Critters in the desert

Somehow all these little creatures thrive here.  I’ not sure how they do it with the extreme heat and the cold in the winters.  We’ve had lots of visitors.  I even saw a baby squirrel yesterday, but by the time I got the camera it was gone.  So I put peanuts out in hopes it would come back.  I had to go to work so I don’t know if it did or not.  I hope so.

We even have a huge grasshopper now that I’m sure is feeding on my few living plants.  Where are the roadrunners when you need them?  LOL

Enjoy the pictures.

Birds at the water bowl

Desert toad

Lizards

Quail family

Roadrunner

Squirrel

Entertainment and other things from the desert

Living in the desert brings a ton of wildlife to the backyard because we have desert behind us and no neighbors.  Our lawn has died long ago.  We’ll replace it with rock once the weather cools off.  You don’t have to water rock and it won’t be a constant struggle to keep it alive.  This summer has been very hard on all the plants and trees.

 Quail and other birds

A quail family

But the birds are having a blast in the dirt that was once home to our lawn.  They peck away out there and take dirt baths.  I have no idea why they like to roll in it while flapping their wings.  We’ve also seen lots of baby quail this month.  Everything seems to be off schedule.  This is also true for us, as work has become a full time job this month.  Usually August is slower for us.  At least it’s cooled off to the low 100’s, or the upper 90’s, so this is a good thing.

 Here's a baby roadrunner

As you can see the baby roadrunners are still alive so they must be catching enough food to survive.  I don’t know if you can tell this is a young one or not, but he’s about half grown.  The day I took this we had four roadrunners in the yard.  I’m not sure if the parents were here with the “kids,” but I think that must have been the case.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get all four of them in one picture.  In years past we’ve never seen this many at one time.

 Laser cat toy

Koki and Raven waiting for the laser

About a month or so ago, I bought a laser for the cats at Walmart.  It was the best $1.98 I’ve ever spent on them.  But I suspect it’ll cost me a lot in batteries to keep this thing going.  It did come with a spare set, which I had to install already.  Raven cries waiting for me to get it going.  He and Koki will chase it all over the place.  My hands seem to wear out before they do, but I play with them about fifteen minutes a night with this thing.  Raven will bat it all over the place, or knock it off the counter trying to tell us it’s time for laser play.  I imagine he’d turn it on if he knew how.

I want to apologize for my erratic posting.  I’m so beat when I get home from work that getting on the computer is the last thing on my mind.  I do good to get dinner ready and the kitchen cleaned up.  There isn’t a lot of time left before bed.  I still have to soak my feet every night and put on my ointment.  I go back to the foot doctor next Wednesday.  By then my orthopedic shoes should be here.  People sure do have to put up with a lot of crap when they get older.  I never think I’m that old, but it seems to be one ailment after another.  Thank goodness I have a positive outlook and try to keep a happy attitude about all this stuff.

 Beautiful clouds we've had lately with thunderstorms at night

On another note, I’m excited for the solar eclipse that’s coming on Monday.  I imagine I’ll be inside working though, so won’t even get to see it.  That’s a bummer.  This is the first time in 99 years that it will be seen by all of the US.  This probably won’t happen again in our lifetimes.  Total darkness will envelop a path throughout the US while the rest of us will see a dusky sunlight for a full two minutes.  When this happened centuries ago, it’s no wonder people used to think the world was ending.

I still have some vacation posts to write and pictures to share from my time in Texas in May.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to do that soon.

Lots of wildlife and beautiful sunsets in the desert this week

I thought I’d share some nice sights with you this time and not delve into the chaos going on at work right now.  I’m trying to keep a happy mind and stay in a happy place.  I might fill you in next week, but we’ll see.  I know one thing – I’ve been working way too much and am so tired all the time.  But that’s enough about work.

We were lucky to have a few afternoon sprinkles here the last few days.  It didn’t last near long enough because all the plants are really suffering this year, but a few sprinkles are better than none and the winds did cool it down even if it didn’t last long.

Between all of this we were lucky to see all the wildlife we did, as everything seems to be scarce this year.  The roadrunners are out of the nest.  I did see one running around by our back gate not knowing what to do.  There was an adult in the yard; perhaps, trying to guide it to the water pans we keep filled here.  I didn’t get a pic of this because things happen so fast most of the time.  I haven’t seen the young one since.  Hubby says there are two of them. 

But we did get lots of other pics.  Please enjoy the following ones.

We haven't seen the usual big families of quail so this was wonderful to see.  This family has about seven babies.

 

This coyote was hunting with two others on the bluff in back of the house about three days ago.  We don't see many coyotes in the summer at all.  In the winters we can hear them howling in the desert at night.

 

We found this unusual green lizard in one of the water boxes in the backyard.  We've never seen one like this.

 

 The squirrel paid us another visit

And we've had some magnificent sunsets that are a nice feast for the eyes after a long day.  I didn't know which pic to post here.  I always have to take a dozen.  Can you blame me?  Isn't this a gorgeous sight?

 

 

 

A little of this and that

It’s been a crazy, hot week so this has a variety of things in it today.  I didn’t have the time or energy to write up something to post earlier today.  Generally, I like to schedule ahead, if I can, but lately this hasn’t been possible.

Costco

For starters, I’m working way too many hours and between that and the heat it’s taken its toll on me.  Our big boss came in this past Tuesday to make his monthly visit.  Naturally, he had to find something wrong with each of our demos because he has to stay secure in his job.  (That’s my thoughts on it anyway.) 

Most of us, aside from some new people, have been there long enough to know what we’re doing.  Of course, this whole visit rubbed about half of us the wrong way and I know of at least a couple of other people besides me who let him have it.  Our displays looked fine to us and we had samples out and our carts were clean.  This time the problem seemed to be too many barriers across our carts to keep the wandering hands at bay.  Most of the people here have no regard for the time it takes to prep things and set up the trays.  This varies by demo, but people are impatient and don’t want to hear about the products as we work in our “kitchen.”  They want free food and they want it now. 

I hate to rock the boat about things at work and usually I don’t say half of what’s going through my mind, but this time I had to stand up for myself because I really thought I was right and that I was doing the best I could at my demo.  I hope I didn’t make things worse for our boss, but I imagine all of us had a part in that when they had their little meeting we weren’t privy to.  Oh well…life goes on and next time the concentration and focus will be on something else entirely.  I feel like it’s impossible to have every single thing running at 100%.  All of us try very hard.

The best part of going to work this past week was getting to work the clothing roadshow we have going on in the store right now.  That was fabulous.  I didn’t have to deal with food, or rude customers, and I got to actually dress like I wanted to for the most part.  At least there was no hairnet, gloves, apron, hat and those hot, collared shirts with sleeves that are required.  I had to wear white or black though, as there isn’t another choice of colors for us at this job, but I could wear my hair down, wear my earrings and other jewelry and I didn’t have to wear a collar.  Yeah!  Naturally, I chose a black, sleeveless blouse with no collar and black linen pants.  White isn’t my color and never will be.  I actually looked forward to going to work that day.  I have two more of these days to do, so I’m really looking forward to those too.  The clothes buyers are so nice and actually quite jolly about shopping.

The heat hasn’t let up around here.  One day of triple digits flows into the next.  I’m sure it’ll be that way now until mid-September.  I about die in all those clothes for work, but it’s part of the job.  I’ve started keeping flip-flops in the car, so I can ditch the socks and sneakers and I bring a tank top in my purse.  Being hot and sweaty isn’t a pleasant thing.

 Raven in our bed

 

Raven’s getting too darn smart and understands us too well when we’re talking, so we’ve started spelling things out in front of him like “food” and “eat”, etc.  Some days he gets into so much mischief around here.  He has to be doing something all the time, if he isn’t sleeping.  His favorite thing is chewing on things and he doesn’t care what it is.  I’ve tried to break him of this habit all his life, but nothing works.  Today he got me good while I was making the bed.  This time my forearm was the target.  I did slap him, which I never do, and then I held him and told him not to hurt me like that.  He didn’t try to get away, so I think he knew what I was doing and that he shouldn’t have attacked me.  I thought the wound would never stop bleeding.  Good grief.  I guess between that and the very, large red bruise on my shin bone I’ll look like a spectacle at work tomorrow.  I sure can hurt myself easy as I age.  The bruise was from moving a ton of clothing on big carts and unpacking and sorting products in a new shipment.  I didn’t realize I had hurt my leg so bad until last night when I could hardly move after getting my shorts on and sitting in the recliner a while.  I’m glad some of that pain is gone today.

But this little boy is so sweet too.  I woke up two nights ago and he was between us with his head on the pillow and under the covers to his neck.  That was adorable.  I wanted to sneak out of bed and get the camera, but thought I might wake hubby up so I didn't.

 Nothing new happening here yet

 

I finally got over to check on the roadrunner nest again.  Hubby said that someone told him you never see any baby roadrunners because they stay in the nest until they’re almost full grown so they must grow very fast because my search on google said they were out of the nest and on their own in two weeks.  I wonder how their parents convey all their knowledge to them in that short time span.

I’m still working on understanding my new smart phone too that I’ve had about two weeks now.  I’m to page 60 in the manual, but have way more to go than that.  Again, there’s the time factor in my life.

I guess that’s about it from here for now.  I hope the rest of you are having a great summer.

Signs you’ve been living in the desert too long

When you start to worry about the critters who call this place home. 

 Roadrunner at the birdbath

Roadrunner waiting for a lizard who lives behind the shed

 

I’m very guilty here because I’m keeping a constant check on the roadrunner nest in the vacant lot next door.  The parents come to hunt and get water at our house.  When I went to check the nest tonight, there was no one there.  I’m very worried about the chicks.  I don’t know if they’ve hatched and both parents are out hunting for food, or what’s going on.  I have no idea why I’m worried about these critters as they hunt all the other critters in the yard and have been existing this way long before we came to live here and will still be doing this long after we’re gone.  We actually cut a small slice off a steak we barbecued last night for the roadrunner.  He wasn’t having any luck so we thought we’d help out.  Of course he wouldn’t touch it, so maybe they prefer to hunt their food alive, or at least aren’t hungry enough to eat that.  I’ll have to Google it and see.

 Roadrunner nest

 

When I was over at the nest twice tonight I didn’t hear a peep from any baby birds.  I don’t know if they’ve hatched, or if the parents feel it’s safe to leave the eggs alone for a short time.  I was scolding them under my breath.  It was beginning to rain and I figured the babies would be alarmed, but I imagine birth into the desert would be trial by fire.  Better to get used to it now, I suppose.  Life isn’t very kind here, especially for the animals that have to endure the elements.  I would truly miss all the critters we get to see here.

I also don’t mind sitting in my car at 100 degrees for about ten minutes before I turn the A/C on. 

I know that’s crazy!  I must be acclimated to the heat because sometimes it feels so good to me.  That is unless I’m dressed in my penguin suit for work when I can sweat buckets because of the collar and sleeves required for the job.  That’s probably the number one thing about working as a demo person that I don’t like.  That and having to “lose” the jewelry for work.  And of course, there’s no flip flops for work, so I have a constant athlete’s foot problem going on.

I look forward to the hundred degree days instead of the 30 degree ones. 

I hate to admit it, but this is so true for me.  I could almost cry when we hit October because I know by Halloween it’ll be cold for several months.  I really can’t stand the cold as much as 115 degrees bothers me.

I’m used to seeing rocks and dirt everywhere I go.

One of the many rocky mountains we have here.

 

Yes, you can get used to this.  Grass or anything else green is rare here, except for trees and there aren’t a lot of those.  I can find so much beauty in the carved rocks and mountains around me.  They’re stripped bare of any vegetation, so you can see the whole surface sculpted by nature.  There’s something magical about that.

The hot desert wind doesn’t bother me

In fact, I can find any kind of breeze refreshing even if it’s a hundred degrees outside.  It’s just so nice to have a stir of a wind once in a while to cool down the 115 we endure here in the summer.  It reminds me of the Santa Ana winds we had in CA, but they always were around in September and October and, of course, we never hit 115 there either.

Very high electric bills

Oh my!  Now this is hard to get used to, but it’s a part of living in the desert.  I can just figure one paycheck a month goes to pay the A/C bill.  And we don’t keep our house cool.  Most people come in here and remark on how hot it is.  Thank goodness for fans or we’d never make it.  Sleeping is the biggest issue.  You can always go naked around the house, if you have to, although tank tops and shorts usually work out fine even if you’re still sweating.  My office is the situation because it’s upstairs so it’s normal to be at least 95 up there in the summer months.  That’s hard to do if I sweated at work all day.   Sometimes I do turn the A/C on up there a couple of hours to take the extreme heat off.

So there you have it.  A brief synopsis of desert living.  Will I live here forever – no.  But I have no plans to move in the near future.  Slowly, we’re getting there though.

 A young chipmunk learns early how to find water

 

Be thankful for what you have because, as bad as it may be, it’s still doable and probably not all that awful when you think about it. 

Desert life update

I hope everyone had a nice Fourth of July.  We had another hot day here in the desert – 103 – but we grilled hamburgers outside on the patio; however, we ate inside as we contemplated where we could live that it wasn’t too hot in the summer to eat outside.  Sigh…I don’t think such a place exists.  I think a person must endure the elements wherever they live. 

He has fat little cheeks

 

 All the comforts of home

We were visited by our squirrel that lives nearby.  He was making himself at home gathering nuts and seeds, taking in the shade of the patio and drinking water from the numerous water pans I have scattered all around the yard for the critters that happen by.

 I hope you can make out the two birds through this tree.  One is to the left and the other in the middle of this pic.

 

Around seven, I decided to venture to the lot next door to see what was new in the roadrunner nest.  It was still 101, but I have to do what I have to do.  As far as I can tell, no chicks have hatched yet, but I found both parents on the nest.  I hope you’ll be able to make them out in this picture.  As I stated before, I can’t get any closer because this tamarisk tree is very thick and thorny.

 Koki walking on top of the pots in the entryway

 

Koki was up to her tricks again.  She was trying to figure out how to get into the big pots in the entryway.  She hasn’t done anything like this in a while.  Raven was sleeping stretched out on the bed or he would have joined her I’m sure.  When he was little he got trapped in a pot.  I have it covered with a pizza pan now. 

I’m writing this on the Fourth, so if my fireworks shots turn out decent tonight I may post some of those later.

I did it

This is totally off the beaten path, but it’s nice to change it up once in a while and give you some desert news, other than we’re burning up from the heat here.  LOL.  I’m talking seriously hot here.  It’s been at least 110 every day for the last two weeks.  Somedays it was higher than that and we did hit 116 one day.  Everything is suffering from the heat.  We’ll see if any of the landscaping survives this summer.

Over the last few weeks I’ve watched a pair of roadrunners collecting dead lawn pieces and twigs in our yard.  I knew they were building a nest.  So I kept my eye on them and eventually had a clue that the nest was on the vacant lot next door.  There are some very big tamarisk trees over there. 

I googled roadrunners to find out about their nesting habits.  I’d totally be having withdrawals if google didn’t exist. 

He's proud of his hunting skills

Late this afternoon, the male was over in the yard hunting and drinking water.  He caught a lizard and went straight to the vacant lot, so I decided to go and investigate.  I’ve wanted to do that anyway, but it’s been so blasted hot that it’s like stepping into a furnace to go outdoors.  Today we had lots of clouds, so it only got to 105.  I decided to brave it.

Well I found the nest right away about eight or nine feet up in one of the tamarisk trees.  I took about a dozen pics but it’s so brushy in there that I could only get so close.  I wish I had a ladder and could get in there to see the inside of the nest, but one of the roadrunners was sitting in there.  It’s so brushy I don’t think I could even get a ladder through all the stuff anyway.  And I would hate to scare the parents off, although roadrunners don’t seem to be afraid of much.  However, nesting birds might be different.

 Probably hard to make out, but the bird is there on the nest

 

This isn’t a very good pic but if you look closely you’ll be able to see the head and beak of one of the parents in the nest.  I did what I could with my small camera.

If I have it figured right, the young chicks should hatch between July 4 and the 15^th.  But I read they only stay with the parents for two weeks and then disperse into the desert on their own.  They must grow up quickly.  And I bet you didn’t know that the parents will actually eat the runts of the newly hatched birds.  Roadrunners are brutal birds.  Perhaps calling the young ones chicks is too nice a name for them.

R is for rabbits and roadrunners

We have lots of both these critters in the desert.  Surprisingly, they aren’t predators of each other.  The rabbits eat grass and other green bushes they find in the desert.  Roadrunners usually stick with lizards and other small prey.

The rabbits always find a way into our yard to get at the lawn.  The back is walled in but the front isn’t.  Rabbits eat all day long.  It’s amazing they can eat so much.  They can also make themselves skinny enough to fit between the pickets in the gate and through the Y-block we have as drains.  Their bones must be very pliable.

 He must have been hot

The other day I caught this one in the water dish cooling off.

 

Here's a jackrabbit napping in the front yard

 This roadrunner is hunting in our backyard

 

The roadrunners are predators looking for meat, usually eating lizards, bugs, small snakes and other small prey.  They come by about every month or two and are here a few days before moving on to other parts of their territory.  Usually they come alone, but I have seen them in pairs.  We have some very smart lizards here that must be on the lookout for them because some of them are actually quite big and fat. 

 Roadrunner

Roadrunners have wicked looking teeth, very sharp and fang-like.  They capture their prey in those teeth and then beat it to death on the block wall, or other large rocks.  They roam around the desert freely and have quite a big territory.