Kisses

Horse kisses, that is.

Winter Wonderland in the Desert Southwest

It snowed yesterday in Tucson Arizona. Magnificent, utterly wonderful.

New Family Member

If you read my blog, you might recall that a desert tortoise came to live with us, last October. October is when desert tortoises go into hibernation. We built a fabulous habitat for our tortoise, complete with den. Sure enough, she hibernated. However, before she fell asleep, she had me very worried. She didn't seem to be eating. She seemed agitated. I called the experts at the Sonoran Desert Museum - they gave me some tips. I watered her well.
Sadly, she didn't make it through the winter.
So, her habitat has remained rather dead. All the plants we planted for her, died too.
Should we adopt another? Should we give up on this idea?
The decision came rather abruptly last night. I got a phone call from a friend. Someone desperately needed a home for their tortoise. They were moving far away, couldn't bring him. They were moving in a matter of days.
What do you think I said?

Meet Dos. (Spanish for #2)

He's resting in his den - way in the back where it's got to be cooler than it is out in his habitat, where I think it is 110 degrees today...

Here's a view of his home. We planted sod, hibiscus and other plants that he will eat (I hope), and more to plant tonight.
He seems ok.
Wish us luck!!

What was slithering

in my yard? About 16-18" long...without it's head or tail....and was it a tail that rattled??












Yikes.

Can you tell what kind of snake it is by the skin???

PS hubby came home and looked at it with me. hard to tell from the picture, but there's a smaller piece of skin. It's from the tail. It was a rattlesnake. Hubby says they are travelers, they don't stay in one place. But I also know that they have territories, and never stray outside of approximately that mile. So he's around here somewhere, although I checked our entire property, and did not see him.

Road Runner Conversation

Yep. They're sitting on a nest - we've seen both Mama and Papa. Yesterday evening, one of them had a very large lizard dangling from his mouth. I chased the black cat away. I have a feeling I'm going to do a lot of cat chasing. Anybody have any good ideas to keep him away, without scaring the road runners? Should I spray around the tree with amonia/vinegar? Put out moth balls?

This morning I went outside and had a quiet discussion with whichever parent-bird was sitting on the nest. He listened to me, cocking his head to the side, trying to understand this strange language.

They are fast, and difficult to get a good picture! I snapped this one from inside my little office - Mrs RoadRunner had come to visit in the little courtyard. Picture is taken from the other side of the screen - sorry!

I'm excited for baby road runners!

It's a wild country with lots of predators, so I'm going to keep fingers and toes crossed.

Mister Grumbles

Dozer is our quarterhorse. He talks to me. Back before he lived on our property - and I used to board him at a stable - he would recognize my car and whinny to me almost as soon as I pulled up.

Smart, yes?

His stall is a little distance away from the house - not too far. He can see everything that goes on. If I take the dogs outside, he starts to talk to me. He grumbles. It's a wonderful horse-talk deep in his throat.

So, I've renamed him.

Mister Grumbles.

Of course, he's asking to be fed. So, most often, I comply with his wishes.

I love that horse.

Out the Window

We moved, 6 years ago, from the East coast, to the Southwest. Everything is different out here, even the birds. There are no robins. I miss them!

But, occasionally, we see familiar faces.

See him? A Cardinal. :)

Wild Bunnies

A week or so ago, we saw a baby bunny. All alone. She (he?) will let us get pretty close. Just hopping around, doing his bunny thing. Almost everytime I go outside our yard, there he is. We have a bit of land, some of it cleared and nice, and some we leave pretty wild.

Where is his mommy? Where are his brothers and sisters?

All alone.

He could fit in the palm of your hand.

There are other bunnies around - grown up bunnies - but none that he seems to belong to.

We've been watching him now for a week or two, hope to keep seeing him around. Let's hope he's too quick for the coyotes.

Spring in Arizona

Spring is here. It is a subtle difference, as we don't have harsh winters. But we had our first 80 degree day last week.

An amazing thing has happened this spring, that I've never seen before since we've lived here (6 years now). It was a very wet winter - I loved the gray and rainy days, as they are rare here.

Grass has grown. Where it is always brown, it is green. I can't say that it is 'lawn', as that would mean that you might actually have to mow it - which is unlikely. Because as soon as the heat starts - the grass will die. But before it does, I'm going to let my horses graze on it's sweet goodness.

The mountains that you see in the distance are the Tortolitas - not a very tall mountain range. But there was snow on that range a few times this winter!

Question - what is this red grass growing? Anybody know??

Harris Hawk

He's back again. He likes to sit in my tree, just outside my window.

According to Wikepedia, this hawk can be anywhere from 18 to 30 inches tall, and generally have a wingspan of 3.6 feet.

The biggest bird that usually sits in our trees is a woodpecker, maybe 7 inches tall.

This hawk is huge. And he is a predator. He eats mice, cats, small dogs....

A raptor.

Watch out!

Hawk

Can you see him? This picture was taken from my little office window, and the hawk - easily 2 feet tall, landed in a mesquite tree just outside. I love this about living in the southwest.

Coyotes

They're everywhere lately. Is it because the weather FINALLY got cooler? Is it breeding season for coyotes? They're very active, and all over the place. You have no idea how many times I've tried to get pictures of them.....they vanish into the brush before I turn on the camera. The picture above is borrowed from Google Images.

They are wary of me, lurking and watching them, but they almost always stop, turn and look at me.

Wild.

Full Moon over the mountain

The sun is setting earlier, thank goodness. I love the time of year we are slowly coming to - cooler weather, shorter days. Even in the desert!

Last night, the full moon was coming up over Mt Lemmon. These are some views from our back 'yard', and the dirt road that we live on.

As I walked out our driveway to the road, all was quiet as the evening came on. I got out to the road, and was all alone - except for one lone coyote. He ran into the brush before I had a chance to snap a picture, rats!

The desert southwest is magnificent in it's beauty. However, lately, I am homesick for home. Changing leaves, and rain, and walks in the woods. My boys are too. I think - one day - we may head home again.

Wild Horses!

Well, not really wild. Domesticated horses, acting WILD. They spend their days in their stalls, with lots of shade and water and hay. At night, we let them out into the arena - which isn't huge, but it's a whole lot bigger than their stalls. I dream of the day when we have real pasture - fields - lots of space for them to roam.

Once in a while, they go a little nuts. Tonight was one of those nights. The bigger horse is Dozer (the one with the blaze on his face). He's a quarter horse. The smaller horse is a mustang - we do not know her background. I believe that she was born in captivity. But she is a true mustang. Her coloring is called line-back dun. And she is brilliant.

Tonight, Dozer was so wild - he reared up - all the way. And as he was galloping, he kicked Belle. I hope she is ok.

Crazy pictures, because it was dusk, and they were kicking up tons of dust, and I had to use the flash!

Crazy!!

Uh Oh! A tiny tale of the southwest....

It was dusk - twilight - evening.

Our horses had been in their stalls for 2 days, without being turned loose in the arena, due to thunder and lightning. They were restless, and needed to get out and do a little running. My husband went outside to let them out. He called me, a few minutes later, to come see. I dashed out the kitchen door to go see what was going on.

The horses were in such good spirits, running and snorting and bucking. Dozer, the big quarter horse, reared up on his hind legs. Such fun to watch! I filled their water bucket, and gave them a pat. My husband went to clean stalls (such a good husband). I headed back inside, now it was just about dark.

Just about to set foot on the kitchen door mat. Where I had just run a few minutes before.

UH OH.

What is that?

What do I see?

A Curved Stick?

It's not very big, at all...

It wasn't there a few minutes ago....

I knew right away.

A snake.

I reached inside the nearby garage door, and flipped on a light. I called to my husband. I leaned down to get a better look......

Rattlesnake.

Diamondback.

Poisonous.

And a baby - the worst kind, I've heard. Baby rattlesnakes don't know that it isn't necessary to release ALL their venom to stun the victim. So they release it all. They can also strike from, easily, 3 feet away. I was a few inches away from him.

But he was not poised to strike, he didn't seem to mind my presence.

I would have loved to simply relocate him (as we did another non-poisonous snake recently, pics below), but this is a huge danger to my family, and my animals. And...where did he come from? Was he there just a few minutes before?

We had to kill him. I'm sorry, Mr Snake.

(These are not pics of him, these are borrowed pictures, just so you can see what I saw).

:0(

Little Wildlife Story

Thursday afternoon, I was in my little tiny office, working. It's quiet, the dogs are asleep. All of a sudden, I hear a thud. A loud thud. The dogs heard it too, and started barking. What was that?

I went to the front door - nobody there. Kitchen door, nobody there. Cats are sleeping, nobody jumped up on something. Went to the back door, all seems quiet outside.

OK, back to work, dogs back to sleep.

About an hour later, took a break from work. Let the dogs out back. Instantly saw a bird, on the ground, hopping, trying to hide behind the pots on my patio. Quick, put the dogs back inside.

Bird hops away, cannot fly. So scared of me. Chirping, panicky.

I caught it, in my hands.

Found the cage that we use for injured wildlife.

At least now she is safe. Oh so scared.

I know people that are licensed wildlife rehabilitators. I call. Ack! They are totally full. But they told me where else I could take the bird. It's downtown, so my husband will have to take the bird the next day. She's going to get a car ride!






Such a beautiful bird. Pale yellow breast. Short feathers kind of fluffy on the top of her head.

I feel responsible, for it was my window that she flew into. I'm glad it is only a broken wing, as the last bird that flew into that window did not make it.

I hope she will heal well, and be released back into the wild.

Looking kinda cloudy.....

in more ways than one, around here lately.

hmmmmm

Wordless Wednesday

Frog Update

If you read my previous post, we've had frogs in the pool. Not just one or two - 20! at a time. Some of them have laid eggs in the pool. I keep scooping out frogs and eggs. If I don't scoop them out quickly, the chlorine kills them. I'd much rather scoop out live frogs than dead ones. Except the live ones are very lively, and often jump out of the scooper net and land on rocks, or, right back in the water. Very athletic, these froggies!

Anyway! We also have desert toads out here in the wild west. They hibernate all year, and come out only during monsoon season, which is now.

I found this one in the pool, sitting on the steps. He was HUGE. Not as big as a dinner plate, but almost.

I scooped him out very carefully (thought he was going to break my net) and lowered him to the other side of the fence.

Sad to report, he didn't make it.

:0(

By the way, desert toads are poisonous. If your dog licks it, he will die. If YOU lick one, you will hallucinate. The Native Americans used to use them in ceremonies.

You have to be very careful letting your dogs out at night. Put on all the lights, and carry a flashlight, and monitor them really closely.

Anyway, I much prefer these little guys.

Frogs in the Pool!!!

It's monsoon season - all of a sudden - here in Tucson Arizona. Monsoons are huge thunderstorms, and can be torrential, with very damaging winds, thunder and lightning. The dry riverbeds and washes can flood, very quickly.

Monsoon season brings out all kinds of critters.

There's the poisonous desert toad. They are bigger than a man's hand, and whatever you do - DON'T let your dog near them. If your dog licks them, they can die. If YOU lick them, you can hallucinate.

Tarantulas. I haven't seen any yet. Any day now.....

Scorpions. Black widow spiders. Snakes. Don't I just love living here?

BUT, today, we have new visitors.

Frogs.

In the pool.

TONS of them.

What am I going to do with them??

I need to turn on the filter, so the pool can get cleaned. There's quite a bit of debris after last night's storm. But can I? Will the filter scoop up all the froggies?

And, where did they come from? Did they drop from the sky during the storm? Some of them like hanging out in the filter bucket ---

And some of them like getting piggyback rides on each other. Hmmm. What ARE they doing?

And what am I going to do to keep them from swimming in my pool all summer??