Joe and Mary Ann's personal web site

Fr. Charlie, Dave, and I went to the Pinal Mountains on Tuesday, July 16. It’s nice to get away from the Phoenix heat and up to the cool mountains. We left at about 7 am, and it’s a two hour drive to the peak.

Mary Ann and I went to Oregon for Bob’s 80th birthday party (his actual birthday is June 24th). This post has mostly family pictures that I took in Terry and Bob’s back yard, and a travelogue.

Mary Ann’s sister Amy came for a visit, and we took her to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum (BTA). We got there about 8:15, and stayed until lunch time. We had lunch in Superior at Los Hermanos, which is our usual (since Casa Denogean closed).

On the second day of our trip to Sierra Vista we went first to Hunter Canyon, and then to Paton Center for Hummingbirds.

Fr. Charlie, Mark, and I went to Southeast Arizona for a two day trip. We stayed in Sierra Vista, and from there went to Huachuca Canyon and the San Pedro River on the first day, and on the second day we went to Hunter Canyon, and Paton Center for Hummingbirds. This post is for the first day.

Father Charlie and I hiked the Tres Rios Wetlands between the trailhead on the east side (91st Ave; a permit is required) and the park on the west side (the Base & Meridian Wildlife Area near ISR Raceway on Avondale Avenue). It’s about a 3 mile hike. I also threw in two pictures I took when Mary Ann and I went to Kansas in March.

On the second day of our trip to SE Arizona, we went to the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area (NCA). The highlight was the Bighorn Sheep! We went to Aravaipa Canyon the first day (see here), and decided to spend another night and explore the area around Safford a little bit the next day. There are a lot of options e.g. Roper Lake and Mt. Graham. But we decided on Gila Box.

Mary Ann and I went to Aravaipa Canyon, east trailhead, on March 27. The canyon was gorgeous! It’s Mary Ann’s favorite place on the planet.

Fr. Charlie, Dave, and I went to southern Arizona on March 18. We left early (about 6:30) for the 2 hour drive to the town of Tubac, where we stopped at Ron Morriss County Park, and De Anza Trail. We stopped for lunch in Tubac, and then headed to Patagonia Lake State Park (about a 45 min drive).

UPDATE 14 Nov 2021: I haven’t been using this recipe lately, and am using the one posted here instead.

This is the ‘new and improved’ version of my yogurt recipe. My old recipe used gelatin for the thickener. This one uses pectin, which gives a better texture to the yogurt (in my opinion). It took a lot of trial and error to get the pectin recipe right (as described in the ‘Yogurt Thickness’ section of this post). Rather than delete or modify the old recipe, I left it there, and added this new one. A link to the old recipe is here.