Elk for Thanksgiving

 

Rare elk backstrap

For Thanksgiving in Arizona we usually roast up a boneless turkey.  But this year I brought a big elk roast from Alaska for the meal. I cooked it according to my 'red neck sous vid' recipe - at 170 degrees until it got up to 128. And then I browned the outside in a frying pan. 

Polly made apple and pumpkin pies, and roasted Brussels sprouts. While Jack made garlic mash potatoes. We did not have have a turkey but decided we could not go without stuffing.  So I made stuffing and gravy too. It was quite the meal!

Afterwards we all agreed it was so good that we ate even more than we usually do. There were barely any leftovers even!

Patrick

Hanging Out

 

This morning the kids and I got up at 3 AM and drove to the airport.  Our Arizona vacation is sadly over. Everybody is headed off to the various parts of the country where they matriculate, live or work. Right now I am on a layover in the Alaska Airlines lounge in Anchorage waiting to board my plane to Kodiak.  Stuey just texted that he had arrived at his dorm in Lewiston. Nora sent a picture from Grand Central Station - she is going to drive back to Middlebury from Connecticut with some friends. 

After a rainy first day, the Arizona weather was lovely. Mornings were computer, coffee and reading time. And then there was lots of time by the pool. Stuey and I played a lot of Marco Polo until he got a clogged ear. At lunch I got to use my favourite barbecue and grill up brats and deer sausages. Then every evening we spent on the front porch watching the sunset. After dinner we lit a fire in the big hearth and played scrabble.  In one game Polly and I both got scrabbles (79 and 95 point hands!) but still almost lost to Sam!

More to come in the next few days.  It was a good vacation.

Patrick

Stuey does not like doing homework on vacation

Nora was on the rental car insurance and LOVED it

Flowers and butterflies

A 'Queen' butterfly

All the rain in the week prior to our arrival perked up the desert. On all the north facing slopes there is grass,  yellow flowers are blooming, and everywhere is tinged green. Walking along the washes there are hundreds of butterflies flitting here and there.  They seem attracted to the yellow flowers, and over the past few days I have taken way too many butterfly pictures. I gather that last week was an abnormal rain event and that the butterfly event is a bit abnormal. In the meanwhile I'll continue to walk the washes and watch the pretty butterflies.

Patrick

 

Brittlebrush? flowers

cloudless sulphur? butterfly

Painted lady?

Bees collecting water

Desert Photo Safari

 

Stuey brought his GoPro camera along on this trip, and so we decided to go on a 'photo' safari out in the desert. The goal was to take lots of pictures and then pick just 3 each to post on Instagram. I ended up posting more than 3 and Stuey is still editing to pick his favourites.  But the hike was a big success. 

We hiked up to Sunset canyon, and I there was water in all the pools. I have not seen standing water in the desert here in years. All the bees were flying to the pools. The desert is also turning green and there are thousands of butterflies glomming onto a particular yellow flower.  We took a great many butterfly photos and I'll post about them later.

The only downside is that our hike was too near to midday and the light was flat. So when we got back we decided we'd do a dawn patrol photo safari. Those photos are in the blog post immediately preceeding this one.  

Now I can't wait to see which photos Stuey picks out! And I'll have to narrow mine down to just three!

Patrick

Sunset canyon

The water in the pools was so clear and cold that I seriously thought about taking a sip

Sunrise in the desert

 

This morning Stuey and I got up early to catch the sunrise. We left the house 1/2 hour or so before sunrise and went for a hike in the desert.  I wanted to get some desert sunrise pictures, and the hike did not disappoint. Once the sun does start to come up it is sort of amazing how quickly it happens. One moment there is alpine glow on the distant peaks and the next thing you know the sun is up and everything is spotlit.  In Alaska the sun takes a lot longer to get up above the horizon!

Patrick

This one is actually sunset