Arizona

Javelina in the Wash

javelina.jpgVerna and I were about to take the dogs out for a short walk at just about sundown this evening. When Verna opened up the patio door, the dogs began barking excitedly. Up on the bluff behind the RV drive, she saw some javelina walking toward the wash on the west side of the property. She restrained the dogs since javelina are known to attack, especially if they have young nearby.

I ran and got my camera and went out into the courtyard where I had a view of several of them in the wash. I snapped this photo of one of the bigger ones staring back at me. The yellow dish on the ground is where Verna puts water out for the little critters and birds. I was about ten yards away from this guy when I took the photo. Click to enlarge.

High Desert Wildlife Drama

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A few days ago we saw our first snake of the season. Our buddy, Crotalus, advised that it was a Sonoran gopher snake and that it preys on rodents and is non venomous. Today, the same snake appeared out back. As it climbed up the embankment by our driveway, a curve-billed thrasher and its mate showed up to encourage the snake to go elsewhere. The bird in the photo pecked at the snake’s tail several times before the snake hurried off into some underbrush on the neighbor’s property. Click on the image to enlarge.

Beavertail Prickly Pear Flowers

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None of our beavertail cacti are ready to show flowers just yet, but this more mature cactus belonging to a distant neighbor has pink flowers in abundance with more on the way. I can hardly wait for our beavertails to start early flowering.

P.S. My hedgehog cacti will be showing pink flowers very soon.

BBQ Season Back

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Now that the weather is turned to (mostly) spring weather, the grill comes out of storage to active use. Today, we enjoyed pork baby back ribs with Verna’s killer potato salad and bake beans. Yummers! 🙂

Tomorrow, we’ll be grilling rib eye beef and salmon steaks for surf ‘n’ turf Sunday. Click on the image to enlarge.

First Cardinal Sighting of 2012

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After the rain subsided this afternoon, I spotted this male cardinal sitting on a power pole across the road. This is the first sighting of a cardinal for us this (almost) spring. he was whistling his mating call so I believe he’s in the market for a mate. Click on the image to enlarge.