Welcome to the home page of the Desert Rats, Bud and Melissa Bowersock. We live in Tucson, Arizona--you know, where it gets to be 115 degrees in June? A lot of people hate it here, but we love it. After living in Southern California, Oregon and Flagstaff, Arizona, this is our favorite place. Nice lo-o-o-o-ng summers, mild winters, plenty of sunshine. You'll hear people say we don't have seasons here, but we do--actually we have five. We have two summer seasons: the hot, dry early summer and the wet, humid monsoon season when we get our summer rains. This is also the time of sensational lightning storms (unplug that computer!), poisonous Colorado river toads and wandering tarantulas in search of Mr. (or Ms.) Right. Whatever else the desert is, it's not boring!
	We have quite a collection of tricocereus on our little acre, and when they bloom, our yard is full of color. The spring bloom of 2005 erupted with over 225 flowers in one day. The flowers at right are about 6 inches in diameter. Lately I have been getting a little more creative in the way I take pictures of the cactus flowers. For more  views, click here.
	Here's some of our extended family. From left to right are: son Tim, daughter-in-law Lisa with their son Nick, daughter Brenda (on floor) holding son Garrett, Bud, son-in-law Mark holding daughter Kylie. This picture was taken at Christmas 1998. Because our kids and grandkids live in different states, we tend to think of our companion animals as our children. See below:
	Cassie was the "pup from hell" but with some diligent training and a lot of patience, she has turned into the best dog ever. Anyone who's ever owned an Airedale knows how smart they are--Cassie is too smart for her own (or our!) good, but she's also sweet, affectionate, playful and amazing.

Interested in hypnotherapy? How about a new vision of the future?