Sammy’s Science Arizona

About the Book

In this second installment called Sammy’s Science Arizona, I deal solely with animals and plants inhabiting the state of Arizona. As always, I tell the science facts in this book using my mixed species animal family characters from our radio broadcast. The main characters are Sammy Skunk, the dad; Daphne Skunk, the mama; Erasmus, the teenage porcupine; Ewald, the middle school-age roadrunner; our pet orange tabby cat, Bonkers; and Tremor, the wee skateboarding mouse. In this book, Randy Raccoon, Eddy Beaver, Donkey Dan, Beanie the Goat, Big Red, and a few other characters also appear. Though we have many dangerous animals in the state of Arizona, most are small, including the coral snake, several species of rattle snakes, scorpions, centipedes, Gila monsters, several spiders, and many other small creatures. There are also a few dangerous desert plants. Then we also have six medium-to-large carnivores that call our state their home. I hope that by reading this book, visitors, new residents, as well as those that have been residents for a few years will learn to be careful while hiking in the state’s wilderness areas. Enjoy your everyday lives, and be careful while hiking, camping, biking, or hunting in Arizona. Never go hiking without a friend or two along, and like me, carry a big knife, plenty of water, a good hat, plenty of sunscreen, and a good walking stick with you. Enjoy Arizona. Sammy

About the Author

The Author being a person who enjoys reading a good science book about the plants and animals of Arizona, where he has resided for most of his life began his writing career in the 5th grade. It was in Mrs. Whites class at Garfield elementary school where he tended the class animals some of which he captured himself. He did the feeding, changing of their water, and cleaning out their homes. These were cages, aquariums or terrariums depending on the creature. In those days there was a lot of open desert land around Phoenix with very few houses in those areas which made it easier to locate Arizona’s wild creatures. Now being seventy four years old he still reads about the plants and animals that are native to Arizona. However because of his age he now doers very little hiking but reads to refresh his memory about things he may have forgotten over the years. Now he is a citizen of Prescott Valley Arizona but he lived most of his life in Phoenix or it’s surrounding cities. Chester was born on a poultry ranch outside of Amarillo Texas that was owned by his father and grandfather. His parents brought him to phoenix during the month of August in 1952. His father said that the temperature that day was 120 degrees, when they exited the train. Chester recalls getting off the cool air conditioned train and stepping into an oven. Then like the eight year old he was he looked at his father and said, “Daddy I think you brought us to hell”. As early as the 8th grade Chester and David his best friend explored the desert and mountain areas surrounding Phoenix. Sometimes his cousins and his brother went along with him on those excursions. They spotted many of Arizona’s animals and native plants on those trips. He read countless books on them and other wildlife and attempted to teach what he learned to his school mates at the junior high he attended. Then sill teaching in the 1980’s -90’s using the radio as a class room, he co- hosted a radio broadcast along with his wife Donna and he began to tell science facts about animals and plants using his own characters to tell the story. He helped to teach nature science in a friends private school around the same time and helped to set up their first science fair. Today at the age of seventy four he spends some of his hours placing his radio notes in his computer which are to be published as the ‘SAMMY’S SCIENCE’ books named after his radio persona Sammy skunk from the old Donkey Dan Broadcast.