Buffel grass in the Sonoran Desert

 I work contracts as a traveling critical care nurse 6 months of the year to keep my skills current and help with our travel expenses. Though Banner Healthcare, I can work a contract full time or registry ICU float and schedule at least 4 shifts a month with the ability to take off those 6 months before returning.

 

After finishing a 13 week contract in Mesa, I wanted to try out Tucson and agreed to an 8 week contract at University Medical Center, a teaching hospital for the University of Arizona. On the last day of two weeks of orientation, I got a call from my dermatologist to say I had skin cancer on my nose and needed surgery. I scheduled it for the next week and called my manager. Looks like I will have a week off and return for the last four.

 

I wonder where I can get one of those nose shields Kid Shelleen wore after his nose was bitten off  in the movie from 1965  "Cat Ballou".  Anyone remember that one?

 

I have always been good about wearing sunscreen and a hat but fell short of reapplying every two hours.

 

 

While on the trails, we met a man that stopped to talk. He was telling us a story about a woman he called Buffel lady. She takes her dogs for a walk up the hill and is trying to eradicate the buffel grass all by herself.  I had to know more about the buffel grass

 

Actually, many people here are trying to control the buffel grass that was introduced from Africa by ranchers for grazing. It is hardy and has spread though out the Sonoran Desert. It looks like straw in the summer and causes wildfires that endangers the saguaros and other cacti that only grow in this region.

Fairy Dusters

Little globemallows blooming in the morning 

How do javelinas eat these prickly pears?

 A new section of the Loop bike path on the northern section. We rode from I 10 at Camino del Cerro to Oro Valley. It is 12 feet wide and smooth as can be.