Arizona: A Century of the Five C’s

Overall this started out as a pretty special week. It kicked off with a Lover’s-Day Couple’s Relay Sunday. Billed as a low-key event we still had our eye on the prize. Given this would be the first such event we’ve completed together we wanted to do ourselves proud. We laced it up for the (sub) Two-mile all out sprint around the beautiful UofA  Mall

and gave it what we could. Turns out the course was a little short which messed with our strategy and while we landed pretty well we were both a little disappointed in how much we had in the tank at the finish. Given this is an annual event we’re surely not to make the same mistake next year! Bonus: an endless stream of bags and boxes of bagels and Dunkin Donuts at the finish. I carried that buzz on for much of the afternoon. 

By Monday afternoon I was well versed in Arizona’s Five C’s:  Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus and Climate. I’m pretty familiar with three, almost four. I’m learning more about Copper about every week as a local mining company wants to break ground on a new one just outside of town. Familiar battle~~ environmentalists against the mining company. So far it’s tilting in favor of not building; that’s unlikely to stick very long. 

Given our state’s Centennial coincided with Valentine’s Day the local media has been priming the celebratory pump since the beginning of the year. Events were scheduled around the state this week and I took part by attending a photography display at the main library. A terrific job was done of lining up photos of the greater downtown prior to and around statehood then crossing over to shots of the same locations taken between 2008 and today. Amazing~~ sandy dirt roads, desert scruff and hotels as the tallest buildings have given way to a relatively thriving downtown area.  Interesting was that Wells Fargo has had a presence downtown for something along the lines of 90 years. Stagecoach, wild west…California based; it made sense after thinking about it yet was still odd to see then-and-now photos of their buildings. 

Late in the week I heard about the annual national bird count and thought I’d do my part. So I did my count~~ rather low so I’ll do it again the next couple of days.  What I really need is a way to keep the darn woodpeckers from constantly trying to get into the hummingbird feeder. That’d be a big win for the feeder as well as the tiny little hummingbirds who are no match for the giant woodpecker. 

What started out as a great week was filled with a bit of stress and angst throughout. Throughout the week Shadow ran the continuum of good to bad to good again. Spent much of the week working on a formula of anything to get her to eat and we finally nailed it Thursday. She nearly inhaled a couple cans of something new which made for a great couple of days. By Saturday, however, she was back on the downside and another round of films told us the worst case scenario. What started in her leg has rapidly moved into her chest and lungs with no road back. We brought her home for the weekend and will take her back for one final trip to our off-the-charts great vet.