I went up on the hill behind the RV drive today to hang up Verna’s bird feeders. While I was up there, this little white tailed antelope ground squirrel came out of the underbrush and seemed to be begging for a handout. I obliged the little guy and tossed a few seeds his way which he immediately consumed right on the spot. Click on the image to enlarge.
I received word this afternoon that the eldest of my three granddaughters will become a mother sometime this year. Well, when that happens, it will make me a great grandfather! Wow!
That makes me very thankful that I was able to get in touch with the girls after many years of not knowing where or how they were. I made the effort to find them through social services of California and I now am in contact with two out of the three. I still expect to hear from the youngest of them who will be turning eighteen years of age in March.
The news makes me feel old and young at the same time – weird. But, life goes on. With that in mind, I posted this image of “man, woman, birth, death, infinity” which was used at the beginning of the old “Ben Casey” TV series. The Ben Casey series was on television from the time I graduated high school until five years later, or so. I didn’t watch every episode, but many of them.
Here is a flashback to three years ago today just after we moved into the new Arizona House which includes a story by, and a video of, Cabela.
Hi – this is Cabela. I am at the new house with my hoomins and Bear. We don’t have a lot of furniture yet but I do have my squeaky toy and a lot of other toys. I just love to play with my toys and I especially like to play with the squeaky toy. I like to make it go squeak and I like to chew on it.
You can watch me squeaking my toy. The Daddy took this movie of me in the new house while I was playing.
For most of January, we have enjoyed warmer daytime temperatures, like in the high 60’s and low 70’s. It is still quite possible for winter to hit here again, but we’re enjoying “faux spring” in the meantime. Some of the cacti on the lot also seem to be responding to the warm trend.
I was up on the hill behind the RV drive hanging the bird feeders that Verna refilled this afternoon. I walked over to inspect some of the buckhorn cholla cacti because I saw some cactus wrens and a couple of curve billed thrashers hanging around them. I thought I might see evidence of a nest or two being built, but all I saw was some new buds starting to appear on the cholla. Verna reminded me later that the cholla on the hill always seem to get flowers sooner than the ones down on the front of the lot. Click on the image to enlarge.
As I was taking out the trash bin this afternoon, I noticed some very bright solar rainbows in the western sky. I snapped a photo of the clouds with the sun behind the saguaro cactus out front. On the left side of the sun was a second sundog, so I photographed that one framed by the neighbor’s mesquite tree. Click on the image to enlarge.
We had this wonderful Tex Mex entrée for dinner today served with refried beans and rice. The last time we had this was last Cinco de Mayo, and it was wonderful, so we had it again today. I found the recipe on Ready Set Eat which is an on-line recipe source. Click on the image to enlarge.
Here are a couple of snippets from the recipe:
Ingredients:
- PAM® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
- 12 corn tortillas, torn into bite-size pieces
- 3 cups shredded cooked chicken (3 cups = about 12 oz)
- 1 can (10 oz each) Ro*Tel® Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained
- 1 can (10 oz each) red enchilada sauce
- 1 can (8 oz each) Hunt’s® Tomato Sauce
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar and Monterey Jack blend cheese, divided
Directions:
- Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add tortilla pieces and chicken; mix well. Cook over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until hot, stirring frequently.
- Pour undrained tomatoes and enchilada and tomato sauces over chicken mixture in skillet. Mix well. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over chicken mixture. Cover skillet; cook 5 minutes or until hot, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Serve immediately.
