Verna and Bob's Weblog

Bob

Lizard Hunter

Lizard Hunter

I already blogged about Cabela’s lizard obsession the other day. Well, today, she was out in the courtyard again and spent considerable time burying herself up to her haunches in the Cleveland sage looking for the little critter.

Once the lizard got flushed from one of the sage bushes, it would then hide under another until Cabela would again dig under the bush and chase the lizard out. This went on for quite a while.

I thought I was capturing the action on video, but I later found out I was using the HD video function incorrectly and merely got some stills of the action. Maybe tomorrow, when Cabela is in a hunting mood, I can re-stage the scenario and get it on video. Click on the image to enlarge.

May 2, 2015 by Arizona Critters Family Photography

Why Won’t the Dogs Look at the Camera?

Bay Bay   Cabela and Verna
Lizard

I tried to get the dogs to look towards the camera yesterday when Verna had them both out in the courtyard. The were both too distracted by something that kept their attention away from the camera. After I took the photos, I pointed the camera toward the ground only to see the source of their distraction: a six-inch long brown lizard.

Click on any image to enlarge.

April 30, 2015 by Arizona Critters Family Photography

Throwback to June 2011

Throwback to June 2011

In the interest of providing a benchmark to what the house looked like a bit under four years ago, I’m posting this picture taken back then. Since this photo was taken, the house and grounds have taken a bit of abuse from the elements as well as some measures we have taken to correct the problems.

This image was taken from the neighbor’s driveway up the hill across the road looking north. The image features some things worth noting:

  • The old “Big Guy” saguaro cactus sits at the top of the driveway – it gets replaced after root rot took it down
  • The rosemary shrubs behind the house (on the hillside behind the garage on the right) are little more than the 1 gallon size of the shrubs originally planted
  • The creosotes along the road in front of the house have been well-trimmed but will get out-of-hand as the years go by and eventually be removed altogether
  • The yellow paloverde next to the driveway (below and to the right of the big saguaro) will flourish as we supervise the growth

When the time comes, I will post a similar image (after the work currently in progress) taken from the same vantage point as this photo and describe the differences that are in the works and will be shown later. Stay tuned!

April 26, 2015 by Arizona Home & Garden Photography

The Dogs in the Courtyard

The Dogs in the Courtyard

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been experimenting with letting our two small Min-Pins run around in the courtyard without leashes. That worked pretty well and both dogs were fairly well-behaved and responded to commands to keep out of the back part of the courtyard and to go back into the house when called.

Occasionally, Cabela, the little blue female, would push our patience by trying to sneak back into the forbidden zone, but would usually come back if we commanded in a loud voice. Beethoven, our red boy dog, on the other hand, stuck to the implied rules and stayed where he should – until last evening, that is.

We had both dogs out in the courtyard when one of the big dogs that lives up on the hill across the road started barking. At that point, seemingly without effort, Bay Bay jumped up on the front wall to see what was happening. The wall is a little over three feet high at the point where he jumped up.

Ir scared the crap out of me, since he has been known to run off when loose. Luckily, the little dog trusted me enough to let me walk over to the wall and coax him to let me pick him up and bring him back into the house. It could have been way worse had he jumped out of the courtyard and took off toward the barking dog.

April 23, 2015 by Arizona Critters Family

A New Flagpole

Eagle atop the StaffAs part of the construction and upgrades around the house, we asked for a flagpole. The flagpole was one of several items we had on our ‘wish list.’

Yesterday, the concrete crew poured a three-foot pad around a sleeve as a base for the staff. Today, the flagpole crew brought the new staff, complete with an eagle at the top.

I brought out the two flags we planned to fly and the guys installed the metallic hooks on the pulley rope. They had just recently painted the pole silver and since the paint was still drying, we had to postpone flying the flags for a couple of days.

So, on Friday or thereabouts, we will hoist Old Glory and the Arizona State Banner. Verna also wants to get some other flags to fly, like the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals team flags which she will hoist for special events as they arise.

April 22, 2015 by Arizona Home & Garden Something Shiny

Travel Trailer in 3D

Travel Trailer in 3D

While we have the RV drive under construction, we parked the trailer across the road on our other lot. I was in the courtyard when I took a pair of images which I merged into this anaglyph image.

Tomorrow, the concrete crew will finish the last section of the RV driveway. About a week after that, we can pull the trailer into it’s place on the drive next to the hookups.

You will need your free pair of 3D glasses to view the image (click image to enlarge). As usual, I have posted a 2D version here.

April 20, 2015 by Bob's 3D Stuff Retirement

Avalon 1998

Categories

Archives