the thirty first of july

To the Reptile Wrangler,

No matter what new nick-name I give you, I still am happy to call you husband.

Thanks for 28 years of sunsets together.

Lovingly,

your wife

sweet

We heard a little rumor and had to check it out for ourselves. Yep...it's true, the Kroger affiliate here in Arizona had a little bit of Colorado sweetness. Read the fine print at the bottom of the sign.

Olathe Sweet Corn. The best little kernels ever. It was a tasty addition (actually more like star attraction) to our dinner the other night. It reminded us of so many things. Crisp cool air. Irrigation water. Snowcapped mountains. Sunny summers. All the things that help to make this corn so delicious.
It wasn't quite as delicious as it is when you buy it off the farm truck, covered in ice, picked fresh that same morning. But it was good. And it made us say..."ya, we know where Olathe Colorado is."

no bugs

At some point during the time that we were looking at houses and contemplating our move to Arizona, I swear someone told me there weren't any bugs here in the summer. Upon reflection, I think that it was a statement like "there aren't any mosquito's here because it is too hot." But, I think I heard..."there aren't any bugs here because it is too hot." So, you can imagine, beyond the whole wildlife extravaganza that we seem to be honorary private members to, how happy I am to report that," yes, indeed there are bugs here"! And they are of enormous proportions. They seem to be on a cycle. Here for a couple of weeks and then gone. Something new here for a couple of weeks, then gone. We have seen some things that we have never seen before.

Like this gem.

It is the Palo Verde Beetle. One of the largest beetles in N. America and can grow to 6-8 inches in length. (which means that this guy, who was about 3-4 inches in length, was a bit stunted in growth. poor thing.) They have long antennae (check) and spines on the neck (check). They are dark brown or black in color. (check) They feed on roots of the Palo Verde Tree (yep we have those). Adults come out in the summer, in early evening, usually in July.(check)

A couple of weeks ago, when the Reptile Wrangler/Cat chaser/Bug Exterminator/Dad, was away for the week... we girls were left here to fend for ourselves. The Bobcats returned and stayed in the yard for the entire week. We saw another King Snake and had a little scare with the wind and a door opening and closing sporadically. Are you following our anxiety level here? We had gone to the Nana's for dinner and came home after dark. Before leaving we had put the pool shark in to sweep the pool. So...we had to go outside and get it. After dark. We went out as a force of three, armed with flashlights and pool noodles. After dark. Leah and I were shining our flashlights around the yard to keep the Bobcats away. Brave Rachel went over to the pool to get the sweeper out. From behind, Leah and I heard a scraping/scratching sound and turned around. Just INCHES from our backs was that giant BEETLE guy in the picture above. Oh yes, we screamed. A little. After we got over our initial bug induced heart palpitations, we decided we needed to get the camera. We quickly emptied the "pot" that we have our sunscreen collection in and tipped it upside down over the bug to keep him contained. And then we decided, why not shoot a little video? So we did. And then Rachel decided to have a little fun editing her video.

So she did.

(be sure to turn the volume down so you don't get blasted. however, you do want to listen as well as watch.)

Having a little fun takes the bugginess out of the whole situation...don't you think?

post edit. For those of you old enough to have watched the Ed Sullivan show...I should have named this post...

"a really big shoe".

success at last

Baby Quail!

Lets all breath a sigh of relief and let me here a collective "hooray" for the Mama Quail. She finally successfully hid her little nest of eggs from all the wild predators and their cameras. I had not seen much of the two parents for awhile and then one day...these guys appeared.

It was the day I was taking more pictures of the bobcats which are soon to be featured here. As I was zooming in on the cat babies, I noticed them all sit up and perk their ears. When I looked over to the other end of the yard I saw a little gathering of birds. I didn't know what they were until I ran to another window. Here were all these little funny things getting a drink from a puddle of water by the pool. They didn't stick around long and I only managed a few pictures through the window. They are fast little buggers and although I have seen them a time or two since, I haven't been quick enough to get another picture. They also grow really quickly, as they are much bigger now.

They are cute little things following their parents around.

They must not be a popular feasting item for the cats. They are probably too quick for them. The doves on the other hand...

They took off just as quickly as they appeared. I can thank the perky ears of the baby bobcats for directing my attention their way. I'm happy she finally got her little flock past the egg stage.

That was an effort... I am sure.

eighteen

A little baby girl came into our world eighteen years ago today. A little girl with soft brown curls on her head, beautiful eyes, a big smile and a very compassionate heart. A little girl who, when given something, would always ask for an extra to take home to her brother. A little girl who loved her little sister so much that one day she exclaimed..."Leah, you are my bestest best friend." A little girl who wanted to help her Daddy so much that one day when she was brushing his hair she said, "there, I fixed all the holes." A little girl who once told her uncle..."when I see you I will get stars in my eyes and that will mean I love you." A little girl who always has a hug for her Mom and Dad. And a little girl who once said she wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up.

That is our girl.

The one with the beautiful eyes, the big smile and the very compassionate heart.

Happy Birthday sweet girl. We love you.

Reach for the stars.

watching the clouds go by

In Arizona, they call this time of year the monsoon season. The clouds billow up and look threatening but not much has happened. Until last night. We got a nice bit of wind and then a great rain shower. It cooled the temperature off about ten degrees. This morning is still overcast which makes it another good day for me to lay around and watch the clouds outside the window.

My surgery on monday went well. A partial thyroidectomy is the technical term. The nodule was just under two inches and was benign. I've had a sore throat and a rather sore neck, but I'm healing more each day. By the time the clouds part and the sun shines again, I should be ready to do back flips off the diving board. Okay, maybe not. But I will be able to float around on the raft!

Thanks for all the well wishes.

it's time for an austin sandwich

That's what we say when we come in for a double kiss. It means you are really loved and we want to squish you right up between us. The phrase actually goes like this...

"uh oh, it's time... time for an Austin sandwich". The "uh oh" gives the person time to prepare and squish their face up. Kind of like he did in this picture.

Today is the college boy's Birthday. His twenty second. Our first to not be with him... to fix him breakfast in bed. Steak on the grill. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Watch him open his presents and maybe even take a ride in the car.

We love this guy and still like to call him Boombatz and give him hugs. So, to you Austin...Happy Birthday...we LOVE you. We will fix you breakfast in bed when you are here for your vacation. I'll make you a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and we will for sure make you a sandwich! Hold the mayonaise, please.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

a cardinal

After the saguaro blooms the yellow or white flowers, it sprouts this red fruit. The birds love to feast on it and it gave me the perfect opportunity to capture this little guy.

I might be away from my computer for a bit... but I'll be back!

late for the party

I've pretty much covered the highlights of the weekend of fun. The days that my sister and son were here went all too quickly and it has taken me a long time to get the highlights posted. I had plenty of interruptions for more wildlife moments, which I will be covering soon. It was hard to stay focused on the weekend highlights and not just skip to the critter action.

So, it is now the middle of July and I think I am starting to show my age. Two weeks on this new road ...

My birthday kicked off the July 4th weekend and it was a great party with extra family around to make it special. We had a great time and I can't believe that I am just now sharing a couple of birthday photos. A little late but that's okay. We had a nice dinner on the 4th, celebrating Independence Day and my birthday, which was a couple of days earlier. My in-laws were there as well as the family and Aunt Helen! My sweet daughters made me a cake. They cleaned out the birthday candle box to get just the right amount of wax and flame!

I blew them all out in one breath. Almost. The cake was delicious and I think they did a great job decorating it with all those candles!

I wonder if this was their inspiration?

I love cake and having people sing to me!

skills

The 5 days that my sister was here and the 2 1/2 days that the college boy got to be here were a lot of fun. Helen and I got out and toured around giving her an overlook of the area we now call home. That day it was pretty hot... after walking around a bit and getting back into the car, the temperature reading said 117 degrees! That was probably from the car sitting on the pavement, but our hot bodies (why yes, we are) told us we were done for the day and ready to get back home and jump into the pool.

So we did.

A lot.

In fact, we jumped in over and over again. And then it became like an olympic event. Jumping, diving, soaring and flopping. The two of us, the hot ones, showed the youngsters that we still had some skills. Helen impressed us by still being able to nail a back dive. Wow! As she was standing on the edge of the board, backwards...I kept saying..."just don't hurt your back!" It was olympic quality and she didn't hurt her back. I did a few dives myself. Most of which were probably not worthy of the olympics. But the kids? They showed us a thing or two themselves.

Leah proved that she is the master at flying and levitating over water. She can soar, pose and smile for the camera... making it look very easy.

And then there were some orca moments.

And rachel... acting like a tree and leafing. Leaping.

And again, Leah rockin' the whole flying thing.

Austin... flippin' crazy!

Leah and Rachel finding their inner cheerleader.

Give me a "B"?

Give me a "W" ?

... an "A"? ok... he really wasn't trying to find his inner cheerleader.

We spent a great deal of time in the pool over the weekend. It was not only the place to keep cool, but, it was pretty darn fun too. We had some raft races...go Aunt Helen! And the classic, who can stand on their hands the longest. Or just...who can still stand on their hands. Oh, and who can get the best sunburn the very first morning because you are a pale college boy from the colorado mountains where your skin is as white as the snow?

If we were having any serious competition though, the gold medal would really have to go to Leah. She really was ...

.....supergirl!

desert botanical gardens part two

Here is the second part of the tour. It really is amazing how many different varieties of cactus there are. Who knew? I think the next time I go, I will do one of the guided tours so that I can learn more interesting facts. Cooler weather will definitely be a requirement.

This one had a pretty blossom. Imagine being there when more of them are blooming.

These are actually called Mexican Fence Cactus.

This lizard was posed just right on the rock for his photo.

Would you believe it is called Old Man Cactus?

Taking a little time to have some fun!

The Octopus Cactus. I think there were some creative thinkers that named these cacti.

Sisters. The only thing creative here is my leg.

And then there were some succulents. They really are pretty.

Lastly, one that really screams... don't touch!

That ends the Desert Botanical Garden tour. I have a big week of happenings to cover. I still have highlights from last weekend and this weekend was...

shall I say... wild!

desert botanical gardens part one

One of the highlights from last weekend was a visit to the Desert Botanical Gardens. My sister and the two daughters got up really early in order to get to the Gardens when they opened. Opening hours? 7 a.m!

My sister had a great idea, actually, to get there when they opened, before it got too hot and also before we picked up the college boy at the airport.(9 a.m. arrival) The gardens are very close to the airport, so it made sense. And getting there before the temperature hit the triple digits was a good idea. So, we arrived at 7:15 a.m. By the time 9:oo rolled around we knew we would not have wanted to stay much later than that. It was already getting pretty warm/hot.

This sign caught our eye and gave us a little chuckle. It reads:

What is a Cactus?

A cactus is a plant that is a member of the cactus family.

Now that we have that question answered... here is a little sample of some of the cactus (and other things) that we saw during our early morning tour. It was pretty amazing really and I'm sure that earlier in the spring when they are in bloom, it would be pretty spectacular.

This one was pretty interesting as it grew in a spiral.

This one had one of it's arms cut off showing the inside. When a cactus dies, the skeleton is actually like the wood of a tree.

These were so tall and soared up to the sky.

This walkway was lined with these giants. Really grand! Cute sisters too.

We saw a few special creatures. Birds, bunnies, lizards and some pretty butterflies that cooperated for Rachel to get some beautiful pictures.

These little buds were rather cute.

A women tending to the gardens told us about a special area to walk around to see a flower that was still blooming on a cactus. This variety only blooms at night, but because it was still early we were lucky enough to see it blooming. She was so excited to tell us about it. We found out that the garden's have night visits that are flashlight guided, so you can see the flowers that bloom only at night. Look closely and you will see that the blossoms are on a vine like cactus. It grew along the ground and up and around the trees.

Here is one of the flowers close up. Really pretty. I wonder if they are very fragrant.

A nice photo of Rachel. Other than the picture's that she is in, she is responsible for taking all the photos. She loves my camera and I love the picture's that she captures with it.

See what I mean? Look at this butterfly. She captured it perfectly.

We have many great photos from our tour. I decided to split them up into different posts so that this isn't so long. And, because I accidentally deleted some that were at the end here. I can't figure out how to get them back. So...

to be continued.

one hundred

This is my 1ooth post here on the Fourth Corner. Really. Lets hear a collective..."woo hoo!"

I thought this photo of the college boy would be a perfect image to add to my 100th posting. This was his 100th day in first grade. Gosh, a lot has happened since then. The girl's weren't even in school yet. I was a busy Mom keeping up with three young children. Happily busy.

When I started this blog I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it. I posted my first entry sitting on the floor in an empty room of our Colorado house. It was loading day. The contents of our house were being tightly packed on to a very large moving truck. I was a nervous wreck. Unsure of what was ahead of us. Unknown territory as they say. So here we are six months later. Half a year. More than one hundred days into this new life. And I'm still not sure what direction this blog is taking. Mostly, things are unplanned. You know, unplanned visits by some pretty crazy animals.

I'm never quite sure what will be next. I thought perhaps I would be showing some remodeling projects. We haven't really done any of those yet. Or maybe some painting progress. The kind with oils and canvas, but alas, he's been busy wrangling reptiles and hasn't gotten his brush wet yet. I had some ideas for myself and still might try to execute those ideas. But right now, life is just happening.

Good happenings.

Mostly.

Thanks for reading.

back again

After my sister Helen and my favorite boy left yesterday, I promised that I would be sharing some of the highlights of their visits. And of course, there was a birthday and the 4th that I needed to mention too. That was the plan. Sharing highlights. I didn't think that I would be sharing this again.

Look who was back.

And this time she brought dinner.

Ya...I said the same thing. Actually, I was sitting by the pool while the Reptile Wrangler was swimming some laps. I saw her out of the corner of my eye in the far end of the yard. You know those reptile expletives that I said my husband learned? Well, I think I had one of my own as I hopped up and ran into the house. Yes, I left him in the pool. You know, cats don't really like water and all that nonsense. So, I snapped a few photos. And I watched as three of the little ones nibbled (I use that word lightly) on the only cute little animal I have seen in this yard. I couldn't really watch continuously, because I was a little distressed by the whole situation. But, like all things that capture our attention...I kept going back to the window. The bad thing? They were not bothered that the pool was inhabited and he was making a fair amount of noise. They did keep an eye on him, so I guess for them it was like... dinner and a show.

After each one took their turn and got their fill, they went over to Momma to get a little cleaning. Then they headed over to the trees to play. After each baby had their portion, Momma finished off what was left. We were a little apprehensive about trying to interrupt or chase them away because they seem very comfortable in our yard.

A little too comfortable really. Reptile Wrangler had already come into the house when we noticed that she perhaps didn't get my memo about the fact that cats don't like water. I know she is only getting a drink, but if I were in the pool? Not okay. The little one's came over and got their drink too, their picture's were blurry, as the sun was going down and the lighting was not great.

At this point, we opened the door and made a bunch of noise. Clapping out hands, screeching and barking like dogs. They ran off and a couple of the little one's went up a tree. Chuck got serious about chasing them off and they disappeared. We are not sure where they came in at, I don't think the babies can actually jump the fence. But, if that is how they got in, I'd say it is time for a little yard remodel.

I kinda like the look myself.