Just finishing off the week with more Joshua Tree photos!

 Tiny wildflowers...

I liked how this dead tree framed the photo.

Have a great weekend, everyone!  I'll be back Tuesday.
~Cheryl Ann~

Joshua Tree rocks and climbers

I always enjoy seeing the rock climbers at Joshua Tree national park.  I could NEVER do this!  I have a fear of heights.  So, I enjoy watching others.  There were climbers on two different sets of rocks last Sunday.  It was the perfect day for climbing.

Joshua Tree national park visit

It was an absolutely beautiful day here yesterday, so hubby and I headed out to Joshua Tree national park.  We stopped at the McDonalds in Yucca comfortable 74 degrees with a slight breeze...PERFECT!

The joshua trees aren't blooming yet.  Maybe they will open up in a week to 10 days.  They look like they are about ready to burst!  We drove around for about an hour, then headed home.

I'm glad we had a beautiful morning to enjoy the park.Hubby's right leg was bothering him, so he didn't want to walk too far.  And, he got to try out his new Canon 75-300 mm lens.

These are a few of the photos I took:

 Look at those pods...ready to burst open!

 This is a view of the back of Mt. San Gorgonio.  Yes, it still has snow.

 Rock climbers were out at Intersection Point...

 Another flower pod ready to open soon

More mountain views

 This is looking toward Mt. San Jacinto, which towers over Beaumont, Banning, and Palm Springs.

 Another view...

This is looking back toward the San Bernardino mountains...Big Bear and Arrowbear.

We are neighbors to two mountains over 10,000 feet.  First, Mt. San Jacinto towers above Palm Springs, Beaumont, and Banning.  The north face still has snow and we'll be heading up to Idyllwild next weekend.

Mt. Gorgonio towers above the Whitewater Preserve and is home to Big Bear and Arrowbear.  It still has snow, and even fresh snow, on it.  You can see it from the Whitewater Preserve and also from Joshua Tree National Park.  It is  now part of the Sand to Snow national monument.

Of the two mountains, Gorgonio is higher.  It's officially listed as 11,503 feet. It is the highest peak in Southern California, and was first ascended in 1872.

Mt. San Jacinto is 10,834 feet high.  It climbs over 10,000 feet from the desert floor, almost straight up.  It was formed through geographic activity (earthquakes).  The Palm Springs tram goes to near the top of Mt. San Jacinto.  I have yet to ride the tram and I've lived here for 42 years now!

More from Whitewater Preserve and a visit from a hummingbird!

 Desert willow

 Looking up the trail to the San Bernardino mountains

 Peaceful patio

Ahhhh.....

And, hubby found a new friend!

Hubby was standing under one of the desert willows when this little guy came by!  I don't know if he was attracted to hubby or if he wanted him away from his tree!

Whitewater Preserve visit

Hubby was off work yesterday and I decided that instead of him sitting at his laptop all day like he did on Tuesday, perhaps we should go for a drive.  So, we headed off to the Whitewater Preserve, which is only about a 30 minute drive from our house.

It's a completely different world up there.  It's surrounded on 3 sides by tall cliffs and bighorn sheep are frequently seen in the meadow and up on the cliffs.  In fact, the first bighorn sheep I ever saw were up there.  Hawks fly around and there are all kinds of birds.  Yesterday I listened to the calls of a red winged blackbird.There are trout in the ponds and yesterday lizards were out on the walkways doing pushups!

We didn't arrive until 10 a.m. and by 11:30, it was getting HOT.  It was another triple digit day in Palm Springs, so even up there, it was quite warm!  We are expecting a cool down with temps into the 80's starting tomorrow!   :-)

 I love this place!  That's the ranger station and visitor center.

 One of our new-found friends!

 So peaceful...

 Another new friend...

Beautiful, peaceful scene...

We got RAIN here yesterday!

It's not unheard of to have rain in May, but it is pretty unusual.  I remember a time in 1976, after I graduated UC Riverside with my MA degree.  Hubby and I had a little Mazda and he suggested we drive back from Riverside to the desert, through Idyllwild.  It snowed that evening!  He told me to keep going and to not stop, so I did.  However, that was 40 years ago!  It has snowed up on Mt. San Jacinto a couple of times since then, but it is still a rare event.

I was babysitting the grandson down in north Indio yesterday afternoon and I took my camera with me because I knew it was due to rain.  And, rain it did!  The streets in Palm Desert were wet and our yard was wet, too.  Hubby said we had a downpour at home.  I always love to drive around after a storm in the desert because I get to see different light.

Here are some photos from yesterday afternoon.  Today it is clear.

 I don't usually take photos of telephone poles, but I was stopped at an intersection and I took this photo.

Busy days!

It looks like I'll be busy helping our daughter with the newborn.  He really isn't much trouble.  He eats, sleeps, and poops.  That's about it.

I spent the afternoon down at their house yesterday.  It was Jennifer's first day alone with the baby.  Her mother-in-law left over the weekend.  she had been there for 2 weeks.  I figured she would need some help, so I grabbed some chicken salad at Whole Foods and headed down to her house.  Turns out, after 3 bottles, the baby slept on my shoulder for 2 hours!   :-)  See, I can put ANYBODY to sleep!

Phew! I'm so busy! How did I EVER have time to work?

I've officially been retired now for two full weeks and I've never been so busy!  I've been sorting through about 1,000 books and donating 800 of them to charity.  Some I saved out for the grandkids.  I had lots of teacher books, crayons, markers, pencils, erasers and other school items that I purchased myself, so those are all gone.  The grandkids have enough pencils to last until they are each 21 years old!  30 years of "stuff" sure does accumulate!

I got a bridge removed from my front teeth two weeks ago and Friday I went in for the new one.  I wanted to get that done while I still have insurance.  I also went in for an eye exam and I found out that my eyesight is actually getting better!  Apparently that happens as we get older.  So, I'm wearing my 6 year old pair of eyeglasses while waiting for the new pair and GUESS WHAT?  They work perfectly!  Go figure..."In with the new, out with the old."...or "in with the old, out with the new"!?

I drove up to visit the horses for the first time in the two weeks.  I just honestly haven't had a day to get up there.  They were all screaming for food, so they each got about 3 scoops of feed and pellets.  I gave them some coconut oil, too, which helps their hooves and hair.  I'll go back in a couple of days when it isn't quite so breezy and let them out, one at a time, into the arena.  

We drove to Temecula last weekend and spent Saturday night with our son and his family.  The grandson is in T-ball and he has won 2 game balls!  He is quite the little hitter!  Unfortunately, he doesn't catch well...

I cleaned off the piano, dusted it, polished it, and I am now practicing it every day.  My goodness!  My muscle memory has faded and I need to practice.  And, my fingers aren't quite as fast as they used to be.

So, yes, I'm enjoying my retirement.  Between checkups, picking up the grandkids from day care, and other errands, I'm pretty busy!

 The hitter!

 Little sister is NOT impressed!

 SAFE!

 Ready to go...

 On the move...

Little sister prefers dogs over baseball.

Storm moving in!

I love to check in with the Toro Peak webcam a couple of times every day.  This was about 4:00 p.m. today.  An hour later, it was all fogged in and I couldn't see anything. Sometimes I'll check it before I drive up to visit my horses, since I travel on the road right below it.

Same view, an hour later!

Meet the family!

We ALL gathered yesterday afternoon to give little Brady his first bath.  That's me, with the wild hair, on the left, then James' mother, Colleen, and then little Ellie and. of course, Brady, on the towel.  He didn't appreciate his first bath and turned red and screamed!  But, then he had a bottle and went to sleep on my shoulder after a very big, loud burp!   :-)

Retirement? How about "Tiredment"?

My first few days have been a whirlwind!

First, I have over 1,500 books to count, document, and put in bags for charity.  I found some super heavy duty plastic bags at WalMart and I bought 24 of them.  After yesterday, I have 6 left.  I've made 3 runs to the nearest Goodwill store, which is only a few blocks away. I have 8 more bags to drop off today.

Second, I have to pick up Ellie, the 3 year old, two afternoons every week now because her father can't do it since he is still taking classes for his MA degree.  And, it was HOT here yesterday, 99 degrees!  It will be the same today, but then by Thursday, a new storm front is moving in, and rain is in the forecast!

Third, I have TONS of cleaning to do at home.  We have a leak in our main bathroom and we aren't using that sink.  We need to get it repaired.  So, for now, we turned off that faucet.  But still, it is something we'll have to deal with.  Ugh.

I never knew retirement could be so exhausting!

On the other hand, a family of grosbeaks has stopped by on the way to somewhere new.  There are 2 males and 2 females.  I put out orange slices, grapes, and watermelon, but they seem to prefer just plain old birdseed!  However, smaller birds are enjoying all the fruit!  They entertain us with their calls.  I've tried to get a photo of one of them, but they are quite skittish.

And, of course, I get to visit the little one, who seems to fall asleep every time I visit!

I haven't been so tired since...

My goodness!  Retirement is tiring!  I awoke at 3:00 a.m. my first official day of retirement(yesterday) and today I woke up at 4:44.  Hubby and I went down and visited the new grandson and I got to hold him for 2 hours while he slept.  He is a little cuddler!  He's gaining 1 oz a day and is growing!   ;-)

I need to go through more bags of books and items from my class room and take them to charity.  I have bags and bags of books.  I found an arrowhead collection and gave it to the other grandson Sunday when his family came down for a visit.  He also got some books and pencils.

Phew!  Retirement is tiring!

Photo of an old house at the Rancho Mirage park.