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mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Dog Days Officially End

August 27, 2013 — 1 Comment

cactus

cactus

This summer the dog membership at the Tucson Botanical Gardens has been a great benefit to our family.  Each Tuesday we enjoy walking early in the morning with other member dogs and their owners in a shady oasis in the middle of town.

cool morning walk

cool morning walk

Today is the last Tuesday of the dog membership.  It rained last night, which is magical here.  The garden was lovely and very fragrant for our last visit of the summer.  Artemisia has always liked to eat sunflowers, which is verboten in a botanical garden, of course.  As a treat and a little rule breaking on her last dog day I let her munch a couple of leaves on the bottom of a sunflower.  She didn’t eat very much.  She hopes to return next summer as a member dog.

Talking About Race

August 10, 2013 — 2 Comments

My tribal sister Rayshay has attended a training offered by the Justice department to teach individuals how to have a conversation about race.  I admire her courage and conviction in stepping up to the plate on this issue.  She lives in Philly, and I live near the Mexican border in Tucson, so we have different perceptions of where we are today.  I am also older, and lived in Texas in 1967-70, when civil rights were a really big deal, not in a good way.  I would not take up this subject on my own.  This is the first time I have responded to a prompt, but I think this discussion is important, so I hope some of my readers will decide to write a piece this week also.

In response to Rayshay’s next question: Where are we now?  Where I live the strong elements of denial and us vs them mentality are damaging our quality of life.  Racism is unfortunately integrated into politics and business.  If you think national politics looks magnetized to the extreme, just take a walk on the wild side down here at the Mexican border of Arizona.

Here in Tucson racism is very likely to be emotionally bound to the border and immigration.  The race/language/culture issues we have are about being Mexican and or Native American in a land once exclusively owned by your ancestors.  Arizona became a state in 1912, so very different from Pennsylvania, one of the 13 colonies.  The border itself is an unnatural place to stop anything or anyone.  A long stretch of the Arizona border is on tribal land, which is a sovereign nation belonging to the people who were undoubtably here first, the Tohono O’odam.  Arizona was part of Mexico; some land ownership in Arizona is documented by Spanish land grant.  Rich mines belonged to the Apache tribes, and there were resources to create a thriving economy. Now we suffer from a water shortage that is unsustainable.  Golf, cows, and general waste of our water has left the southwest in a pickle…literally. The salty groundwater leaves minerals in the ground that eventually make plant growth impossible.  It is late in the game to decide who took what from whom; the resource of water has been depleted for everyone.

Politics in Arizona are tied to race, language, and Mexico.  The school district in Tucson has been ordered to stop teaching a curriculum in ethnic studies.  This complex and emotional issue brought out the worst in everyone.  Some of the books from the program were apparently banned from all the libraries after the closure.  There is bitterness on both sides of this issue.  If public education becomes a reason to bicker, all students loose. Where we are in Arizona is nowhere near the place we need to be for a thriving and honest economy that serves the best interest of society.

Benefits of the Garden Arch

August 1, 2013 — 4 Comments

My visit with Michael Ray yesterday was fun and informative. Here he tells us about the benefits of the Nursetree Garden Arch:

I am impressed with his continual learning and improvement of his invention.  I have been through the prototype process with Floatli and know it is both fun and frustrating.  You can only learn through experiment.  I believe Michael has created a wonderful tool desert gardeners will be needing more and more.  A dozen years ago I bought 5 acres in Oracle, AZ with a gushing well, thinking I would grow food. When I sold the property last year the well was almost depleted for household use.  In a way I was lucky I did not plant a big orchard and then loose the water for it.  Today I garden in the city with an eye toward conservation of every kind.  The garden arch is an innovative way to save water and grow food.

Extreme Gardening

July 31, 2013 — 7 Comments

Michael Ray and I met at a small business group that meets at Tucson’s Ward 3 office once a month for a convo.  When I saw the pictures of his invention I wanted one.  After learning more in subsequent meetings, I asked to interview him about his gardening transformer, the Nursetree Arch.  He developed this water catching temperature controlling environment for desert gardeners who have climate challenges.  I love the way he can adapt his new prototype to the situation and economic needs of the particular client.

The fully decked out robotic arch in which Michael is growing papaya as well as brussels sprouts in Tucson on August fist is fancy indeed.  He is recording data to help him refine his work.  His outdoor garden benefits from his arch used as seedling starter in the winter.

Mentally Ill Cops

July 18, 2013 — 1 Comment

In Tucson our cops represent themselves very badly. A cop in training went to a gas station wearing a bullet proof vest waving his duty weapon at the clerk. He was looking intoxicated, which he has a right to be..in private…but not in public with the vest and weapon we supplied for this loose cannon.  The TPD asks the public to excuse this little incident and forget another recent cop drunk driving to work event.  Our tax dollars are being spent wisely we are assured.  I don’t know anyone who trusts the TPD in my neighborhood.  I do not like the way they spend my tax dollars.

If the general public has so much mental illness we need to assume that some of the cop population suffers from similar problems.   If we look at evidence we notice that our police in Tucson behave badly. I am not at all pleased to have armed this punk who used his duty weapon to show his alignment with reality. Guns do not kill people…drunk punks dressed in vests certainly might.

Farm to Table Dinner at Zona 78

July 15, 2013

Last night we attended our first farm to table dinner in Tucson. Zona 78 prepared a fresh and exotic menu featuring produce from Sleeping Frog Farms in the San Pedro valley.  Four courses featuring produce were presented, along with a delicious berry cocktail or a glass of wine.  All of our expectations were exceeded, from service, presentation, variety, to innovation.  If you have not tired Zona 78 or Sleeping Frog Farms produce, I highly recommend that you do.  We hope the farm to table dinners will become a regular feature because it is an extraordinary way to dine and expand horizons.  We met cool people and discovered new cuisine, which is exactly our style.

We were pleased and happy to taste and enjoy such creative innovative cuisine.

Culinary Weekend in Tucson

July 7, 2013

This was our first time to attend the Iron Chef Tucson competition that is held at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort. We took our dog and spent the night to make a little staycation out of the event. It was  fun, surprisingly popular, and full of variety.  The competition was won for the third year in a row by Ryan Clark.  The trade show and competition brought out all kinds of people interested in cooking and dining.  A good time was had by all, especially the dog, who enjoys hanging out in hotels.

The trade show part of the even included samples, sips, and demos of many kinds of equipment, from knives to fancy stoves.  There were vendors selling Nambe, candy, coffee, and even personal training.  The most interesting thing I learned at the event is that our local food bank operates a culinary school that not only recycles food that would be wasted, but trains low income students to work in the food industry.  This program has allowed the food bank to expand the prepared meals program in the community while training new students.  I am so excited to hear about this.  It has been in existence for 2 years, and this is the first time I have heard of it.  I will follow up with a visit to the school, which is enrolling a new class next week.

One of my favorite vendors who installed a wood burning stove in my home is Val Romero.  He owns Arizona Grill and Hearth.  His company is an excellent source for all things grill, stove, and outdoor kitchen.  My stove is the best upgrade I ever made to my living conditions, and the project was done with the utmost professionalism, and at a good price.  He is a positive person with aloha in his attitude and fair dealing in his spirit.  You will have a good time if you do business with Val.

In Tucson and around the country damage from mold is a serious issue.  This health hazard can be dangerous to humans and pets.  It is most devastating to real estate value because insurance companies rightly treat it like the plague.  Mold that is rampant must be treated and removed to avoid spread and contamination of the entire area.  Since the property with an adjoining wall has been used to collect donations for a decade, the water has been leaking profusely for months, and everything points to heavy duty mold damage I have repeatedly asked the HOA board that collects the donations from the public to hire Rocky the Mold Dog, who appears on TV.  He is a beagle with a nose for mold. He sniffs the property and helps the humans identify problems so they can be treated.  All health department code has been violated in this building for more than a decade.  The unsupervised food collection, storage, and preparation in a leaky environment is a very likely contributor to the growth of mold.  There is probable cause to believe the building is completely infested with mold which is damaging my home every day.

There is much more than a conflict of interest between the HOA board members who run the charity scam collecting donations, and the property owners in this neighborhood.  I had some work done on my home recently and was informed by the contractor who did the work about the level of danger to my structural integrity posed by the neglect of my next door neighbor.  He took some pictures of the rotting roof piled with debris, and explained that the load of all that garbage was a serious threat to my home.  He taught me a lot that I did not know about the dangers and damage that mold represents.  I read my insurance policy and spoke to my agent who explained the complex and very depressing details of mold, what it does, and what happens to your insurance policy once it is discovered.  I am officially freaked out about the physical damage the charity scam has done to my home.  The donation traffic has slowed to nothing, the water leak was repaired a couple of days ago after leaking for at least 6 months.  I need the people who took advantage of all their neighbors to begin to acknowledge reality and the neighborhood by getting a mold test to confirm or deny the presence of a very hazardous material. Their behavior suggests that they do no believe in cause and effect.  Believe it or not, every action will continue to have an equal and opposite reaction.

Mold and Your Health

June 28, 2013 — 5 Comments

Membership for Dogs

June 18, 2013 — 1 Comment

Artemisia, red bone coon hound, is a new canine member of the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  On Tuesdays dog members and their families are welcome all day.  This was a very special day because professional pet photographer, Vicky Stromee was set up to take pictures against a green backdrop.  She and her assistant made the shoot quick and easy.  We strolled through the shady paths for a few minutes, stopping for a drink at the cafe, which was closed.  She smelled the door and wished it was open.  Her shady and relatively cool experience today will be followed by her card and collar ring which will arrive in the mail.  The dog membership is valid May through September.  We have been family members for years, and now we are officially all part of the garden family.  Artemisia recommends this reasonably priced membership to all Tucson dogs because of the shade. She liked it so much she sent an instagram.

Tapas Fusion in Tucson

June 15, 2013 — 2 Comments

We are happy to have a tapas restaurant in our neighborhood.  Tapas Fusion is our new favorite place to go for food and cocktail adventure.  We had brunch there last Sunday with good results, so we returned yesterday for happy hour.  Firey Friday features flambé drink specials.  I tried one, and then had a pisco sour, both new to me.

It was a blast. The crew, including the friendly owner Mary Bellin, make you feel welcome.  The happy hour pricing and the all you can eat tapas menu has something for everyone.  I am vegetarian, and Bob is not, so we each ordered small dishes until we were full.  The cuisine has many layers of flavor, with creative garnishes and fresh sauces making each dish pop.  The flavorful variety gives your tastebuds a lot of intrigue for the size of the plates and the total of the bill.  We are huge fans, and will return to try more of the menu.  Mary has a generous frequent diner offer, and she doubles the points on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. For summer the restaurant will be closed on Mondays. She offers the all you can eat tapas menu every day, and it includes a lot of choices.  Additional menu items are available a la carte.  So far, we liked everything we ordered…a lot!!