When rumor becomes reality

This isn’t a pretty thing as we’re discovering at work.  I’m sorry for this dismal post.  There have been rumors flying all over the place for a month now.  Well yesterday we confirmed the boss of seventeen years is leaving.  She’s being forced out of the business, which is such a shame.  All of us love her and she’s the best boss ever, tough but fair, and who could ask for more than that?  But you know how it is when personalities and styles collide. 

Now everyone working in our division feels their jobs are on the line and there’s so much scrambling and drama going on over what to do.  I’m sure some of you out there have had experience with what happens when a new group takes over the duties in the workplace.  Unfortunately most of the older people are forced out for ones with the viewpoint of the new boss.  This is especially true for management positions, although I expect it to impact some of the rest of us as well that have been there a long time and are fans of the outgoing boss.

I’m probably not going to be keeping up my twice weekly posting here on this blog due to all the things going on in my life and in my head as I try to handle all this change.  It has caught most of us by surprise, although we suspected a big change was coming.  Right now I’m caught up in the whole mess wondering what to do myself, as I probably won’t want to work for the incoming regime.  I’m sure there will be more scrutiny put upon us and also changes we aren’t used to and perhaps a lot of us will have trouble adapting to. 

Almost everyone in my workplace is contemplating leaving and looking elsewhere for jobs.  These people are like extended family and it pains me to see everyone hurting and so paranoid about the future.  I find myself in the same frame of mind with times of anxiety that I can’t sleep or eat much.  Is this letting the regional manager win?  I hope not.  After our morning meetings at work we’re sent out on the floor with a positive attitude and the thought of not letting them when.  Them (in this case) being the hungry customers who can drive us all crazy.  If you’ve ever tried to serve food from a stainless steel cart inside a busy store you’ll know exactly what I mean.  But the customers in my state have no manners at all.  It seems their parents were absent during their upbringing, or perhaps they feel entitled to be given free food and waited on and all their messes cleaned up by us.  The food service industry can be a thankless job, except for a few who recognize what it is to serve others with a smile no matter how the day is going.

So I’m done ranting and look forward to coming home at the end of the day, taking off the shoes and all the hot clothes required for the job and enjoying the wildlife in my backyard that hasn’t got a care in the world except for looking for food and water all day and trying to stay away from the predators so they can live another day.  Sometimes I wish I only had their problems to deal with.

 Papa with his baby quail.  Both parents share equally in their upbringing.

 

On a lighter note, we’re finally seeing baby quail showing up in the yard.  They’re so late this year unless this is the second batch.  I’m told quail can have two sets of chicks in a year.  They are so cute and we’ve missed them so much.  The babies are carbon copies of their parents and mimic them in all they do.  It’s so cute to watch and adds some joy to a stressful day.

Note:  Due to the nature of this post, I can't post other pics at this time.  Thank you for understanding.

Smokin’ hot here

We’ve been teased by thunder and cloudy skies the last couple of days but so far not much rain at all.  All the plants are really suffering so I wish we’d have a good old-fashioned downpour.  We really need it.

Work stays busy and the weather stays hot so no other news in that department.

I finally got to see some adult quail with a big pre-teen family.  We haven’t had many quail families this year.  I think the roadrunners have already scattered from the nest I’ve been watching too.  The other day, hubby spotted a young roadrunner in the front of the house.  It got scared and ran for the tree on the lot next door.  I imagine it feels safe there.  We think there are at least two eggs that hatched successfully.  These little guys are smaller than the adults and have some downy feathers. We weren't able to grab the camera in time to get any pics.

 VitaCoco Coconut Water

 

Today I had a demo for coconut water at work.  I don’t know how many of you know how good coconut water is for you.  It’s a natural hydrator and replaces lost electrolytes.  I actually had a gentleman ask me if he’d end up in the hospital if he drank it.  WHAT!  Wasn’t he listening to my pitch for the product?  Sometimes I really wonder about people.  I guess I’m just flapping my gums to hear myself talk.

A Gutsy and Elusive Mockingbird

Mockingbird at water pan

As I’ve told everyone before, we have lots of wildlife and birds here.  Well we have one gutsy mockingbird that’s taken to hanging out in the backyard everyday.  He loves to torment the other birds and the snakes that come by for a drink.  Maybe he’s just bored, or maybe this is what mockingbirds do. 

 The snake had enough and  is going back to the desert

This snake came to drink from the water pan on the patio a couple of weeks ago and this bird wouldn’t leave it alone.  He hopped and flew at the snake until it finally slithered away back to the desert.  I got a pic of the snake but, like the title says, this bird is also elusive.  I’ve been trying to get shots of him daily and most of it is a waste of time as far as photos go.  Watching him is a whole other matter.  I love his chirping and crazy maneuvers.

 Mockingbird at birdbath

This little guy is so pretty with his showy white tail feathers.  He gets in the birdbath too and goes to town splashing away.  I haven’t been able to get a pic of that yet either.  The thing is he doesn’t stay put for long in one place.

Mockingbird

He torments the other birds too and is so much bigger that maybe he intimidates them when they come to the birdbath or the water dish.  I think this guy needs something to do besides flying from tree to tree and making the rounds of the nearby desert bushes.  I’m still trying for decent photos.  If I get any, I’ll post them later.

She wants to join the family

We live in a place where we’re lucky to see a lot of wildlife coming by at various times.  The last few weeks this female roadrunner has made it clear, she wants in the house. 

 Not the greatest pic but I had to hurry

 

She jumps up on the top of the bench we have on the back patio and pecks at the window.  This sends the cats into a frenzy watching with wild eyes.  I’m not sure what this lady has in mind because I don’t think her or the cats would actually want to meet face-to-face. 

Female roadrunner trying her best to adopt us

She makes her rounds of the backyard near the house, hopping from chair-to-chair and perching on the table.  Last week she even tried her best to fly up and land on the ceiling fans out there.  Maybe she got into some loco weed, or ate some juniper berries.

 Here she is on the patio chair

 

Today, she jumped off the patio roof and took her place on the bench to peck at the window.  Her eyes scan the place from floor to ceiling.  I imagine she’s looking for food and expects me to provide it.  I don’t have any lizards or bugs lying around to give her.  Right now I’m not sure what else she’s trying to tell me, but she looks plump enough and not starving.

At this point, I’m not sure how long this activity will last.  The bird of prey that was taking a daily bath here has gone to other areas.  I haven’t seen him in a while.

Other than that, I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and spent a relaxing day being grateful for all we have. 

Below are a few pics from our Thanksgiving drive along the back highway to Mesquite NV and back.  These are taken from the car window so aren't the best photos in the world.  This country passes through an Indian reservation and is mostly sagebrush and Joshua trees.  But the day was beautiful and about 50 degrees.

 
It’s onward toward Christmas now.  Some neighbors already have their lights up.  I’m only perturbed at the one who put his up a week before Thanksgiving.  That’s disgraceful!  These days everyone rushes things. 

We have a few leaves left on our trees, but they’re quickly littering the ground.  I watched some flutter down in a gust of wind this morning and wished I had the camera ready.  I did spend the next half hour trying to capture some but didn’t have much luck.  I guess things like that are better in person.

 Most of these fluttered to the ground today

 

I hate to see winter coming but that’s beyond my control.  All I can do is count the days until spring – and I shall be doing that – in the near future.  December and January are in the deep freeze here some years.

Now that those awful ulcers are about gone from my mouth, I have a raspy cough to take their place.  I attribute this to working near the coolers all day at work last week.  I was chilled to the bone from head-to-toe by the end of my shift, so I’m now stocked up on all sorts of cold products and extra vitamin C to get me through the winter months without becoming too ill.

Added to all this was another car problem, a dead battery this time, but I can’t say my mechanics didn’t warn me about that when they replaced the radiator.  So I spent part of yesterday getting that fixed.  

Now if I can just fix the garage door, which has gone on the blink lately, I may be able to sit back for a while.  I’ll be opening it manually for the time being because the openers and the opener have become enemies apparently.  They aren’t talking to each other now and the batteries are fine.  It’s back to my old friend, Google, to see if I can find a solution.  What did we do before the internet?  It’s too bad they didn’t teach courses like this in high school – something we could really benefit from as adults.

Who doesn’t like Koala’s?

This little baby named Imogen is adorable.

 

I just read this article a couple of weeks ago, but this happened back in June in Symbio Wildlife Park in Sydney Australia.  A younger koala lost its mother soon after birth so it was decided that this little joey, Imogen, would be hand-raised and the younger koala placed into the pouch of Imogen’s mother.

A young couple working at the reserve took Imogen home; bottle fed her and took her everywhere with them, even snuggling with her at night to make her feel like she was in her mother’s pouch. 

It sounds like koalas are similar to kittens, terrorizing their humans all night and then sleeping most of the day.  To read the entire story, go here.  Be sure to scroll through the slide show for some adorable pics.

Check this out

The desolate harsh atmosphere of the desert makes it challenging for animals, plants and people to survive.  Unless the species is native to the environment, it doesn’t last long and struggles through its life.

 Plumeria bloom stem

Flowers developing

 

Most of my plants I moved with me from southern California died long ago.  But I still have, “Lovely,” the plumeria I’ve had for twenty-plus years.  She struggles here too but I always move her to the garage in the winter months and bring her to a protected place on the patio once the temperatures reach above forty.  Francis and Lovely are the only two plants I have left from my move eleven years ago, aside from my Sego palms, which struggle every year, but usually battle back.  They’re hardier so Lovely and Francis take more care and keep each other company.

 Mama Palm

These are the children

 

The Sego’s are too heavy to move so they are wrapped in layers of old bedding and burlap in hopes they can withstand the extended freezing conditions of winter.  However, this year poor Mama Palm is really struggling and I hope she doesn’t give up.  Her children are doing well, but she’s over forty years old and hasn’t grown one new shoot this year.  I’ve been coaxing her all summer, but so far to no avail.  (Yes, I talk to my plants all the time.)  She’s sending up shoots from her roots as she does every year.  Perhaps she’s old and is nearing the end of her lifespan.  I don’t really know.

The first flower is open

Lovely hasn’t graced me with a bloom stem in a couple of years, but this year she’s gone to work and has one stem going that I’ve been photographing over the last few weeks.  I hope this is only the beginning of more.  A couple of years she had them on all her branches.  It was breathtaking and like stepping onto the isle of Hawaii to look at her as the fragrance carried me away.

 This is Francis

 

Hubby doesn’t know it yet, but I’m not leaving this plant or Francis behind when we move from here.

This crepe myrtle tree is struggling

The sage thrives here.  This bush always needs cutting back but gets loaded with lavender blooms about three times a year.

Other than that, much is going on here as my husband is still handling things in Oregon.  I expect him to be back by the end of the month to take a breather before going back in the fall when it’s cooler to clean out the garage.

The water issue seems to be resolved.  Do I dare say that aloud?  I’ve done a lot of cleaning up, washing and generally wearing myself out.  Along with that, I’ve changed TV carriers and had many appointments for the “welcome to Medicare” program all new people are entitled to once they become eligible.  This has been quite interesting and I’ll post more about that next time.

We did have an unexpected rainstorm, which ventured this way from Arizona yesterday.  It was actually in the seventies in July!  What a nice break.  My lawn has decided to sprout a bit of new grass in random spots.  I don’t know if it will ever recover completely.  It looks burned to a crisp despite all the watering we’ve done, along with putting on the treatment the local nursery advised.

You can’t get much cuter than this

Wildlife babies are finally showing up in our yard.  We haven’t seen as many this summer.  I think that’s due to lots of rain and plenty of seeds in the desert.  I had to post a few cute pics because everybody comes here for a drink of water.  As you can see, there’s always a parent close by to watch over the little ones.

Enjoy!  I think they're so darn cute!

 

The first baby sighting of the year

I’m talking about animal babies here, in this case baby quail.  They are about three weeks late in showing up this year but the weather has been cooler and rainier.  I don’t know if that affects quail life or not.

 Baby quail twins

 

This morning a recently hatched couple of babies were separated from their siblings and parents.  I’m not sure how this can happen because the quail seem to know how many little ones they have and if anyone is lost.  They will stay around and call out until they find the babies.  Not so today.  The parents were missing.  My husband went out, picked these two up, took them around to the vacant lot, and let them go in the dense underbrush.  They seemed to be looking that way and didn’t now how to get over there.  Of course, I’m worried about them because survival is slim anyway here in the desert.  I hope the parents will find them before dark.

They were very unafraid because they haven’t learned that skill yet.  This is the only pic I got of them but they are so cute and only about an inch high.  I’m sure more pictures will be coming later.

A New Home for the Holidays

My Home

Tired of shoveling snow and months of cold weather?  If you’ve ever thought about desert living, check out this house in the high desert of southwest Utah.

http://www.redmountain307.com/

This home is near several national parks and about two miles away from a beautiful state park.  You’ll love living here if you love the outdoors and watching wildlife.  This is especially true for hikers, campers, rock climbers, and photographers and artists.  There’s something magnificent to see everywhere you look from the scenic red rocks, to petrified sand dunes, to old black lava flows.

If you’re not into outdoor physical activities, you might enjoy plays from Broadway that are acted out using the backdrop of the unique red rock amphitheater only two miles away.  Enjoy a performance of an array of plays, bands, and comedians throughout the year.

 Tuachan Amphitheater

My home is large enough to accommodate a big family, or a retired couple that want space and a place to entertain relatives and friends.  The landscaping is low maintenance with just enough grass to make it desirable, yet easy to take care of.  Barbecue and watch all the wildlife you want from your own backyard.  At night view stars all the way to the horizon because we don’t have all the big city lights. 

This home sits on a large lot in the picturesque community of Ivins.  It backs up to the desert where you’ll find hiking and horseback riding trails, making it also the perfect place for walking your canine friend.

One of many hiking trails behind my house

Ivins is a small community of about 7400 people located minutes from St George where you’ll find all the shopping and restaurants you could ever want.  There are two Walmart supercenters in the area, as well as a Costco and all the chain stores and restaurants.

We get over 300 days of sunshine a year here.  Summers can be quite warm, but winters are mild and short when you consider the northern and central United States, December and January being the coldest months here.  As surprising as it sounds when you think of Utah, we get very little snow, if any, every winter.  It’s usually melted in a day or two.

We’re also only two and a half hours north of Las Vegas, or thirty minutes from Mesquite, Nevada where you’ll find fabulous buffets and gambling activities.

I must warn you, we have very little humidity here year round.  I love this house with its spacious open floor plan and so much storage.  I wish I could transport it closer to my family, but as my husband reminds me, we do need to downsize a tad at our age.  And of course it’s impossible to transport a house unless you’re Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

We’ve enjoyed a great ten and a half years here.  Now it’s someone else’s turn.  Please take a look at the website, enjoy the pictures, and ask questions if you have any.  All inquiries will be answered.

Sorry, had to share more cute wildlife babies

Baby quail are so cute.  They mimic their parents and are very obedient.

These critters are just so cute this time of year.  This mother has fourteen little ones to look after and keep out of harms way.  And you thought twins was hard.

And here’s a video.  The kitten reminds me of Raven.  He even looks like him.  Raven pesters my girls a lot.

We have Babies

Look to the right to see the quail babies.  They're small.

Mom is waiting for the "children" to come through the pickets on the gate.

It’s that time of year for the next generation of wildlife.  We had our first sighting of baby quail last week.  They are so cute and more obedient than human kids are.  The quail make very good parents.  It’s fun to watch the interactions between them and the new “kids.”

Baby chipmunk

Baby chipmunk

I can spend hours watching nature.  The quail and chipmunks seem to have their own language.  The offspring will spend the better part of this year with their parents to guide them.  The only thing left out here is the rabbits, which seem to be out on their own at a young age.

Raven behind my house

 Ravens behind my house

Today I heard all this loud screeching and cawing.  I grabbed the camera and went outside to see what was up.  The ravens make a racket when one of their own is hurt or killed.  This time they were dive-bombing a golden eagle.  They kept this up for the better part of an hour.  I tried to get some good pics but birds are quick.  My husband also decided to call right at this time.  I never did succeed in getting a good shot of the golden eagle, but I bet it was only about twelve feet or so away.  However, this didn’t last long and it took flight.  I know one thing, the ravens look big, but this thing made them seem so small by comparison.  I never did find out what caused all this.  I imagine the eagle was probably hunting one of them and feasted on it for lunch.

Life is so new and exciting when you’re young

Raven and Tootie sleeping in a sun spot

That’s exactly what my new fur baby thinks.  I’m sure he feels he landed in a good situation with soft places to sleep, many toys to play with, and plenty of food.

You can tell by watching him that he’s never done any of this before, so he gets so excited over looking out the window and breathing in the fresh air.  He watches all the critters and birds outside.  The chipmunks are pulling things off the blankets now to make their nests as they do every year.  He doesn't know what to think about this and is fascinated with them.

 Raven

Raven is enjoying life so much - everything is so new and exciting to him.  When he’s through looking outside, he’ll play himself to sleep attacking toys.  

 Raven

 Raven

Raven

 Raven

This little fur ball purrs instantly when you touch him and sleeps with us every night, but has slept in the cat tree two nights since we got him because he was too tired to come to bed.  Koki loves those nights because she can come to bed.  She could otherwise too, but she won’t.  I used to think she was so small, but she’s a giant next to him.  There should be nothing there to threaten her.  She’ll even nose him and then hiss and swat at him.  I guess its jealousy.

 Koki

Koki stuck her head in the cat box yesterday when Raven was in there doing his business and once he saw her and finished up, he gave chase.  They ended up upstairs with her under the furniture again.  She likes to be the chaser, not the chasee.  But Koki has always had to have things on her terms from day one.  She won’t eat until she’s good and ready and won’t come to you either unless it suits her.

All these cats have their own personalities.  That’s just part of the fun of having a cat.  They’re independent but are loyal and never judge you over any of your issues.  I wish people were more like that.

A Day in My Life

Free Clipart

My life consists of writing and more writing after I get my act together in the morning. As I’m a night owl, this isn’t always busy. I usually hit the computer early with a cup of coffee and go downstairs later to get dressed and have breakfast. Besides drinking coffee and writing, I cook dinner and wash dishes a couple of times a day. I usually just snack for lunch, or graze as my husband calls it.

 This is Comet

This is Koki

Generally, I have at least one cat sitting on my desk or computer during the day and evening. I have to deal with this from time to time when they begin playing footsies with my keyboard and mouse. Or give them some extra attention when they start giving me those lover eyes.

These two cats are the most frequent visitors to my office.

In the evenings, before or after dinner, I like to sit out on the patio. We have a nice bench that allows me to look at the desert and listen to all the birds as they gather their families for the night. It’s quiet and tranquil out there and I’m all about peacefulness.

 Desert Walk - Sunni's Photo's

Sometimes I’ll take a walk back there where I am totally alone on the dirt trails that meander through the sagebrush and cactus.  Sunsets are also spectacular.

Desert Sunset - Sunni's Photo's



At night is usually more writing, or reading, unless I watch something I recorded on the DVR. My husband and I have different likes in TV, although we do watch international homes frequently before I come back upstairs to get back to it.

Books - Free Clipart

The last thing I usually do up here is check my email and then head downstairs to do all the night time chores, like scooping the litter boxes, and setting up the coffee for tomorrow morning.

About once or twice a month, I’ll go out and spend the day shopping or meandering through some stores to see what’s new and to get out amongst people.

Shopping - Free Clipart

So there you have it – the boring life of a writer. I am never bored with my routine though, which is a good thing. I do a lot of searching on the internet and there is always something new to learn that I didn’t know.