Photos and comments from Arizona and around the world
The promoters of Arizona tourism would like everyone to believe that Arizona is the land of perpetual sunshine and good weather. Unfortunately this view is highly inaccurate. Winter in Arizona's high country can be treacherous with temperatures well below...
Arizona has extensive mountain ranges that hardly ever get mentioned in the publicity about the state. The Bradshaw Mountains run roughly north and south between the Agua Fria watershed on the east and the Hassayampa watershed on the west. Historically,...
During the past two days at the Arizona Family History Expo, I was reminded more times than I thought necessary of the issue of upgrading computer programs. In one instance, a file I was going to use for a presentation was out-of-date. I had updated the...
So I have an iPhone, an iPad, an iPod, a MacBook Pro, and an iMac, plus my wife has almost all the same. I have Dropbox, email, Skype, Messenger, Evernote and so forth. I'm on Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and a few other social networking sites....
heritagerecipes.blogspot.com
This was just for fun and the confusion of people trying to record names (i.e. genealogists who worry about how a name is "actually" spelled and then argue about the correct spelling(as if it mattered more than anything else)).
These cactus have a topknot of stiff bristles that are distinctively different than the regular cactus spines. They only seem to develop when the cactus is mature. Maybe they are a sign of old age? I love the shape and color of cactus even if they don't...
Cactus look as though they had been designed. They are very visual. I admire their sociability. Some varieties grow in huge clumps. Unfortunately, prickly pear cactus grow rapidly and spread wide, sort of like weeds. They are hard to control in a landscape...
I thought this picture would be typical of what most people would think about when they heard the word "desert." I can truthfully say that this isn't my idea of desert, but then my idea is pretty complicated by years of experience and all sorts of plants...
Where would you go for a free complete copy of the U.S. Census with all of the images from the National Archives from 1790 to 1930? FamilySearch.org is missing some years of images. HeritageQuestOnline.com has images but only partial indexes and it is...
My daughter Amy Tanner Thiriot wrote a blog post on Keepapitchinin.org (a Mormon history blog) about the FamilySearch.org Family Tree called "In Which We Bid Farewell to NewFamilySearch and Welcome Family Tree." All I can say is that the folks who read...
If you click on this image and look closely, you can see that our little penguin pool float really is icebound. There was a sheet of ice on pool today also and I will likely post more ice pictures. Ice is big news in the Salt River Valley unlike other...
This may not be very impressive for those of you who live with snow and ice, but this is a real rarity here in the low desert. I don't remember seeing this much ice here for a very long time. About half of the pool was covered with a 1/8 to 1/4 inch sheet...
I am looking forward to the Arizona Family History Expo the 18th and 19th of January at the Mesa Convention Center, 263 N. Center Street, Mesa, Arizona. Actually, the Mesa Convention Center is almost across the street from my law office of almost 16 years....
I immediately related to the trunk of this old grapefruit tree. Even though it has gone through major surgery and multiple injuries, it is still alive and growing. It may not last much longer but there is still life in the old wood.
The Salt River Valley is full of contrasting images. We are supposedly sitting in the middle of the Arizona Sonora Desert and yet the Valley has hundreds of water features. Some people decry their existence as wasteful and extravagant, but they fail to...
The riparian foliage in the desert turns golden in the late afternoon Winter sun. Rather than dying each year, the leaves and shoots of the plants regenerate and turn green in the Spring. They contrast with the deep blue of the sky reflected in the dark...
These little birds were so busy eating, they were almost ignoring me. But when I took one step closer, they all decided it was time to return to work. Lunchtime was over.
There are millions of photographs of sunsets but not that many of the sunrise. I guess the reason is pretty obvious, it is harder to get out of bed in the early morning before the sun comes up and get ready to take pictures that might not happen. It just...
In most lighting conditions at the Grand Canyon, the distant cliffs look like paper cutouts. But when there is weather with clouds and rain or snow, the whole aspect of the Grand Canyon changes and becomes a world of shadows and light. You seldom see...
In April of 2012, the South Jordan River Stake decided to celebrate our youth as they again completed reading the Book of Mormon. It seemed the best way to share their message of the Book of Mormon in a short time would be to create a flashmob for all...
Most of the images you see of the Grand Canyon are iconic in their uniformity. They are taken either when lighting conditions are optimal or when there is some dramatic lighting event. Most of your experiences when you visit the Canyon are entirely different....
Looking down from my vantage point on the Canyon rim, I can use a long lens to get a semi-close look at the river almost a mile below me. Of course, this isn't the only view I have of the Colorado. I have spent quite a bit of time on the river in boats,...
I was attracted to this cliff ledge in the Grand Canyon with its skiff of snow. You can see how some of the markings on the cliffs originate from the pattern of the water running down the cliff from the melting snow. Like many of my images, this one is...
