Author - Guest Author

Pruning Your Fruit Trees

As the cold weather hits, it’s time to think about pruning fruit trees.  The ideal time for pruning is anytime after the leaves fall and before bud break in the spring (although dead branches can be cut out any time of the year). The reason we prune when trees are dormant and have dropped their leaves is not just so its easier to see what we...

Hiking To Mica Peak

Lost in the buzz of Mt. Lemmon, Rincon Peak, and Mt. Wrightson, Mica Peak is Tucson’s mountaintop stepchild.  It’s located in the heart of Saguaro National Park East and is the highest point in the Rincon Mountains, but its summit is an unheralded hillock marked by an abandoned radio tower foundation.  Nearby is the most obvious but lower “spud...

Resourceful Thinking

Are resolutions resolute?  According to one study, just 8% of people achieve their New Year’s resolutions. The other 92% of us?  Not so much.  And yes, I’m usually in the latter.  I’ve discovered I can survive 47 days without chocolate, but not pleasantly.  And eliminating the morning coffee does not yield anything constructive.  However, for the...

Emily Shrieves Hits 1,000 Points!

Emily Shrieves is a 16-year-old junior at Empire. She has also just hit 1,000 points total in her high school basketball career, an amazing accomplishment! Emily has been playing since she was five and she said that hitting 1,000 points has always been a goal of hers. Her dad is her coach and the night before a game he came in her room and told...

Where Are They Now

Airman Riley Puglia graduated the Air Force’s Basic Military Training this past November, earning the Marksmanship Ribbon. She is a Cienega High School alumni Class of 2016. Second Lieutenant Cody McIntyre received his U.S. Air Force pilot wings during the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Class 17-15 graduation ceremony held Sept. 29 at...

Horse Lubber

On a mid-November desert excursion, I encountered a most unusual insect. It’s not uncommon to observe grasshoppers, but this individual was distinctly different in several ways. Its length size and coloration was overshadowed by its behavior. The grasshopper appeared to be feeding on a piece of sun-bleached bone! And, it was relatively...