DESERT RAINS & ARABIAN HORSES

We must have brought all of this rain with us from Louisiana. It has rained and rained here-shades of Louisiana frog-stranglers. The bad thing about rain in Arizona is that they do not have the drainage systems that we do in LA. Someone told me that this is the most rain they have had in 16 months. This means that the rain is standing around in puddles, on the side of the road and in the road itself. This makes for some pretty treacherous traveling, but since they are transporting us around in a bus-it has not been a problem.

Last night we went to the nation's largest Arabian horse training ranch. The entire complex was made from cedar and quite impressive. There are about 100 horses being trained there and they are so beautiful. Some were friendly and you were allowed to be up close and personal with them. The 3 trainers are all women and strike quite a pose on these beautiful animals. I had a conversation with one of the trainers and learned quite a bit about their training regime. She has around 20 + horses under her tutorage and rides at least 10 of them a day. The horses are treated like royalty and every nook and cranny was pristine. It was a very impressive outing with a wonderful meal to cap it off.

Bobby is back in meetings today, but we have another excursion off the hotel property tonight. The location is in the desert foothills. I have viewed these only from a distance while running so hopefully we will have a better view tonight.

One of the birds I saw yesterday was a Gambel's Quail. Look his picture up on the Internet, he was quite impressive. When I read about the bird, I discovered he often tries to distract you from his mate and reflecting back, I remember seeing her. She is not nearly as beautiful as the male, but I thought it was fascinating that he ran across my path in an effort to distract me from her.

I have seen every type of cacti that you could imagine as well as many-many flowers and flowering shrubs. The Mexican heather grows up to my waist or higher. The bougainvillea, oleanders, and lantana are in full bloom, as well as many flowers that I could not identify. For a desert, it is really something. I heard a local tell someone yesterday that after this rain, the desert will actually "green up". Wish I had an opportunity to see that, but "The Discover Channel" will have to do.

We begin our trek home tomorrow morning and as always after a few days away from home, I look forward to being home. As Dorothy so well put it, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home."