Grosbeaks~Wild Bird Wednesday~042814

These were the best shots I could get of Mr. Elusive Grosbeak last weekend.  I tell you, the minute he sees me take my camera up to my eye, he is GONE!  And, he was hidden in our palo verde tree when I took these photos.  I know when the 3 of them are near because I can hear their calls.  Unfortunately, I have been hearing the Cooper's hawk every morning, too.  Its "chee, chee, chee" is heard up in our cottonwood tree in the back yard, where it sits awaiting the arrival of the doves to the feeders.  Such is life...Wild Bird Wednesday for April 28, 2014.   To visit WBW, please go to this link:   http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com/

Time to turn on the air conditioner

No doubt about it.  It's getting to be time to turn on the old air conditioner.  And, ours is OLD.  Our compressor is 10 years old and the inside, whole house unit is 15 years old.  That scares me because this summer, I think we are in for a hot one!  Here's the 10 day weather forecast for Palm Desert: Tuesday 92, Wednesday 93, Thursday 96, Friday 100, Saturday 103, Sunday 98, Monday 94, Tuesday 87, Wednesday 86, Thursday 84...Thank goodness for the cool down!  I'm already missing our cool days from last week (see below).

These were really nice, cool days.  Fortunately, over the weekend, the temps were absolutely, positively wonderful!  Unfortunately, I was sick.

I got a haircut!

So, yesterday I was FINALLY feeling back to normal, after 3 days of some kind of asthma attack that left me flat on my back.  I had a haircut appointment Sunday afternoon, so off I went with our daughter.  The gal cut off about 2 inches of hair, but I asked her to take off another inch.  Don't worry...it's still long and several inches below my shoulders!  All the split ends are gone, however, and that's a good thing.

I noticed that the grosbeaks were back yesterday morning.  One was in the front yard and another one was in the back yard.  I stopped at WINCO before the haircut appt. and bought some sunflower seeds and their birdseed.  I like to give the birds a variety of items to eat and apparently grosbeaks enjoy sunflower seeds.  The COSTCO brand is a very good one, but I can't always stand in line there to buy birdseed (as I'm sure you know...)  I also cleaned out and refilled the two hummingbird feeders in the back yard.  One of them was empty.  As soon as I filled them up, finches stopped by for a drink!

Back to school this morning.  Ugh...Oh, and I'm on jury duty "standby" this week.

 Where's my food?

 Doves like the birdseed.

The shy grosbeak.  The minute they see me move inside the house, they take off!

More flower photos

I thought I better get outside and take some photos of my flowers out back yesterday because the winds were so strong, I wasn't sure the sunflowers would survive.  They did, fortunately.  My sweet peas, however, will be DONE by the end of this coming week, especially since we are heading to temps in the mid to high 90's...sigh...It will be 99 by next Saturday.  So, out I went and this is what I saw.

 I'm not sure what these are.  They came in a wildflower mixture...any ideas?

Morning doves

I love to sit here, with my laptop, and watch the doves through the window.  But, the minute I go outside with my camera...POOF!  They disappear...sigh...   So, these were taken through the window.  Little buggers...I've got to figure out a way to sit outside with my camera and get pics of them.  Any ideas/suggestions?

Bronchial asthma

Well, I took the day off yesterday and went to immediate care.  Yes, it was fairly immediate.  I only waited 10 minutes.  A nice lady doctor came in, examined me, listened to my lungs, and then heard me cough.  I came down with some kind of thing at school on Thursday and I barely made it through the afternoon.  I went home and went right to bed.  Still sick Friday, so I called in for a sub.  This doctor announced I have bronchial asthma.  Well, that makes sense.  My first cousin has asthma and my mother's side of the family is full of hay fever sufferers.  Whatever it is, it certainly IS bronchial.  I had bronchitis for 9 months last school year (almost the ENTIRE school year).  I've been fairly clear of it, however, this year, at least until now.  But, I'm often out of breath (I have zero lung capacity) and I do cough frequently.  My symptoms do fit bronchial asthma.  HA~I'm probably allergic to horses, dogs, and cats, too!  (OF COURSE!)...oh, well...I'm not giving them up!

We had RAIN here overnight.  I can smell everything outside and it smells delicious!  Plants got a little moisture, too.  I'm hoping it will be a good morning to take photos of my flowers before the sweet peas ALL go to seed.  And, with next week's forecast into the high 90's, they will surely wilt and be done.

Somebody commented on my and sweet peas photos and said they couldn't believe I'm growing them so early.  Well, here in the desert of southern California, yes, our seasons are a bit different.  We have an early spring, but we also have an early summer.  Usually by April, our temps are in the 90's daily.  I remember many spring break weeks where we had to turn on our air conditioner.  We may have to do that next week....ugh...Our summers here are brutal, with many days over 110 degrees.  By August, we have daily monsoons and the humidity...well, it is nearly unbearable!  Such is life in the desert.

AND...I just found this on one of the local news stations:

http://www.kesq.com/news/windy-weekend-poses-health-risks-at-stagecoach/25671372.  The video talks about the health risks of all our windy days...coughing, bronchial irritations, ASTHMA, etc.  LOTS of blowing sand here already and it's only 5 a.m.  The winds outside are pretty strong.

Why I love my flowers

Right now I have 6 sunflowers blooming out back along our dog fence.  And, various sweet peas.  And some kind of wild sunflowers with vicious stickers on it.  And, California poppies.  I love standing at the kitchen sink, watching all the birds come to them.  Today, a hummingbird came to the sweet peas and the sunflowers.  I've seen finches and sparrows.  This morning, a Towhee stopped by.  So too did one of the hawks.  I heard it cackling up in our cottonwood tree.  Stay safe, little birds!

SNOW forecast!

Here's tomorrow's weather forecast, from Weather Underground:

snow showers beginning late this evening...heaviest and most widespread late tonight. Showers tapering off Saturday morning.

* Snow accumulations...a dusting around 5000 ft. 1 to 3 inches from 6000 to 7500 ft...and up to 4 inches above 7500 ft.

* Winds...20 to 35 mph with gusts to 50 mph. Gusts 70 mph or greater possible along wind-prone ridges and through the favored canyons.

Of course, it won't look ANYTHING like this (Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park):

Last weekend's storm

Our mountains had a terrific rain/thunderstorm last Friday.  By Sunday, when I drove up to the horse ranch, these were some of the sights.  I liked the footprints in the bottom one.  Another day of rain is forecast here today, so I'll let you know whether or not our dry mountains get another day of rain!

As for me, I'm home (again)...this time with some sort of horrible flu that feels like somebody took a sledgehammer to my back.  It had settled there for a couple of days and by noon yesterday, I was ready to come home.  However, I had two more hours of kidlets.  And, they were brutal.  As I left, I told my principal, "I'm sick.  I'm going HOME!"  Yup.  That's how it is.

Raven~Wild Bird Wednesday~042314

I often see ravens either in Garner Valley or up at the horse ranch.  This fellow was sitting on a chain link fence about a block from the ranch last Sunday.  There is a pair of ravens who are residents of the ranch.  They boldly strut through the horse corrals and land on the railings there.  Sometimes I see one of them with something in its mouth (occasionally that is a mouse!).  One of them loves to sit at the top of one of the hemlock trees and caw.  I often see them on top of the telephone poles along the ranch driveway, too.  I find them quite amusing actually.  We also have several around our home here in the desert.  Wild Bird Wednesday for April 23, 2014.  To visit WBW, please go to:    http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com/

Another Monday is GONE!

We have officially started out countdown at school. I teach 3rd grade.  Only 8 more weeks to go.  The last two weeks are pretty chaotic with award ceremonies and the last 3 days of school are half days. And, teachers will be tearing down their class rooms. Now, don't get me wrong.  I'll be HAPPY to see this group go!  And, Mondays they are in top form! (Did you note the sarcasm?)  By the end of yesterday, they had to put their heads down for 20 minutes so that I could get some peace & quiet and think clearly!  Obviously, they were FULL of Easter candy.  In fact, I took eggs away from two of them...sigh...

 This group is a talkative one.  And, not just talkative.  They are RUDE!  One boy belched loudly.  Another farted loudly.  I mean, COME ON!  So, the math lesson that was interrupted will be attempted AGAIN this morning...sigh...

On the other hand, there is a family of orioles which has lived in the palm trees at school.  I've seen them now for over 10 years.  They disappeared one year and another year, when the district gardeners came, they chopped down the branch with their nest.  A couple of times we've seen babies on the ground and one of our 5th grade teachers gently places them back up on the palm tree where eventually it makes it back to the nest.

So, another day in the countdown.  I'll be happy when summer is here.

Sunni havin' some FUN!

You know, I don't often post about my horses here because I have a separate blog for them (http:deserthorses.blogspot.com), but my gelding, Sunni, had so much FUN down in the arena today, I just had to post these photos.  He's usually the last horse my trainer works with, so he really doesn't get much time or attention.  But, he's totally trusting with me, so I try to work with him whenever I go visit the horses.  I can pretty much do anything with him, except ride him, and I'll be working on that this summer.  He now trusts my farrier (a man) and he LOVES the ranch owner, Bill.  He's the "babysitter" for the little colt in the corral next to him.  For a long, long time after I got Sunni from United Pegasus, I often had the feeling that he really didn't know how to act like a horse.  He probably didn't.  He was the unwanted byproduct of a mare who was bred only to harvest her urine and he was plucked from her quickly and stuck out in a field with other babies.  So, he wasn't socialized properly.  I'd often look at him and feel that he really didn't know WHAT he was.  He bonded with me, however, quickly, although for a couple of years he REFUSED to go through a gate (I have NO idea what that was about...).  My cousin spent one summer saddle breaking him.  I told her to NEVER take him up to the arena alone, which of course, she did, and she rode him and he bucked.  She ended up being thrown against the metal round pen rails and bruising her ribs.  Thus, his training came to a halt for a year until I found my current trainer.  Maia comes once a week, stays for two hours, and works all 5 horses.  But, Sunni always seems to be last.  He has broken 3 halters now and has "escaped" several times from the tie rack.  One time, he ran headlong through the neighbor's barbed wire fence and stood trembling in their yard.  If I had been there and seen that, I would have fainted.  It happened on a school day, and I wasn't there (thus sparing me from having a heart attack).  He was a bit cut up, but his physical wounds healed.  The mental ones...well, we're still working on them.  I took him to the tie rack today and just stood and talked with him and he was fine, but I didn't TIE HIM there.  We just don't do that yet.  I did walk him over to the arena and lounged him and desensitized him with the lead rope, then let him have some play time.  He really enjoyed his time there and the colt whinnied to him the entire time!  I think he missed his babysitter!

And, here's the little colt who he babysits:

Sunflowers in my garden~Today's Flowers~041914

I currently have about 6 sunflowers blooming in my garden.  I haven't officially counted them, but that is a ballpark figure.  The largest one is on the bottom.  That's a 6 foot chain link fence which it hangs over, as you can see.  I also have sweet peas along this fence.  Once the sunflowers go to seed, they will attract more birds.  And, with temps supposed to be 99 and 98 in the next couple of days, I think my sweet peas will be done.  Today's Flowers for April 19, 2014.   To visit Today's Flowers, please go to:   http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

We had RAIN yesterday!!!

I kept watching the Toro Peak webcam and it was cloudy all day, with rain forecast for Anza.  So, I didn't drive up to the horse ranch.  No sense driving for 45 minutes only to be out in the rain.  Instead, I did the dishes here at home and puttered around the front yard.  By 2:00, however, I had to drive to north Indio to babysit the granddaughter, so off I went.  By 5 pm the sky was completely dark over Deep Canyon and, on my way home, I could see rain pouring down!  I drove out to the sand dunes off the Washington Street exit and took these photos.  We even had enough rain here in Palm Desert to get out streets wet and our cars dirty!  But, it sure was nice to open all the windows and smell the wet cement and feel the breeze!