January 2016...up in the canyon

Wolf, dog, or coyote?

My boot is 4" wide... and 3.5" long from seam to toe.

Chicken for dinner...

What???

The girls are safe.

They actually threw a party in the hen house.

because...we ate the roosters. 

My son and his friend learned that it takes a long time to get dinner when you have to catch it, kill it, pluck it, and cook it. 

I don't think they'll ever complain about a 10 min wait at KFC again.  

Monsoon Magic

The monsoon rains bring the desert to life...

...and my desert is alive with wildflowers!  The beautiful life that the rains bring from what appears to be parched, lifeless earth and rocks never ceases to amaze me!


Isn't she lovely?

Desert Bird Of Paradise

Here's a few more:

The girls even like to frolic in them...

My roses love the rain...

The bumblebees and hummers love this Desert Willow... it blooms all summer

...like fireworks coming up from the ground

These happy little desert marigolds are everywhere...

And I'll leave you with a color-enhanced beauty:

Very 70's, huh?  

Have a beautiful day....

Bee's hideout...or grave?

Storm: Part II

The water rose. The winds gusted up to 100 mph.  It was like a hurricane with sideways rain and hail that  lasted 3 hours... I've never seen hail last for so long.

Water rose up to the door, blew through the threshold, through the windows, through the skylights and vents ..and on to my brand new carpet.

Our short dirt road off the main road was flowing toward the river.

This is our road much later...after the storm cleared.  It was still flowing the next day.

Just down the road, the earth gave way to make a waterfall... 

This is a half mile BEFORE the river. 

Locals say our annual rainfall here is about 11"..  We got 6" in 3 hours. 

The way the storms collided and came through the riparian, made it severe in just a small area.  My friends 3 miles down the road only got 3-4" of rain and pea-sized hail for a short time.  

Weird. 

 For a couple of days, no one knew what we were talking about... 6"???  Large hail ??  Then the stories started come in about bridges washed out and folks driving through ranches to get home, carports blown over onto vehicles., animals drowning... dead birds everywhere.  

In town it was bad too. Trees blew down...even one on fort. The winds were bad, and the rains seemed heaviest toward the mountains.

That was the kick-off to monsoons. 

Oh boy.

The good news is:

I get a new air conditioner and roof. and the paint for the house is paid for. 

We saved our chickens. 

And I don't have something happen to me without something funny or strange... it's how I roll. lol:

My extra washing machine was outside because we didn't get it to the shed yet and the other one broke, so I was using it until we got a part for the other one. (there wasn't room in the mud room for two) The insurance man saw the hail damage on it.  We said not to worry about it...it was a spare that came with the house.  

He asked if I was doing laundry outside. (I think he thought I was a real-live redneck woman)  

"Uh, yeah... I've been washing outside."

. He looked at me funny and gave us money for a new one.  LOL

I'm thankful it wasn't worse... it definitely could have been.  

But my poor car...

Clouds

Spider eats Scorpion

Chicken Saddles

Nope.  I'm not kidding.

There is such a thing as a chicken saddle.  I laughed myself sick yesterday evening when I found out.  

Then this:

She has an old t-shirt on.  With little wing-holes. To protect her from ROOSTERS.  

You see, apparently she is the hot chick in the flock.  So hot, her wings have had the feathers worn off them. Then the other hens (mostly the red-heads) pick at her feather-less spots and make them worse. But the roosters still think she's hot... so, 'round and 'round they go.

So now I have to use the pattern found on the internet to make a real chicken protector/saddle thingy before she's bald because apparently there are lots of hot chicks that have rooster and jealous hen problems. 

Seems like calling it a saddle is just wrong though.   

OK. Stop laughing now.  I dare you....

bird in question..

Lacewing Chicken

Lacey

Meet Hawk Eye, Lacey, and ...well, if he's another suspected rooster we'll just call him ...Sunday Dinner for now.
They were hatched in March...so still not sure who's a he and who's a she.

HawkEye was being shy... he's my favorite rooster.  I know he's a he because I've seen him get all puffed up and belly slam another rooster.  Yep.  

..and he tried to crow.  

It was funny:  errr a eeeerrrr  ..eeeeeeerk

(His voice is cracking like a teen.. made us laugh. )

(I get in trouble for naming them... because then it's hard to butcher..or they live up to their names...
The last one that got eaten was named DragonOff.  We didn't eat her.. a coyote or fox dug under the fence and drug her off.  I felt bad she lived up to her name. We still have DragonOn.  She won't leave the nest. She sits on everyone's eggs. See what I mean? I should name one "Golden Girl"... maybe she'll lay golden eggs???  haha...yeah right.

DragonOff & Roscoe

We didn't let ole Rosco out quick enough that night to save her... cuz he would have.
Nobody messes with Roscoe's girls.  not nobody.  

feathers

Creepy creeeeeeeeeeeeepy thing.

I went out to the garage this morning...

I had no idea they got this big.

He's now an official science lab specimen at the local school.

Musashi Handmade Zetsurin Samurai Katana Sword

After school activities at my house....

(yeah, I know...)

But he was so excited about his man weapon that I HAD to do a post for him.

rightnowthissecond...

See the floating apple???

It just got quartered.

...and see the blurrrrr of a sword?

"It slices, it dices..." and it's all Burke's fault this time.

How's his form?  Too 'baseball' for a ninja?

hehehee...

Fruit salad, anyone?
Iron Man is on it...

Looking Up

above

below

I sat on a rock under a tree in the park today.  It had this plaque on it. 

I ate my apple and thought of all the vets that have touched my life.

Some of the bites of my apple were sweet...

others bitter.

Some heartbreaking...some heroic.

But at the core;

veterans, all.

Today I saw the view from where many now lay...

and felt a peace, and a heartache, I can't explain.

Poppies

 Poppies denote sleep, rest and repose.

I took this picture at a flower garden in Texas.

It's always been one of my favorites.

What the poppy traditionally represents, is what I intend to do for awhile:

rest.

rest and repose.

Thank you for your comments, encouragement and visits.

I always appreciate each and every one....

Single Pod

Sleep eludes, dreams abound.

Trust beckons, but can't be found.
~Wrexie

Mon Pix

just a bug

Rufus 

tail feathers

yellow butterfly

Coffee buddies

The hummers had coffee with me this morning. The pix aren't very clear because they were taken through my window. I'll try to get better shots later...

I hung a feeder outside the window of  the room I use for an office, so when I sit here at the computer, I can watch them.... they're only a foot away.  It's pretty cool.

They go through one of these feeders a day.  The different species are starting to show up now.  It's kind of cool to live in a bird migration path.  Fun to see what's on your property each day.  I've never seen so much color and variety.  ...and lots of 'sword' fighting over the territory.  hahaha.



a Rufus hummingbird checking out my coffee cup movement

+Pink+

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”  -Lao Tzu

Courage

“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world

and moral courage so rare.”

~Mark Twain