Friday Shoot Out

To find out more about Friday Shoot Outs, go to http://midlifeandmenapause.blogspot.com/!

The high desert is truly an amazing place. Where winter seemingly pulls it's blanket over any vegetation, leaving it to appear dead or dying, the spring rolls across the desert spreading wildflowers in it's path.

One of the interesting things about plants in this area, is that although they are quite beautiful,

they are not just a pretty face!

Can you see the stickers on the stem??? And how about this?

A pretty little mesquite tree, trimmed up to a canopy. Feathery looking on the outside...
Look at the thorns on the inside!!! These trees look like dead sticks all winter, and they say not to plant anything until the Mesquites start to leaf. They know when winter is over.

Here are a few other stickery things that just pop up on their own...

A Cholla, it gets quite hairy in the summer, and believe it or not, the birds like to nest in them!

A pretty thistle of some kind...

Plus stickers!

This is my neighbor's yard across the street. She spends emmense amounts of time to keep it looking beautiful, but all those purple flowers covering the gravel? Blew in, and kept spreading their seeds over the years. Here's a close up of those flowers.

Just popping up between the rocks.

This is a house down the street that has a mesquite, desert willow, prickly pear, barrel cactus, and a desert spoon.
A prickly pear in bloom. The javelina love these!

We have quite the family of these in the neighborhood, but luckily don't see them very often. They can do some real damage to the dogs!


And lastly, what almost every garden in our town has at least one of...




a fire ant hole! Note how bare the ground is around it. Nothing will grow there.
I can't wait to share pictures once monsoon starts. The desert becomes so green and lush, you won't believe it's the same place!

Thank you, God, for the business!!!

Whoa! What a crazy week! Really, so busy with work that I didn't really even have time to post today!

Not that I'm complaining! Truly! In this time of economic turmoil, I have nothing to complain about! This is our season, however. Our biggest clients deal with good weather, and so do we!

I was planning on doing the Friday Shoot Out tomorrow, but have only shot a minimal amount of pictures due to our hectic schedule. I will post regardless of the small amount of pics I've been able to take during this week! Yea!

Miss Sadie-kins

We have awesome neighbors. They have lived in their house for about 14 years and have seen people in my house come and go. They love their privacy (call first cuz we may be naked!), and they love, love, love their 2 dogs and 1 cat.

Cleo kitty is 16 years old and, really, is just a bone with fur walking around. She's very loving, and on occasion will meander out to the patio to give the post that holds the patio roof on a thorough butt kickin'.

Blue, or Mr. Blueberry is what I call him, is a gorgeous Blue Merle Australian Shepherd. Blue comes from two blue merles, and I think that's why he is totally, stone cold, deaf. Becky saw an ad in the newspaper a few years ago, giving this dog away. Who else could take the time, with a big enough heart, to bring Blue to a life of happy, well mannered, fairly confident doggyhood? She could and she did. He's skittish around most people, but well trained.

Sadie showed up on Becky's doorstep as a wee pup many years ago. She's Greyhound and Doberman, with maybe a little something else. Such a sweet girl. She is the alpha of the house and the owner of Becky's heart. She will bark, bark, bark at me on the other side of the fence, but when I'm over there, she's my new best friend. So funny.

Well, Becky and her hubby went on a little vacation for 4 days. There's a doggie door at her house and security doors so that the regular doors can be left open and there's free flowing air in there all the time. I go over several times a day to give them love, cookies, meals, and reassurance that Mom will indeed return.

Things were going really well until about 3:30 this morning, when I woke up to her outside, howling. Bark, bark, bark, hoooowwwwwllllll. Bark, bark, bark, hoooowwwwwllllll. What a heartbreaker! I got up and went outside to the cyclone fence and she ran up to me, licking my hand, then sat down to get scratched. A huge full moon was slipping down the other side of the mountain. After a few minutes I went back in the house, and she returned to her spot next to the house to call to her Mom. I went back out with a big fat doggie cookie, thinking it might make her feel not so "empty." More scratching. Nite Sadie.

After a hello and her breakfast, she assumed her position calling her Mom this morning. Didn't last too long this time, she's probably worn out from lack of sleep last night.

So I'm not sure how it'll go tonight. I think I'll close the doggie door and maybe the regular doors as well. Poor baby. Mom should be home tomorrow.

More Pics

Here are a few pictures of the animals we did see on Sunday in the canyon.

Lighting was not so great during this time of day. But take my word for it, the turkey was a beauty

That's a plastic bag in the grey squirrels mouth. He looks very well fed, doesn't he?


As we were leaving, the yearling, with his tail high, started frolicking across the road. So darned cute! Wish I could have gotten closer.

What a perfect place for a racoon to live!

I'd love to go up there more often and spend a couple of hours. Such inspiration! I could see taking a pad of paper and a pen and just sitting in these surroundings to write. But it is quite wild this far up the mountain and is visited regularly by black bear, grizzly, mountain lions, cota mundi, and, of course, this time of year, rattle snakes. I feel like it takes at least two of us to keep an eye out!

Renewed...

Oh, what a wonderful day yesterday! The wind had died down to a gentle breeze, the sun shone brightly, and my world was full of green!

This is the first time I've ever filled up a chip in my camera!

We'll be going back up later in the week, earlier in the day, hoping to get some animals.

So now I need to go through all my pics, and occasionally, I'll post some, along with some interesting information about Ramsey Canyon.

Jack in the Box

I had no idea that Jack had been hit by a bus!

Anyhoo, check this out: http://www.jackinthebox.com/ Click on commercials. Love the new menopause commercial!!! As you scroll through them, be sure to check out the one with the emergency room sign.
Very clever! What's your favorite?

Have a great day! I'm off to the canyon!

Yard Sale

My new next door neighbors are having a yard sale today. They invites us to add stuff to sell, but when we started looking around the house & garage, decided that we are not ready to "get rid of" anything. Comes the day we hit the road in the motorhome, then I'll be all over it!

We did go over and help them set up, and had a quick once over their stuff. I really like yard sales, but it's something I have to do alone. I just want to breeze through, knowing that most of the items for sale I wouldn't necessarily want either. I was looking for old buttons in her stash, but to no avail. She did have a red leather skirt & jacket for sale straight out of the 80's, big shoulders and all! We laughed about it, but after I got home I started thinking how I'd like to cut it up and make something else out of it. May have to make another trip over there!

Here's the kind of yard sale I'd love to find!!!

Just look at all that shabby chic!!! I could roll in it!!! This is actually a picture of a flea market over in CA out of Rachel Ashwell's book, Shabby Chic Collection. I would never find anything like this in our area. By the time people move here, they've already left this kind of stuff behind.

Have a great Saturday!