• The Potted Desert
• A Display Rack for Tropical Plants

The south side of my home is shaded by my neighbors towering oleanders. This is really the walkway to the back yard but I was able to transition the 8 foot wide side yard into a mini oasis which tends to be about 10 degrees cooler than other areas of my landscape. One side gets mostly shade all day long and the side along the house gets heavy sun making it the more challenging area. This area is therefore also protected from some of our lighter freezes.

Many plants that we have come to know as ‘house plants” are actually tropical plants that cannot survive the cold temperatures that most of the United States experiences. We are familiar with names like Pothos, Dracaena, Philodendrum and other common house plants. In full shade and with cold protection when the temperatures go below 40, these are tropical wonders for our patio oasis. However, once temps plummet below freezing, you will want to take the plants inside your home or Arizona room.

Plants that will tolerate more sun (but still will want afternoon shade most of the year are the Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus, Sago Palm (Cycas revoluta), Day Lilies offer clumps of arching sword-like leaves and can be evergreen, semi evergreen or deciduous depending on the species, Agapanthus, Butterfly Iris, Cordyline and Coleus.

Republican Martha McSally, who hopes to unseat Congressman Ron Barber, caught a break when fellow Republican Ed Martin dropped out of the race.

“As a result of unforeseen personal family challenges that have required and will continue to require my undivided attention, I find it necessary to withdraw from the Republican primary for Congress in CD-02," Martin announced on his website on Friday, Jan. 10.

Although he was an obvious underdog in the Republican primary, Martin was the first choice among Southern Arizona Republicans—mostly in the Tea Party wing of the party—who either distrusted or disliked McSally. Without a significant challenger to the right (and one could still emerge, although sand is running through the hourglass), McSally no longer has to worry about taking hard-right positions through August's primary election that could later hurt her in a general-election match-up against Barber.

Political newcomer Shelley Kais remains in the CD2 Republican primary race.

Doug Stanhope was in Tucson late November filming his stand-up comedy segments for the BBC's satire television show, Weekly Wipe with Charlie Brooker. Stanhope chose Plush—of all the venues in the world—to perform his material about the similarities between the U.K.'s immigration situation and what he sees going on along the border near Bisbee.

"You're right," Stanhope said during his performance at Plush. "They probably don't speak the language, and they probably have minimal education. And if that guy can show up like that, as qualified for your job as you are, then you are a fucking loser of such dynamic proportions."

I was fortunate enough to attend the show and can assure any Stanhope fans that this clip is just the tip of the iceberg. I doubt the rest of the world will ever hear his joke about how there had to be plastic jug vodka flowing in Nowhere Man Derrick Ross' blood, or I don't see the BBC fitting in his bit on how the mass shooting on Jan. 8 could have been avoided if Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords done her job effectively.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not be hearing an appeal that would revive an anti-abortion law that was struck down by the federal courts. The New York Times reports:

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from Arizona officials seeking to revive a state law that barred most abortions after 20 weeks of fetal gestation. The justices offered no reasons for turning down the appeal, as is their custom.

The case concerned an Arizona law, enacted in 2012, that prohibits abortions, except in medical emergencies, when the gestational age of the fetus is more than 20 weeks. The law’s definition of medical emergency is narrow, encompassing conditions requiring immediate abortion to avert a pregnant woman’s death or a “serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.”

The law’s sponsors claimed that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks, a contention that has been disputed by major medical groups.

This is my first post on The Range after writing for six years over at Blog for Arizona. Dan Gibson asked me to make the move — next door, you could say, since both blogs are Tucson based — and I said, "Yes."

So, an introduction.

I taught high school — English, photography, yearbook advisor — for 30+ years in the Portland, Oregon, area, then moved here ten years ago. I've immersed myself in the politics and education of the state, which are inextricably mixed — more so with each passing year. Arizona is a stalking horse for the conservative "education reform" movement, so what happens here is likely to be adopted in other conservative-led states. We're very much on the national radar. Our charter schools are setting up branches elsewhere, our backdoor vouchers are expanding in unique directions and our meager state education budgets continue to set the bar for how low per-student funding can go. TUSD made national news when the Mexican American Studies controversy was raging (we even made The Daily Show), and it continues to be referred to in newspapers and ed journals.

• Image courtesy of the Game of Thrones Facebook page.

The latest Game of Thrones season four trailer was posted online sometime during last night's stellar Wildcat basketball game and the hilarious Golden Globe Awards.

There’s no shortage of special film events and reparatory screenings this week, and there’s a little something for everybody.

For instance, if theatrical intrigue is your thing, look no further than the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway. Rear Window, the classic 1954 whodunit starring Jimmy Stewart as a down-on-his-luck photographer who takes to risqué voyeurism, plays on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 7:00 p.m. Rear Window also stars Grace Kelly as Stewart’s striking sweetie.The film is part of the Loft’s Hitchcock Blonde series running throughout the month, and films in the series are regular admission.

Back in 1999, I used to work at a video store in the Bay Area. One of the new releases at the time that we couldn’t keep in stock was The Red Violin, a story about a violin that passes hands though out three centuries and touches those that use it in spectacular ways. This sleeper, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Greta Scacchi, and Colm Feore, went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Score in 2000. You can catch this at the Loft on Sunday, Jan. 12 at 7:00 p.m. George Hanson, Tucson Symphony Orchestra Music Director and Conductor, introduces the film. Get there early to enter in a free raffle to win tickets to TSO’s Corigliano: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: The Red Violin & Mahler: Symphony No. 5 on Friday, Jan. 17 at 8:00 p.m. or Sunday, Jan. 19 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are regular admission.

On Tuesday, Jan. 14, you might want to bring a box of tissues to the Loft when they play The Cove, at 7:00 p.m. This powerful documentary about Japanese dolphin hunting won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2010 and scarred many an environmentalist and ocean conservationist. Admission to this one is free! For more information, visit the Loft’s website at loftcinema.com or call 795-0844.

It’s hard to believe it, but it’s true: there’s a movie that stars Mandy Patinkin, Fred Savage, Chris Sarandon, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Carol Kane, Peter Cook, Robin Wright, Peter Falk and Andre the Giant. The movie? The Princess Bride, of course. This 1987 romantic-comedy-fantasy movie still holds up after, oh, let’s say an infinite amount of screenings. If you’ve never seen it, get thee to Century Park Place, 5870 E. Broadway Blvd, or Century 20 El Con, 3601 E. Broadway Blvd on Sunday, Jan. 12 at once! The film starts at 2:00 p.m., and there’s a repeat performance on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 2 and 7 p.m. Visit cinemark.com for ticket prices and more info.

RIP Mike Vraney of Something Weird Video and Sir Run Run Shaw of Shaw Brothers Studio. Thank you for putting out awesome films.

Joining me on last night's AZ Illustrated Politics: Arizona Republican National Committeeman Bruce Ash, Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Don Jorgensen and Arizona Daily Star columnist Sarah Garrecht Gassen. We talked about this year's races for governor and secretary of state; the upcoming legislative session; and the third anniversary of the Jan. 8 mass shootings in at Gabby Giffords' Congress on Your Corner.

• Photo courtesy of the Travel Channel.

Sometimes it seems like reality television is trying to do some good while absorbing all of your time and money. Anthony Melchiorri, host of The Travel Channel's Hotel Impossible Undercover, went to the oldest guest ranch in Dragoon, Ariz., The Triangle T Guest Ranch. The episode aired two years ago, but now the picky hotel fixer is back for another half-hour follow-up special to make sure his efforts weren't in vain.

The episode will air on Monday, January 13 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on the Travel Channel.

• C. Elliott
• Johnny Lang at the Rialto Theater, Jan. 8, 2014

At age 13, blues prodigy Jonny Lang had a voice like a swampy blues cat. Fans wondered just whose soul this North Dakota tunesmith had inherited; his guitar solos were burning as much as his vocals were Smokin', the title of his 1995 debut CD.

• C. Elliott
• Johnny Lang at the Rialto Theater, Jan. 8, 2014