Giant Schnauzers

Hummingbirds and House birds

I have developed a deep love and admiration of hummingbirds.  They dive bomb our backporch usually one of the larger more territorial hummers after another less alpha bird.  They zoom in and out and around and often come very close to ears as we walk outside.  At the moment we have one hummingbird feeder out there and an oriole feeder out on the feeding station post further out.  But I have asked for hummingbird feeders for Christmas.  The one we have now we got last Christmas from our oldest daughter and her family.  The hummers have loved it and we love watching them.  I think this is a white eared hummer.

Same white eared hummer in testing his wings........

I don't know if this is an Anna's or Costa's or it could be some other kind....feel free to let me know.......

And another........

This one is a little blurry, but the purple on its neck is just beautiful.......maybe a male Costa??

This is Bleu our guest ring necked who talks up a storm.  I will add a video of him talking at the end.  He is amazing and enjoyed having the hummers fly around his cage while he was outside this afternoon.

This is his cohort Tango who doesn't like to have his picture taken and the camera knows it. 

There was another beautiful Arizona sunset tonight that we enjoyed also.

And here is a video of Bleu talking to me.....

Download bleu_on_the_backporch_talking.wmv

Yes, Virginia, There IS Water In AZ Every 3rd Year Or So!

For most of the last week, the weather bureau has been predicting rain with a severe weather alert. Now I know we have had almost no measurable rain since July or thereabouts, but a severe weather alert just for rain.  Right they were to predict such a thing.  As of this morning we have had 2.6 inches of rain in the last 24 hours.  We only get about 8 inches on the average and almost no rain in November but December is one of our heavy rain months.

Amazingly enough, the big 404 wash behind our house has no water running in it since the rain started out quite gently allowing it to soak in and give us a lot of water.  The wildflowers need one inch of rain at this time of year and two to three weeks of cold days and clear nights in order to sprout and create the artists' paintings of wildflowers in the Arizona deserts in the spring.  I have seen fields of flowers out here that waited ten to twenty years before they sprouted. 

We have water in the wells dug around the plants to help trap rain water and water the plants more deeply.

We have water where there are no wells............there is water most everywhere right now.

Now to watch for the wildflowers sprouting!  Did I mention that our less than two year old roof leaked into the dining room and that will be a mess that has to be repaired and cleaned up.  Luckily there wasn't too much that came into the house, but will have to wait and see what is up there.  Only in Arizona can you live in a house for almost two years and not know if the new roof is water tight!

The Birds Are Back......

But the birds are back only because I decided to start feeding them again.  To feed and watch the birds means playing cat and mouse games with the antelope squirrels who come over the wall to get the droppings left by the birds.  I love this one of the gila woodpecker with the seed in his mouth.  I didn't realize the gila woodpecker had yellow on their undersides.  Don't often see them in this position. 

He is quite the clown and this little house finch is brave to share the feeder with him.  I haven't managed to get a picture yet of the woodpecker hanging off the bottom of the hummingbird feeder but he can and does.

This little hummer takes off for a safer place when the woodpecker stops by for a sip of sweet nectar.

One of my favorite visitors to the feeders is the cardinal.

   

The days have been beautiful and have begun with these incredible sunrises.

 

These are followed by incredible sunsets as seen through the front door.

Sunset was followed the other night by an enormous moon.

Fall in the Desert

Fall in the desert is a little different than other parts of the country.  Our deciduous trees don't lose their leaves for another few weeks yet, usually sometime in December.  If we plant things in August, they are now starting to mature.  Here at the Schnauzer Ranch, we have to outsmart the schnauzer wanna be farmers.  Several of them like nothing better than to pick watermelons as soon as they are big enough to have a sweet scent.  They don't eat them, just pick them.  Who knows why?  Not me........

But we do have other things growing.  You might notice either bird netting to keep out the antelope squirrels that dare to breach the block wall or that other plants have bits of chicken wire on them.  That is for the giants that try to pick the groceries before the humans have gotten to them.  We don't dare wait until the edible is at the perfect stage, it might have been devoured by then.  The plum tomatoes are liking this cooler weather.

The herbs are doing well and add incredible taste to things that were normally kind of bland.

We love peppers and the hot peppers love us.  They come up as volunteers in many different places.

My favorites are the red, green and yellow sweet peppers.

The zucchini are in bloom and the bugs are happy about that.

The cacti starts are thriving and can go in the ground soon.

Finally the birdhouse gourds are growing.  Now if the antelope squirrels don't try and pick them and drag them over the walls for their winter feast, we might have some to dry and use.

The reason I like to garden and grow things?  It is the influence of my grandmother, Bam, and this is her favorite saying.  I hope I can make as big an impact on my grandkids and she did on me.

Golden Amulets

          Seasons encumbered

by winds blowing from the heavens

     brown  rusty plants

                  brittle and parched

     clinging to mountainsides

Skies broil under summer's intense glare

     silver buds of moisture build

            swelling the bosom

                   of sky mother

                        sending bolts of silver

      dancing across her palette

            rippling                 crackling

                   teasing and tempting

'

Electricity crawls up the skin

       skies turn yellow

            with swirling flecks dipped

                              from an endless well of dust

      of parched city streets

            teasing and tempting

                        

pressure builds

        letting loose with torrents

            gushers of water

                         winds ripping

      trees tearing

                        lightening lashes out in whorls

            crashes of thunder follow 

                   warning

                        of violence yet to come

              

                liquid gold

                              for desert dwellers

      Driving, blinding

                         gold from the heavens

11/15/96

A Craigs' List Stalker

I am not certain when we first discovered Craig's List, but we are avid fans of it.  We have gotten barnwood which really wasn't free.  We had to rent a 24 foot flatbed truck to cart all the "free" barnwood home and hire someone to help load and unload the truck.  There is one 18 foot beam there.

We got the leather Laz-Y-Boy recliner on the list.  We got a five piece set of pine tables and TV cabinet.  We also sold another pine TV cabinet on the list.  This evening while perusing Craig's list, someone posted a big tool chest.  Now my hubby has a bigger one and one identical to this one, BUT while straightening up the garage, he found he has even more tools than he thought.  So he needed another tool chest.  I was the first one to email, so the tool chest is ours.  We purchased a huge evap cooler that now cools our garage/workshop for a fifth of what I bought a smaller one for my old house. 

Off Freecycle we have gotten enormous desert plants to help us landscape our new house.  All we had to do was dig them up and move them.  After we got the first two from this gal, she was so happy the plants were going to a good home, that she called and offered us two more from her mother's yard.  What could we say??  Since we have a large yard, two more were gratefully accepted. 

The above picture is two of the hesperaloe or red yucca that we dug up and moved.

We needed more railroad ties to use in the front for the driveway, and someone needed loads of railroad ties removed.  Now how many people are going to load up and move railroad ties when it is 115 degrees outside.  Did you say they are free?  We will do it.  Well, not me, but dear hubby will.  We did have to hire  some help and rent a stronger trailer than ours, but they ties were free.

We do have a few extra but will fine a place for those.  We found a nursery going out of business and at less than $4 for a five gallon pot, bought many of the landscaping plants we needed.  We found heavy duty metal shelving for the garage, a newer fridge when our fridge went out after being in the new house less than six weeks,  a huge TV only three years old, food grade 55 gallon drums that we built a compost bin from and will use the rest for water storage, and the list goes on.  I have fleeting but passing feelings of guilt, but they are overcome with feelings that I earned these treasures!  I searched and found them.  What can I say?  I love recycling and giving castoffs a good home.  Our attitude has become if it costs too much, wait and we can find it for cheaper or free on Craigslist or Freecycle.