Where are we from?

Before moving to Arizona in January 1995 (for Joe) and March 1995 (for the rest of us), we were living in the, now infamous, Ellicott City, Maryland. I say infamous, because of the Linda Tripp wire-tapping affair...which all occurred after we left, let me say. Joe and Jane grew up in southern Pennsylvania...meeting in high school. After living in Maryland and Hawaii, we decided we liked it better in the warmer climes (well, hot isn't too bad as long as you have air conditioning and a pool...both in working order).

Where we are...

Just look for the tallest Saguaro in the neighborhood, and there we are! Moving to the desert, we decided to landscape as if we lived in the desert. We have always been into xeriscaping, even before we knew what it meant...using the available rainfall, and landscaping with natives, or native wannabees.

Family

We are a family of six, but a household of 4. Our daughters have moved on and moved out. Jennifer is 26 (27 in September) and living in Fountain Hills. Theresa is 25 and newly married to Major Collin Coatney of the USAF. He is stationed in Tucson, where they bought a house. Joe3 is 23 and going to ASU for Mechanical Engineering, working at In N Out in Gilbert (used to work in Mesa), and we never see him. ~_^ Tom is going taking a leave from school for a while. He works at In N Out in East Mesa.
We have a 5 year old Cockatiel named Gary (named for Sponge Bob Square Pants' pet snail ~_^ ). He can (somewhat) sing ''The Muppet Theme'' and ''The Tiki Room'' and talks (but you have to listen very carefully to understand what he says most of the time).

Joe and Jane (that's me) have taken up geocaching (see www.geocaching.com) and benchmarking as a hobby. The geocaching has gotten less as we become more adept at finding benchmarks and logging them for the National Geodetic Service.
We bought a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon in the past year and have enjoyed making new friends while out on the trails. We currently run trails with the Central Arizona Jeepers and the Virtual Jeep Club of Arizona.

Jane quilts, takes care of the veggie garden and orchids, and writes religious icons. She also volunteers at Banner Gateway Hospital in the Pastoral Ministry department.