Our neighbor, Jane (3)

Despite the best efforts by Fox News, there are some people who do not buy into their culture of fear. One of those people is Jane.

Last Wednesday, Jane woke up at 5:00 am to go to the bathroom. As she headed back to her bedroom, she noticed the light was on. Then she found a man filling a bag with her jewelry. She yelled, “Get out of here or I’ll call the police!” The phone was next to her bed so she couldn’t get to it. The man then yanked out the phone and fled the house. To get in, he had removed the door knob on the side kitchen door. One of Jane’s neighbors is installing a security screen door to prevent future break-ins. Jane didn’t seem a bit afraid, only perturbed. She told us, “As my 5 year old great niece said, shrugging her shoulders, ‘Life isn’t easy. These things happen.’”

3 hikes

Taking advantage of the cooler weather, we've gone on a hike for the past 3 weekends.

Two weeks ago, we hiked a loop trail in Cave Creek Regional Park, just north of Phoenix. It took us about 2 hours.Last Sunday, we drove further out of Phoenix on 89 near Rye, south of Payson and took the Barnhardt Trail. The climb took us into the Mazatzal Mountains. It was a gradual climb and very pleasant.The leaves on the trees were changing color and gave a great Fall feeling.The hike took about 3 hours.

Today we took 89 again but only 1/2 hour out of Phoenix to the Ballantine Trail. It was a much more rigorous hike, climbing up and up, but had great rock formations.

We were surrounded by cacti: saguaro, prickly pear and cholla.The most exciting part of the hike was coming across a tarantula right in the middle of the trail.We hiked for about 4 hours today.

I don't know if I'll be up for a 5 hour hike next weekend. We'll see.