Medical Health

Reavis Ranch & Hoolie Bacon Photo Galleries

A 19-mile in-and-out day-hike to the old Reavis Ranch in the Superstition Wilderness along a well traveled trail.

A day-hike through catclaw and prickly pear along the Hoolie Bacon Trail starting from the Tortilla Trailhead.

Arizona Slideshow

Here is a slide show of some of the photos I took on hikes in Arizona during 2008 to 2010. If you hover your cursor over a photo, the navigation bar will pop up. If you then click on the square box located at the right-hand edge of the navigation bar, you will see slide show in full-screen mode.

Buying a House in Arizona: Home, Termite, and Mold Inspections

First I’ll tell you about the information you can get from the Arizona State Government. Then I’ll tell you about my conversations with house, termite, mold, and fungi inspection companies in Phoenix and Mesa, Arizona.

You can phone the Office of Pest Management at 602-255-3664 (and 1-800-223-0618). Or go online to the www.sb.state.az.us web site, where you can use their “Consumer Resources” section to search for companies licensed for Pest Control, Termite Inspection, and Fungi Inspection (Mold Inspection). For termites, you are probably best off looking at companies that have both the pest control/treatment license (the B2 license) and the pest inspection license (the B8). For mold, the fungi inspection license (the B7) might only apply to the exterior walls of buildings–you’ll want to inquire with the inspection service providers.

Here is how to perform a license search on the www.sb.state.az.us web site in its present form:

1) Click on “Consumer Resources” in the menu on the left side of the www.sb.state.az.us homepage. A drop-down menu will open up.

2) In the drop-down menu, click on “Licensee Search.” A new menu will open up. Click on “Pest Management Company.”

3) You are now on a page called “Search for Pest Control Companies in Arizona,” where you can either a) type in the name of the company you want to know about, or b) just type in the name of the city where you want the inspections performed.

4) When all you do is type in the city name (and then click on the “Search” button) you will see a list of business names, their license numbers, and their statuses (expired or active). Click on a company’s license number to find out more about them.

5) Additionally, you can choose a “License Category” and then perform the search for your city.

Here is how I went about finding home, termite, and mold/fungi inspectors in Mesa (and Phoenix), Arizona:

First of all, I phoned Chemtec Supply (the phone number is 480-833-7578) and asked for Jack. Chemtec is a supplier for pest control and inspection companies. Jack recommended talking to Steve Schaeffer at Foothills Pest Control (480-759-8700) about home inspectors. Jack also said to talk to Scott Agee at Action Termite Control (623-780-3132).

Steve Schaeffer at Foothills Pest Control recommended two home inspectors: 1) Comprehensive Property Inspections, azcpi.com, and 2) Dan Harris, inspectaz.com.

The office manager (Jeremy) at Action Termite Control recommended Jason Bradley at Win Home Inspections Red Mountain (480-659-0895), www.wini.com. We spoke to Jason, and he does both house and termite inspections. His termite inspections are performed under the auspices of Action Termite Control.

Jeremy at Action Termite Control also advised us to phone David Gilpatrick at Residential Environmental Services of America (RESA), www.resaaz.com, about mold and fungi inspections (602-230-9500). We phoned RESA, and David recommended hiring Kurtis Nelson at AJF Engineering, www.ajfengineering.com (480-661-8888). David said that Kurtis had taken his mold inspection training classes and that Kurtis had eleven years experience as a home inspector. Kurtis is also licensed to perform termite and wood destroying insects inspections and treatments.

Hiking Photos from Bruce Trail and Grand Canyon

Here are a few of the photos I took on my hikes in Arizona and Ontario. I use a small Japanese-made Minolta. You will find more of my photographs on http://www.flixya.com/user/affiliatebin.

I took the Arizona shot on the Tanner Trail in the Grand Canyon and the Ontario shots on the Beaver Valley and Sydenham sections of the Bruce Trail (Maps 28 and 29 of the Bruce Trail Reference: Edition 25), about 10 km south of Meaford, Ontario. (Did you know that John Muir once lived in Meaford?). Compared to Arizona, the Bruce Trail does not present large elevation changes, but its moss-covered rocks and boulders are extremely slippery.

Colorado River, Tanner, Grand Canyon

Light in Forest — Photos from the Bruce Trail

Water Fall — Photos from the Bruce Trail

Rock Outcrop — Photos from the Bruce Trail

Bruce Trail Bumble Bee

Also see:

Petition to Save Arizona’s State Parks

Arizona’s politicians are set to close thirteen state parks. Here is a link to a petition to save Arizona’s state parks. You may sign this petition.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-arizona-state-parks

The organizers will send the petition to Governor Brewer and the state legislators on February 1st, 2010.

You will find a slide show of Arizona hiking destinations on our Flash Gallery, our Arizona Gallery, and our Grand Canyon Trails Page.

Also see the post The Grand Canyon State: Arizona Set to Close and Sell State Parks?

The Grand Canyon State: Arizona Set to Close and Sell State Parks?

The world flies in and takes a long look at Arizona, the Grand Canyon State (see our Photo Gallery, our Arizona Gallery, and our Grand Canyon Trails Page). And soon after arriving in Phoenix, they fall in love with all the other gems Arizona has to offer: preserved yet accessible desert wilderness areas and wildlife refuges, such as the Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction.

But now Arizona’s lawmakers are preparing to vote on budget cuts that could shut down the entire state parks system by July 1. And that vote in January 2010 might result in the sale of state parks to the highest bidders. That’s right: I’m hearing that once an Arizona state park is closed, it must be sold: Land speculators and developers will mutilate our public gems, our community wilderness. They will restrict access, and Lost Dutchman State Park will become a gated community or a private suburb, with lot and house prices starting at $700,000 or more.

Here’s a group of hikers who will show you how to protest the closure of Arizona’s state parks: visit the Take a Hike message board and web site.

Also see Petition to Save Arizona’s State Parks

Hiking in Ice and Snow in the Grand Canyon

On Friday December 11, 2009, I phoned the equipment rentals desk in the Grand Canyon’s South Rim General Store (Canyon Village Marketplace), which is located in the Market Plaza, Grand Canyon Village. Arizona’s north country had a huge snowfall last week, and I was wondering about trail conditions.

The employee at the equipment rental desk said the snow extends down 3300 feet below the South Rim, with ice covering the last few hundred feet (of the 3300 total). He said that the snow can be knee deep in spots on the maintained trails and that he would take poles and crampons on hikes. (He went on to say that the the non-maintained Grandview and Tanner trails require snowshoes: the snow is over seven feet deep in some areas.)

You can buy crampons and Stabilicers at the South Rim General Store (Canyon Village Marketplace), or at Babbitt’s in Flagstaff, or you can rent crampons from the Tempe REI (in the Phoenix area).

UPDATE: Ice and snow derailed the Grand Canyon train, but everyone survived without injury.

JANUARY 2010 UPDATE: A friend told us the Grand Canyon’s South Rim General Store (Canyon Village Marketplace) was sold out of crampons on Dec. 30, 2009. The Grand Canyon had fresh snow on Dec. 30 (and some of the roads were closed that day), but when we hiked the Bright Angel Trail on January 1, 2010, the snow did not reach all the way down to Indian Garden, which is located about halfway to the Colorado River.