take him for a walk.