It was off to Tucson today. After our rather fractured work week we were getting shy of provisions and needed haircuts. We fired up Speedy and were off on our 70 mile ride to the city.
We are still looking for the right combination of markets to do our shopping. This week we thought we'd give Sprouts a try. There are several in Tucson and we found one about halfway to the first Whole Foods we'd shopped at. We'd set a course for Sprouts, Whole Foods and a Fry's near the Whole Foods figuring we would be able to discern the best combination of stores.
We were pleasantly surprised by Sprouts. First, they carry Boar's Head meats and cheeses, a favorite for sandwiches, and they seem to have a pretty good fruit and vegetable section (what else should we expect from a market called Sprouts?). They seem to be a cross between a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's. They are smaller than a full-size supermarket and carry some of there own brands, but also carry many of the better natural and organic brands. The prices seem better than WF. We were able to do most of our shopping there.
The strip mall which the market was in also had a Pro Cuts salon. We decided to try them out for the haircuts. The fellow who cut our hair wasn't too bad. Mine seems pretty good, especially since I asked him to just take a month's worth off and keep the same proportions. When he asked scissors or trimmer, I insisted on scissors. The last time I had a haircut at one of these shops on the road I said trimmer was okay and got the worst haircut ever. I think Ellen's looks fine, but she isn't sure yet. Maybe after tomorrow's shower she'll have a better opinion.
There was another mall across the road with a Best Buy, Walmart and a Starbucks. We needed all three. I wanted to get a flash drive that I could download documents onto and then plug into the printer we have access to. We also wanted to get a new electric heater. Our 25 year old ceramic block heater from Brookstone (remember them) is getting a bit cranky. The fan sometimes balks on startup when it is cold in the van...just when we want it the most. We found a simple, small ceramic heater that we hope will work as a back up. It isn't as powerful as the old one, but may be a bit more reliable.
We also needed propane for the Coleman grill, which we found in Walmart. Ellen wanted to get some of Starbuck's Via coffee packets so we stopped there. They make a decent instant coffee and she wanted to have them for when we are working at the visitor center. It can get a bit sleepy there.
From there we continued north to the Whole Foods, where we finished our shopping and then some (a few too many cookies, I'm afraid—but they had Lacey's). By this point we'd had enough shopping, bypassed the Fry's and zipped another 70 miles back to the refuge. Maybe we will give the Fry's a try on the next shopping trip.
The Tale of The Chain
I forgot to relate this event from last week. Dan found a large anchor chain on the refuge just north of the border fence. He has harbored the notion of moving it to the visitor center to use as a path edge in the new pollinator garden he is planning. He thought that it might be a good team building exercise to have the volunteers and staff load it onto a truck, bring it back to the visitor center and lay it out.
This chain was used by one of the ranch owners when the refuge was a ranch. He attached each end to a bulldozer and they dragged it across the grassland to tear out the mesquite trees. It was pretty effective at tearing them out, but they grew back because the roots remained intact.
Last Wednesday we went to check it out. There were six of us volunteers, Ellen and I, Betty and Chuck, and the local volunteers, Rob and Reta. Dan came as well as Ann, the Staff biologist, and Alan, one of our refuge law enforcement officers. He knew exactly where the chain was. Two of us rode with Alan; the rest took the refuge Suburban and we went off to the border.
We found the chain. It was not going to be moved by mere humans. Each link was about a foot long and weighed about 10 pounds. The chain was 300 feet long. Every four or five feet a two foot section of railroad track was welded to a link and there were occasional swivels that were about four feet long and solid steel that we couldn't even bulge. We estimated it weighed about two tons.
So much for the idea of team building. It would take heavy equipment to budge this chain...maybe a pair of bulldozers?
As we were getting ready to leave, three Border Patrol vehicles came speeding in. We had been picked up on radar (I guess they really do have sensors on the border) and a group of people just standing around less than fifty yards from the border fence must have been suspicious. This was a bit unexpected as we'd passed a Border Patrol van coming in and Alan had stopped to chat. I guess the message didn't get passed on.
We talked for a bit about the chain. Alan knew most of them, since the Border Patrol ride all over the refuge and our law enforcement interact with them all the time, but it was a bit startling at first. Until recently this part of the refuge has been closed. The refuge has recently re-opened the area to the public and the Border Patrol are still getting used to the idea that people other than migrants will be passing through.
We piled back into the vehicles, went back to the refuge and pondered the problem of the chain. Meanwhile, we have been outlining the path with white rocks.
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