Ironwood National Monument (Weekend Coffee Share #27)
For the second week in a row, I haven’t been anywhere more interesting than my kitchen, so we’re going to relive a trip from last May to Ironwood Forest National Monument (and, of course, engage in the usual silliness). But first: welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a drink, take a seat, and let’s catch up.
What’s going on in my life
February passed in a flurry of… not a lot. I’ve been focusing on self-care: eating more vegetables and fewer cookies, exercising more, and slowing the pace of my life a bit. Apparently I am no longer 29.
Dammit.
The good news is, my stop-acting-like-I’m-29 program seems to be working. I feel better, and I’m losing a little weight, which makes my arthritic joints hurt less. Hopefully next year’s annual blood work will look better than this year’s.
I’m slowly rekindling my enthusiasm for writing, which took quite a hit earlier this month (more on that in my next IWSG post, coming March 2). All in all, I’m in a better place than I was at the beginning of the month, so I’ll log that as a win.
Ironwood Forest National Monument
OK, enough about me. Let’s take a field trip northwest of Tucson to Ironwood Forest National Monument. It’s not your typical national monument: there’s no visitor center, no paved roads, no services, and no tourists with overpriced hiking boots, fanny packs, and sun hats. Instead you get dirt roads, wild desert, and lots of solitude.
As you can guess from the name, the monument is inhabited by ironwood trees. Because I’m a huge dork, I managed to take a whole bunch of pictures at Ironwood Forest, yet not a single one includes a good shot of an ironwood, so I’ll share this one from the Bureau of Land Management’s Flickr album:
Some fascinating facts about the desert ironwood tree (Olneya tesota):
- It’s a legume, like the peas your mother made you eat because there were children starving in some country you couldn’t find on a map. They even make pods, and yes, those pods are edible, though I haven’t tried them (sorry, Mom).
- Its wood is so dense… (here’s the part where everyone who watched the Match Game in the 1970s yells, “How dense is it?”) [tries out my Gene Rayburn impression] Its wood is so dense, it actually sinks in water! (Another fascinating fact: I watched entirely too many game shows in the 1970s.)
- Tree ring dating of ironwoods is difficult, but the oldest ones are estimated to be about 800 years old.
Digression alert! In case you haven’t ever watched the Match Game, you can now rot your brain like I did every summer in the late 70s by spending 8 hours watching 25 episodes of the thing, all compiled into this YouTube video:
If you do, I’m not responsible for the resulting decrease in your IQ.
OK, back to the ironwoods (and yes, only on my blog would we start off talking about ironwoods and end up talking about the Match Game. Welcome to my demented brain. Be glad you don’t have to live with it. It’s kind of an asshole.).
Ironwoods bloom in the spring, and their blossoms look a bit like pea blossoms:
They’re really lovely close up, and bees love them.
Ironwood Forest contains more than ironwoods. It’s the full Sonoran Desert experience, which means it also includes: cactuses! Maybe I should rename my Weekend Coffee Share posts to Coffee at the Cactus Café, because I seem to devote a lot of posts to our local spiny flora (see for yourself). We visited as the saguaros were budding, so they looked even more ridiculous and whimsical than usual:
Music
Now that you have your cactus fix, we’ll dig into another perennial topic around here: 80s music. Warning: This week we’re going peak 80s cheese. Prepare to cringe.
When 80s pop metal and glam hit it big, a few older bands tried to cash in on the trend. Some failed epically (Billy Squier’s Rock Me Tonite video). Others had quite a bit of success retooling themselves, like Kiss (example: Lick it Up) and this week’s featured artist: Starship. No, I won’t make you endure “We Built this City.” Was it a huge hit? Yes. Is it annoying as hell? Also yes.
Instead we’ll check out a minor hit off the same album–“Rock Myself to Sleep.” It’s got that big 80s wall o’ sound plus an awesome bass line and Grace Slick’s voice. I listen to it when I’m running, and it almost makes me forget how much I hate running.
Because I like my 80s music the way I like my pizza–with extra cheese–we’re not going to go with the album version. Nope. We’re going to go with the MTV New Years party version with Dee Snyder. And you thought the Match Game was over the top .
Grab your spandex and Aqua Net, jump in the time machine, and turn up the volume!
Memes, memes, and more memes!
And finally, welcome to the memery! Like last week, our theme this week is Random Nonsense I Found While Wasting Too Much Time on Facebook. Here we go:
Musical nonsense
I really wanna see Metallica perform with Oscar the Grouch.
I mean… the kid has a point.
One would think…
I sincerely hope so.
Relationship nonsense
Not true in my case. Long-Suffering Husband is demented but not boring.
That one never stops being funny.
Mine too, grandma. Mine too.
And finally:
And… that’s a wrap. Happy Friday! Got any fun weekend plans? My weekend goal is to go somewhere that isn’t my house, my yard, my neighborhood, or the grocery store. Wish me luck. If I’m not back by next Friday, send a search party.
18 Comments
rawsonjl
Those blossoms are so pretty!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!
Natalie
Janet, Great photos of ironwood blossoms and saguaros. Desert flowers are pretty. Thank you for your #weekendcoffeeshare.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!
Maria
Thank you for teaching me all those facts I did not know about ironwood trees. Very interesting, especially the part that the pods are edible. I wonder what they taste like. Thanks for this trip, and the coffee.
Janet Alcorn
Happy to be of service! Desert plants are weird and wonderful.
Writing Sparkle
I am on bored with the “stop-acting-like-I’m-29 program” as well. Its interesting how my mind is like, “Hell yes we’re 30!” Yet, my body is constantly reminding me that we are up over 40 now and things are a tiny bit different then my mind would like me to believe. Haha, the struggle is real.
Great pictures.
Thanks for the virtual coffee, Janet.
Janet Alcorn
LOL. Yeah I get it. My brain: Let’s go running and shopping and clean the house and cook a big dinner and go out afterward and then stay up late reading a mystery. I’ll sleep when I’m dead! My body: We ate breakfast and answered email. Time for a nap.
Scribble and Scran
Sorry you haven’t left your kitchen all week. I know the feeling of 6pm arriving and I haven’t left the house at all. My step counter gave me a high five for going over 3000 steps today for our walk into town. It’s got some kind of average setting to try and get me to do more……I really need to do more! Great memes again. thanks
Janet Alcorn
I left my kitchen, but only to visit the rest of the house, the neighborhood, or my work. Of those, the kitchen was the most interesting (because, you know, food!) I’ve had a few days where my FitBit thought I was napping. Nope, just sedentary. Sigh.
Gary A Wilson
Oh Janet,
I can always count on certain things from your posts.
I’ll learn something I didn’t know about the desert and iron wood. I knew only that there was a type of wood which is this dense. I’ll bet they’re very slow growing trees and likely protected by some law like the saguaros are.
Then your meme collection will have something to leave me laughing at one followed by cringing at the thought of another.
Thanks for the laughs.
Janet Alcorn
They are slow growing. Not sure if they’re protected but I don’t think so. They’re pretty abundant around here though not as common as mesquite or palo verde.
And yeah, the memes are either funny, cringey, or—my favorite—both.
leannelc
Interesting cactus photos Janet – so different to the countryside here in Australia. Sorry to hear that February wasn’t all that exciting – but at least it’s been a good month of being quiet rather than a bad few weeks to look back on.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! I’m ok with lack of excitement—at least that means no disasters.
joylenebutler
Glad you’re feeling better, Janet. I love travelling with you, even if it’s back in time and only virtually. It’s still always interesting. And I get to laugh. Awesome!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Always happy to have company in the time machine :-;
Kirstin
Geez, I’ve been so behind on all my commenting the last few weeks…just now getting around to last weeks comments. Okay, you’re opening meme was hilarious. I always love what you share. Makes me chuckle. Way to go on. your self care. It’s so important. Those cactus are pretty amazing. Living in the PNW that is something I rarely see.
Janet Alcorn
I hear you about being behind! That’s my normal state these days. Glad the post entertained you! That’s my goal. We all need some laughs.
I used to live in the PNW, and it’s way too wet for cactus up there. OTOH we don’t have all that lush green stuff here.