Our son called yesterday from Temecula and told me they are just using their air conditioner from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m....4 hours. That's nice. They can then throw open their doors and windows and allow the afternoon breeze to come into their house. And, they have fog in the mornings.
We've had fairly pleasant mornings here for the past week or so, with temps about 78 degrees. Now, 78 degrees in the desert is quite comfortable. I know our daughter, who lives in Indio, goes for walks on mornings like that. She often calls me from her walk and we chat. I'm usually out front, either working in the garden or raking up mesquite seed pods (which are VERY messy!). I feed the birds, clean the hummingbird feeders, and put out mealworms for the mockingbirds. I'm usually done with my morning outdoor chores by 6:30 a.m. Then I sit and watch the birds come into the front yard. Right now two hummingbirds are having a disagreement about whose territory it is! Usually the lone female sneaks in while the other two are having their disagreement and she gets to use the feeders. Ahhhh...right now she is visiting the blue penstamen. I've tried looking for her nest, but I believe it is up in the eucalyptus tree.
Last night I went out front about 8 p.m. because hubby went to our local pizza place to get himself a pizza for dinner and a ham sandwich for me. It was nice enough for me to rake up 3 more piles of mesquite seed pods. Now I need to go out and get them into the dumpster.
And, I am currently being visited by... an ORIOLE! He's on the hummingbird feeder closest to the window. He has beautiful colors! I didn't know there were any left around here. I did see some this spring, but I thought they had departed. We used to have a family of them in our cottonwood tree, but that was 10 years ago... :-)
I had to run out yesterday afternoon about 4 p.m. to buy more mealworms. We have a neighborhood WalMart just 2 blocks away and they carry them and the thistle seed that I buy for the finches and verdin. Unfortunately they were completely out and I was so angry I stomped out of the store and left my empty bag in the cart (one of my Whole Foods bags!). So, I ended up having to drive to the regular WalMart which is out by the freeway, about 7 miles away to buy them. And, yes, it was during the hottest part of the day! By the time I got home and unloaded the car, I was sweating! My garden plants were wilting, so I watered them. I have to water once in the morning and once in the afternoon or early evening. I did find 3 packages of tithonia seeds, so I'm going to plan them out front. The hummingbirds really enjoy the tithonia (Mexican red sunflower).
Not much else is going on. Hubby took his car in and had the oil changed and air put into his tires. My car needed more freon or whatever they now put into the air conditioner and they cleaned and polished my headlights, so they are all shiny now and look brand new! They were all cloudy and my visibility was cut way down. I'm glad I got it done because the owner of the shop told me that the California Highway Patrol is going to start to ticket cars with cloudy headlights! Phew! Glad that is done!
~Cheers~
Cheryl Ann I really wish we were back up on the Mogollon Rim right now!
You should save the Mesquite pods and feed them to your horses or any other herbivore animals. They are rich in protein and taste like sweet Alfalfa.
ReplyDeleteWatch the Orioles and see if they are nest building. They will strip off threads from any palm fronds you may have. They love the flowers of Yellow Bird Of Paradise, Caesalpinia gilliesii.
Thank you, Kevin! I didn't know that about the seed pods. I certainly have MANY of them to clean up!
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