Da Man? We'll see...

Going outside to grill salmon, and that latch I so proudly fixed fell off again.
New diagnosis: stripped threads on the screw that is supposed to hold it.
So, trip to Lowe's for a whole new latch. Maybe today or tomorrow.
In the meantime, we have been working hard to get in shape for our future Grand Canyon hike. We can now do 10 mile hikes in the Catalinas with no ill effects. Our new backpacks are arriving this week, so we will begin to load them a little at a time to build up to a full-weight pack.
The desert wildflowers are a little past prime now, but still plenty of them. The cholla and prickly pear are now beginning. What a brilliant range of colors they have! The palo verde trees are intense yellow as they flower. Even the mesquite are flowering. Not good for the sinuses, but pleasant for the eyes.  The saguaro are beginning to bud, so we have that lovely display yet to come.
The cardinals are everywhere trying to win the affections of the fairer sex. They look and sound beautiful. We saw a family of javelina one day, but no recent bighorn sightings. There is a sign warning that mountain lions have been sighted recently. But not by us.
The water in Sabino Canyon comes from snow melt, so there is much less of it now. Back in November when Peggie first started hiking there with a friend, she had to carry trash bags to tie around her shoes at several crossings. Now the water all goes under the road, and at one bridge the water has gone totally underground.
Soon, we will have to drive to higher elevations to hike. That will be good for training our lungs for the altitude at the Grand Canyon rim, but it is necessary to avoid the extreme heat of the lower desert.