Friday, May 13, 2016

The Creeping Devil Weekly Link Round-Up




Most people-- when they bother to think of Arizona at all-- think of the Phoenix and Tucson parts of the state. The parts with the towering saguaros and other desert accoutrements. Now by the time May rolls around, almost every single one of our visitors down here in the south has gone home. If you're looking to save pennies on a trip to Phoenix, you come when the weather's a blast furnace. You can bet hotels will lower their prices and beg you to stay then!

Well, I have a young niece who will be here in June. June is when we can get temperatures like... oh, say... 118° or at least day after day of temperatures over 110° (43-48°C.) plus brilliant blue skies and sun so intense that you can get burned in well under five minutes. This young English rose of ours is going to have her baptism by fire-- and I'm going to make sure I'm stocked up on sunscreen!

We're planning on showing her some of the sights in northern Arizona, which will involve overnight stays. Boy howdy-- while hotel prices are cheaper down here in Phoenix, they are anything but cheap up north! Unless you're in an area with a ski resort (yes, Arizona has ski resorts), prices are cheap in the winter up north while they're expensive down here. Have I confused you yet?

And while time is making its inexorable way to June, I thought I'd share a photo of one of my favorite cacti at the Desert Botanical Garden. Now take a look-- doesn't that cactus look like it's trying to make a run for it? Want to know its name? Let me introduce you to the Creeping Devil cactus before I head on out to the corral for those links!
 

►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
  • There's something mesmerizing about watching sheep being herded online. (Baa, ram, ewe!)
  • Looks like the U.S. government is getting set to adopt the bison as our national mammal. Did you know that bison are considered the first major conservation success story on earth? 
  • Watch a baby dolphin being born. 
  • A wild otter has become a man's best friend.
  • Never underestimate Mother Nature: a weasel was responsible for shutting down the world's most powerful particle collider. 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

►I ♥ Lists◄
  • Ten facts about Poets Laureate.
  • A people's language grows (and shrinks) according to what's important to them. If you live up at the Arctic Circle, you need a lot of different words for snow. In Scotland, you need at least fifteen special words to describe the weather.   
  • Literary characters who could be on reality TV
  • Ten favorite dance scenes... a list where I would've substituted a few choices of my own.
  • Here's a top ten list of contemporary African authors.


That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!
 

   

6 comments:

  1. Oh, gosh, your niece. She needs not only sunscreen but a hat and a lot of air conditioning and not to stay outside in the sun for a long time.
    I say this as someone who suffered from horrible sunburns, even getting fevers and chills, with bad burns and peeling, etc. And I have that kind of skin.
    But I was a teen-ager then and, of course, would go to the beach again with my friends two weeks later and the scenario would be repeated.
    So, she should be very careful.

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    1. Don't worry. She will be. I'm here, remember? :-)

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  2. I hope your niece will have a wonderful visit, Cathy! And thanks, as ever, for those links. An Inca tax system? Shows you taxes have been around for a l-o-n-g time...

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    1. And I'll bet neither one of us is surprised!

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  3. The niece will have fun under a hat and sun screen, an umbrella and sunglasses.

    But there is so much to see. I'd want to see the Desert Botanical Garden and all the birds around.

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    1. That's on the agenda as well as going down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, and being up in the Ponderosa pine forests of the White Mountains.

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