A day off yesterday and like a slice of HEAVEN!

Even though I wasn't feeling well, taking a day off yesterday was like having a slice of Heaven!  It was wonderful.  I took 2 naps during the day and got rested.  I drank a lot of liquids, ate leftovers for lunch, watched the hawk slip into the front yard 3 times, and just did NOTHING.  Oh, I did do some laundry.  But, mainly, I just rested.  Hubby came home about 2:00 p.m., exhausted.  It was 114 here yesterday and even Mr. Hawk was panting!  Kept the dogs inside the house ALL DAY, too.  Today, it will drop 5 degrees (down to 109)...I am hoping this is the LAST BLAST of the summer furnace.  I notice the temps start going down after today and a week from Monday, rain is forecast.  I took this photo the last time we had clouds here, about a week ago...

Guess who stopped by for a drink today?

It was 114 here in the desert today.  Tomorrow will be 5 degrees cooler:  109.  I can live with 109.  I can't live with 114.  I stayed home today:  sore throat, dizziness, and I was extremely shaky.  Probably a virus.  Hubby had it too, and he came home early.  Probably something I picked up at school...oh, well...I took 2 naps during the day and I'm feeling better tonight.

Anyway, I got to sit and look out across the front yard.  The hawk came by about noon, took a couple of sips, and stayed for a while.  He returned about 3:00 p.m. and stayed for 1 1/2 hours.  I took some pics of him (not uploaded yet)...He also returned about 6:30 p.m. for another couple of sips.  It was so hot that he was panting (I think...do birds pant?)  Whatever...he had his beak open and he sure was enjoying the bird bath.  I made sure I went out a couple of times and put fresh water in it...nothing but the best here, I tell you!

Isn't he a handsome fellow?

Desert sunset~SkyWatch Friday~082914

We had a couple of afternoons of beautiful sunsets last week...this was one evening.  SkyWatch Friday for August 29, 2014.   To visit SWF, please go to:   http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Not much going on...

There isn't much going on right now.  This is my first FULL week of school and I'm tired and it's only Thursday...sigh...

This year's class is SO different from last year's!!!  Last year they couldn't sit still, couldn't pay attention, couldn't focus.  These little guys (and gals) CAN!   :-)  I do have one "drug baby" (confirmed) and he IS a handful, however.  But, they are all sweet!  What a change from last year's MONSTERS!

My horse, Quad, colicked this week and it was touch and go for a few days.  The vet came out, tubed him, but it took a couple of days for the mineral oil to dislodge all the sand from his system.  We are going to switch him to pellets.  Hopefully he won't be flinging his pellets all over the sand!  When I can afford it (next month), I'll buy 2 MORE rubber mats for his corral.  He already has 2...

Poor Quad...he is NOW on the road to recovery!

Our pets

Sue, over at RV Sue and crew, just lost her beloved Spike. Here's the link to her story:   http://rvsueandcrew.net/a-special-day/
 I read the news with tears this morning.  I've had a rocky week myself.  Quad, my off the track thoroughbred, colicked Friday afternoon.  The vet came out, examined him, gave him a shot for pain, and then tubed him (mineral oil).  The oil makes the sand in his intestines slip out (or that is the theory).  He was still in pain Saturday, so he got another shot, and a little pellet mash.  NO alfalfa.  We knew he had sand in him when the vet came out last month to give the herd their annual shots.  ALL were put on psyllium.  I have rubber mats for each horse, but they pull out their alfalfa, fling it all around, and then eat it off the sand.  By Sunday, when I was able to drive up to the ranch, he was still in pain, but walking and drinking water.  He had passed a few small piles of poop, but not a lot, and not a lot of sand.  So, we said that if by Monday, he hadn't passed more sand, we would have to get the vet back again.  He got another shot for pain, until the ranch owner ran out of banamine.  By Monday afternoon, THANK GOODNESS, he passed a huge pile of sand, then another one Monday night.  Phew.  I spent 3 sleepless nights worrying about him and even stumbled to school yesterday without makeup.  ACK!  We have talked and will now switch him to pellets, which, while they do fall on the ground, should make it less likely Quad will be eating sand along with them.

Frankly, I think ALL the horses should be switched to pellets.  I've HAD IT with alfalfa.  It's too rich for them, they eat sand while trying to get to the alfalfa...

Any ideas/suggestions?

Hawk stopped by for a nice, long visit today!

I had an interesting encounter with "my" hawk today.  I was washing dishes and spotted him on the fence out back.  I saw him swoop down and head for the front yard, so I rushed, grabbed my camera, and waited.  He flew into our sumac tree, which hubby thinned out this morning.  Our gardener came and heavily pruned out mesquite tree, so now the hawk can easily fly through the front yard!  (That's NOT why we trimmed it...it was overhanging the fence and was growing out into the street and our driveway...)

ANYWAY...

A little sparrow had stopped by HIS (the hawk's) bird bath.  That tiny bird absolutely FROZE!  Old "eagle eye" was looking all over the yard and I'm SURE he knew the sparrow was there...the little bird didn't move a MUSCLE for about 20 minutes...finally, it flew off with the hawk in pursuit.  They zinged and zagged and the sparrow finally (in desperation) flew in between our trash cans!  HA!  The hawk, who was so mad by now, sat on our fence, then flew up to the telephone wire, came back to the mesquite and settled down.  I calmly opened the front door (I usually get photos of him from inside the house).  I walked out and took several photos of him.  He didn't seem to be afraid of me (or he was waiting to pounce on the sparrow)...he chirped at me, I chirped back at him.  We had quite a conversation!  I could see that he was panting, so I came back inside, thinking he would head over to the bird bath.  Nope.  He caught SOMETHING.  I'm thinking it might have been the sparrow....whatever it was, small feathers were drifting down from the mesquite and when I finally went out to investigate, he flew off (having devoured his prey).

That was my encounter today.  In the meantime, my thoroughbred, Quad, is colicking.  The vet came out, oiled him, but he still hasn't passed all the sand out of his intestines.  That's how I lost my beautiful palomino mare, Cali, a couple of years ago.  I hope Quad makes it.  Please send prayers.

We had a HABOOB here yesterday!!!

We had our second haboob of the summer here in the Coachella Valley yesterday afternoon.  And, this one was a real hum-dinger!  I saw it as I left school in Coachella.  The whole eastern end of the valley was dusty.  About an hour later, it hit our home in Palm Desert....a sudden wind from the east (our winds usually come from the west)...it got dark, the tree limbs were swirling, the birds disappeared...and WHOSH!  it hit.  We had rain at some point during the day, as I discovered when I drove home.  There was standing water by the sidewalks and even out in the street.  Our yard was soaked!  A haboob is a SEVERE dust storm, and this one even knocked over some trees here in the valley!

Here are some photos.  The first one is from the Toro Peak webcam, looking down in to the Coachella Valley.  You can see the haboob.  Others are from my cell phone after the haboob hit and left...I didn't go outside when it was overhead!

Worked on my room yesterday

We all awoke yesterday morning to dust, low clouds, and general CRUD here in the valley.  Apparently monsoon moisture from Arizona drifted our way.  None of us could even see our mountains!  It was horrible.  Once out on the freeway, I did see lots of low lying clouds.  We might even have... RAIN...tomorrow and Thursday (1st day of school).  Wouldn't that be grand?  We ended the last school year with RAIN and we start this one with RAIN!  :-)  We sure do need all the rain we can get!

I arranged desks, plotted out my teacher's desk, put up bulletin boards, and was done by 1:00 yesterday.  Phew!  That was a LOT of work, especially going up and down a chair to do bulletin boards! My back was sore.  Remember, I have 2 injured discs and permanent nerve damage in my legs, so I have to be CAREFUL going up and down chairs!  At least it is DONE for the year!!!  :-)

Didn't see the hawk at the bird bath yesterday, although I did spot him (her?) up on the telephone pole in our back yard early in the morning...apparently it is out hunting.

Two more days of teacher prep and the kiddos come on Thursday & Friday.  Then, a full week next week, then Labor Day.

Photo is of my mustang mare, Scout.  She sure is adorable!

Back for another swim (the hawk!)

Yup.  Right on schedule.  He was back yesterday afternoon...twice, in fact!  One visit was to stand in his birdbath and enjoy the water.  He was there about 45 minutes, again, and finally took a couple of sips before flying off to the fence.  He was back about 45 minutes later for a second visit.  Seems our yard is now on his daily schedule!

Another DEADLY crash on Highway 74...sigh...

Yes, it has happened AGAIN.  This is the 3rd deadly accident on Highway 74 this year.  I came across it early this morning as I was on my way up the mountain.  It happened probably 7 minutes before I came around the corner.  There he was, lying motionless in the road...the motorcyclist was dead.  A silver Toyota Rav was involved.  It was obviously the motorcyclist did not survive the crash.

http://www.kesq.com/news/deadly-crash-reminder-to-be-safe-on-highway-74/27565742

I stopped and asked if the Toyota Rav4 people were able to call out for help.  They said yes.  Soon, I could hear the wailing of a fire truck coming from Palm Desert and I passed one coming down from Pinyon.

Another life lost to the highway.  I was very shaken by this.  Apparently the Toyota drifted over the double yellow line, coming down the mountain, and was going TOO DARN FAST.  I've been almost nailed once and that was enough for me.  I now drive defensively both up and down.  I do not hurry.  I am aware of other cars near me.

RIP...

Return of the hawk

Yesterday morning hubby and I drove down to Indio to a wholesale nursery.  It's open to the public only on Saturday mornings from 6:30 to noon, so we got down there about 7:30 to take a look.  The place is HUGE!  I never knew it was there, but our son buys his trees and shrubs there.  I could hear a hawk up high in their cottonwood tree, but I couldn't see it.

We came home, ate lunch, and took a LONG afternoon nap.  When I awoke at 3:20, one of the hawks was out in the bird bath.  I watched it and took a few photos through the front window (sorry for the quality!).  It was there for over an hour!  At one point, 8 doves came down and were feeding not 10 feet away.  It must have been full because all it did was turn its head and stare at them.  It finally lazily flew away when I opened the door.

Then, about 15 minutes later, it was back on our front fence!  I will be sure to keep the bird bath full of water for our afternoon visitor!

Sunflowers

As I told you previously, there weren't many sunflowers up on the Rim this summer.  Yes, they have had rain up there and LOTS of it!  We saw many standing pools of water.  Maybe the rains didn't come at the right time?  The beautiful national forest down from the cabin was devoid of sunflowers this summer, but last summer it was FULL of them!  I did find some around the little town of Overgaard, however, like these.

Back to school for a week of training!

Ugh...summer vacation is OVER!  At least for me it is.  I have a full week of training this week, but, at $200 a day, I'll be going all 5 days!  I have a horse who needs her teeth done (Scout), another one who needs her shots (Lucille), and I have a dermatology bill to pay off.  "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go!"  (you know the saying...)

It was cloudy here yesterday and only about 102.  Not bad for August, and today looks to be about the same.

I won't have "horse time" until the weekend, however.  I'm in training every day until 3 p.m. and by then I'm too worn out to drive up to the horse ranch.  In fact, yesterday afternoon, hubby came home from his work early.  HE was too tired to even keep his eyes open!  Remember, we just did a 7 hour drive Friday when we returned from Arizona.

One of the ospreys above one of the lakes up on the Rim.

Busy day yesterday! Relaxing today...

It was a busy day here yesterday.  Our daughter, while we were gone, ordered and installed 2 brand new mini-blind sets in our living room, took down the old, faded, plastic long blinds on the west slider, put up curtains that I had, cleaned off my kitchen counters, and ordered a brand new custom metal screen door for the front door!  Then, Thursday, she and her neighbor attacked our front yard.  They trimmed trees.  They CUT DOWN some acacias.  I have NO shade at all on the front porch, but it did open it up.  Then she completely cleaned off the front porch (NO, she did NOT hose it down!)...she threw away an old chair and table, she threw away old stuff I had piled there, she collected all my recycling cans and bottles, took it to the recycling place, and got $43.00!!! (Which she kept...).  Our yard looked completely different when we arrived home!

Unfortunately, we then had to address the issue of our front fence.  We have a 70' wooden fence all along the front of the yard and now the city could see all the old, rotten boards, so she and her neighbor came back yesterday.  He brought his skill saw and after a trip to Home Depot, the fence is now supported and it has 24 new boards.  It looks SUPER!  We also raked up all the debris from the front.

Her gardener showed up with his nephew at 7:30 a.m. and went to work cutting down the halfway dead palo verde next to our neighbor's yard and he also removed another small tree.  3 hours later, and after he cleaned up, we have now hired him to come back and trim ALL the remaining trees in the front yard.  We'll also have him come once a week for maintenance.  He did a super job!

We were all worn out by noon, so after sandwiches, hubby and I were DONE for the day!  Our CLEAN porch...we replaced several of the boards in the fence (24 of them).  NO trees now by the porch or house, but at least those that were leaning against the porch are now gone.  Martin will return next month to build us a new gate.  This one is 20 years old!    See how CLEAN the yard is!  No water wasted either...I swept up the dirt and sawdust.

Home at last and back to work!

We arrived home yesterday from our week-long vacation up in central Arizona, high up on the Mogollon Rim.  We stayed in a cabin in Heber-Overgaard, which is about 45 minutes west of Show Low. Of course, the morning we left, two squirrels showed up and were arguing over who got the leftover peanuts!  Their antics awoke me at 5:30 a.m.  SILLY SQUIRRELS!

We arrived home to discover that our daughter got carried away in her housecleaning.  Ooops!  First, she installed new window coverings in the living room, which look terrific!  She also ordered us a new metal screen door for the front door, which will arrive this week.  AWESOME!

However, Friday she got a bit carrried away and decided to trim trees in the front yard.  Now, mind you, we live in the desert.  Several of the trees we used for shade are now GONE!  They were young acacias.  And, we now have a mound of tree debris that SOMEBODY is going to have to remove before the code enforcement guy comes around Monday morning.  ACK!

Does anybody have a pickup?  Ha, ha!  Actually, her gardener is coming at 7:30 this morning.  Hopefully he can remove the mountain of tree branches!

Mogollon Rim

We're back at the cabin that we rented last summer, high up on the Mogollon Rim, in eastern Arizona.  We are at 7,700 feet and loving it!  Our sinuses are clear, we have healthy appetites, I walk every morning....ahhhhh!!!  We can hear the range cattle every morning and coyotes, too.

Yesterday afternoon we took our son and grandson over to Black Canyon to see the fire lookout tower there.  Apparently they do have guided tours, 3 people at a time.  Maybe we'll stop by again today.  There were cattle there this time.

Then we went over to one of the lakes where osprey hunt fish.  There were two of them circling around the lake and another one had just caught a fish and was eating it in a nearly pine tree.  I never did spot that one.  We took sandwiches and chips and drinks and ate a late lunch at one of the picnic tables there.  The grandson had a great time looking for fish.  He wanted his dad to "buy a boat" so he could go fishing out on the lake.  Yeah, well first he needs to learn HOW TO SWIM!

Here are some pics from the excitement we've been having...

We are at the cabin and we are critterless!

We're staying a couple of nights in the same cabin we rented last summer up on the Mogollon Rim.  We invited our son and his family to come join us and it is exhausting trying to keep up with the demands of a 5 year old!  Phew!

Last summer we had squirrels and jays galore up here.  This summer, however, I've only seen 1 crow and 1 squirrel.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Is it the drought?  Have the birds all migrated?  I have heard some woodpeckers, but I haven't SEEN them.  There are cottontails up here, however.  NO footprints down in the wash behind the cabin.  Last summer I spotted raccoon prints.  NADA this summer.

There are also NO wild sunflowers just down at the end of the row of cabins.  NONE.  Zilch.  Last summer, the national forest was overflowing with them.  I took tons of photos of them...this summer, not ONE sunflower.

Alas, it is very disappointing...

I did, however, hear the coyotes and cattle this morning at 5:30 a.m....still, I'm wondering where the rest of the wildlife has gone.

Here's the link to my squirrel post from last summer.  How different a year can be!
http://rav4adventures.blogspot.com/2013/08/more-squirrel-antics.html

He's BACK (the hawk!)

I sat down at one point this afternoon and glanced out our living room windows to see the Cooper's hawk had landed at the bird bath. He was being pestered by a mockingbird.  I was afraid he would get so annoyed that he would go after the mockingbird, but he didn't.  Instead, he settled in and enjoyed his bath!  I had to take these through our living room window and it was fairly dark outdoors due to an approaching thunderstorm, so I apologize for their blurriness.