Mike Jones

I frequent cemetaries. They're more educational than seminars, and the tuition is free. I like free.

Don't you wonder what dreams lie buried here?

Young Mr. Lemon of Aberdeen, Scotland lies beneath this headstone in a grave in Tucson, Arizona. He was 29 when his life was cut short. How that happened, we don't know. The style of the headstone would indicate that he was buried here in the early 1900s.

That was before Arizona became the 48th state of the Union. Unemployment (1900) was higher than it is now, at 5%, but things were a lot better here than back in Scotland. Beginning in 1904, more than 600,000 Scots (13% of the country's population) emigrated to North America in less than a decade.

Gordon was likely a part of this exodus, and he made his way farther west than most.

I wonder what dreams died with him.

I wonder why I'm complaining about the real estate market and the credit crunch, when I ought to be laying the foundation for tomorrow's success instead.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

Tom Murray is my favorite artist in the medium of oils. It's not just his tecnical ability; it's his subject matter. I love the cloud formations in my Arizona skies.

We saw something similar to this cloud formation from our back yard in Tucson Estates II on Friday night.

You'll find Tom Murray's oil paintings at Jane Hamilton Fine Art in Tucson. It's on River Road near Campbell.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

Arizona skies are awesome. So is painter Tom Murray. I've never seen clouds captured on canvas with such realism and painterly beauty.

I first met Tom at Jane Hamilton Fine Art in Tucson on River Road near Campbell.

That's where you'll find original paintings like the one you see featured here.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

Your REALTOR may or may not inform you about our desert critters here in Tucson. We live in a neighborhood called Tucson Estates II, and it is surrounded by Tucson Mountain Park, which in turn abuts Saguaro National Park West, in the Tucson Mountains on Tucson's western flank. Just down Kinney road a couple of miles from us is the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. Google it. It's fantastic.

It doesn't look like it from this photo, but docent making the presentation to an audience of better than 200 people last Saturday night is holding this rattlesnake four feet from his body. If you ask me, that's not enough distance.

I don't think I was the only one in the audience wondering what critter nailed him under the eye, but no one asked. The black and white stripes on the tail just before the rattle identify this as a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. It's four feet long. The longest verified in modern times was just a little more than seven feet long.

Rattlesnakes come in 18 different varieties in Arizona, according to our friend. They're all venomous. And venom doesn't stop with the rattlers. Not even with the snakes. This lizard below is one of two venomous lizards found in Arizona. It's the Gila (hee-la) Monster.

They're not very fast. One and one-half miles per hour is top speed. But when they bite you, they hang on for dear life until they calm down. They're not calm unless they're on terra firma. There's the problem.

One man walked into the ER at St. Mary's hospital here in Tucson with a Gila Monster firmly attached to his chest. Somehow he thought it would be cool if he picked it up and put it in his shirt. I can imagine him saying to his buddy: "Here, hold my beer and don't spill it." "Okay, get a picture of this!"

He survived.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

photo copyright Mike in Tucson

Saturday night entertainment. My Darlin' and I were on the very front row. My choice. She's a saint. The venue was an auditorium at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, just down Kinney Road from our neighborhood, Tucson Estates II.

The two speakers for the evening came walking down the auditorium aisle carrying boxes with holes in the sides and padlocks on the top. The tops are painted bright red. They house desert creatures who can put a hurting on you if you're not careful.

To give you an idea about the size of the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake here, consider that the folding table is 48" side to side.

The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum is one of my favorite places on earth. They don't just display animals. They educate us about them. Nothing that I thought I knew about treating snakebite turned out to be true. None of it! And I thought I knew a thing or two.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

photo copyright Mike in Tucson