Giant Schnauzers

Go Baseball!

We had great fun watching our oldest grandson play baseball the other evening.  It is hard for me to believe how good these little guys are since our girls didn't start playing softball until they were in either 3rd or 4th grade.  In the intervening years, organized sports for kids has gotten started earlier and the kids seem to be having fun and learning a lot.

 

Have yet to figure out where the bat went in that picture, but you can see the focus and intensity on his face.

Remember we are in Arizona and the bright rays do get in the eyes when facing the setting sun in the late afternoon. 

Treats after the games are always good!

Thank You For Your Continuous Service!

This afternoon I was the very proud spouse watching while my husband recieved an award from the Arizona Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans.  Tom has designed their logo, set up the local web page, takes a couple of them fishing each year with the Fishing Knows No Boundaries program for paralyzed vets and others, and is working on developing things that will help paralyzed vets and others get better paying jobs.

He loves being able to do these things and I am very proud of him for all he does.

Go Marines!

Desert Dogs and Flowers

Lilfe keeps rolling along out in the desert.  The doctors decided my squamous cell place on my shin wasn't healing quickly enough, so I got to visit a wound care specialist who removed the junk around the area and put me in an elastic stocking to reduce the minor amount of swelling around the area.  That is a little bit of pain, agony and remorse.  This evening I get to change the tiny medicine on it and replace all of the bandages which now go from my toes to my knee!  I am a little bit embarrassed by the size of the bandages!  No pictures of it.  Too ugly!

But it is easy to forget all of that with the beautiful Spring we are having this year.  The amaryllis are in bloom and the flowers are exquisite.  Out here they grow outside.

The palo verde are in full dress and are amazing.  Being a Midwesterner the closest thing is the forsythia to compare them to.   But the palo verde far outbloom the forsythia.  They are larger for one thing and just a mass of small yellow blooms.  Since they are a native tree the dot the desert and washes as you drive around.  They are also the Arizona State Tree and deservedly so.  They line the road out towards our house,  the back of the corral, and at just about every turn we come to.

This afternoon two of our giants needed to visit the vet who is open on Sundays.  Roger, our largest male at 29 inches and 92 pounds is the world's largest wimp when it comes to leaving his kingdom.  He always depended on Greta before but now that she is gone, Queenie is filling her paws.  When Roger got to the examining room. he got up on the bench so that he had his back to the wall and felt quite secure there.  Queenie got up in front of him,  and he was set to go.  He allowed the vet tech to take his temp and check him out with out being a quivering mess.  He then allowed Dr. Suzanne to examine him and had no problems.  Of course, Queenie was in between Roger and the vet.  Queenie had all four legs off the bench but was secured there by his hind legs sticking out under her and keeping her there.  Much to Roger's relief.

Queenie weighs 60 pounds and Roger weights 93 pounds, but she protects him.  He protects us at home. Here is an idea of their size difference out in front of the clinic.

Cacti have thorns, but their flowers are incredible.  This one bloomed for the first time this evening.  Enjoy!

   

Happy Birthday Princess B!

Our granddaughter turned seven a few days ago and she had her party last Sunday.  She has been taking horse backriding lessons and for a six year old, she is good!  Her party was at the home of the gal who teaches her to ride and B got to show off before the other young guests had their turn to ride. 

 

She controls the horse with her legs and very little bridle movement.  No wonder I have always had such trouble riding a horse!

   

We think she is pretty good for such a young age!  Even brother got to enjoy the fun.

   

 

Happy Birthday Miss B!  Love you lots!

The Arizona Desert In Bloom

The Arizona desert is at its best this year with all the rain we have had.  It is glorious just to drive through the city and today I carried the camera in the car with me as I traveled on errands.  Here is part of the drive to pick up my grandson at school this morning.

 

Here is a close up of the palo verde tree.  You can see that it has thousands of tiny flowers  just as it has tons of tiny tiny leaves.

There were all kinds of other yellow flowers in different places.

The agave sometimes has very different blooms.

The red family of spring flowers in the desert is widely varied.  There is the bouganvillea which comes from Mexico but is found everywhere in Arizona in the warmest areas.

The ocotillo is a desert native but is also grown for its shape and spring flowers.

The red aloe is another native plant that is grown for landscaping.  The more water it gets, the larger it grows and the more it flowers.

These tiny pink flowers together make quite a statement also.

Verbenas abound in the desert landscape and these purple ones make for a bright corner.

Pomegranates are in bloom in our yard, and the flowers are stunning.

Tiny apples are starting to take on a reddish tinge, but this is the first year for this apple tree, so I don't know if the fruit will make it to maturity or not.

Guarding all of the produce is Farmer Hank.  He is only being good and not bothering anything because I was out there with him.

Last is an Indian Chief iris that was one of my grandmother's favorite flowers.  I have a little bit of her with me out here in the Arizona desert in the springtime.  I know she would have loved all of the flowers just as I do.