Occasionally, as we are driving, we see a roadrunner dash across the road or in and out of the nearby scrub. We don't see them very often, but when we do, they are running pretty quickly.
Roadrunners are a pretty large bird and they are fast runners.(click on the red sentence to read more).They are the state bird of New Mexico and while living there, we would see them once in a while too. And of course I grew up watching the cute cartoon roadrunner, beep beep, always outrunning the crazy coyote. However, I really never appreciated their creepy prehistoric appearance until yesterday.
Meet one of the two roadrunners we had in the backyard yesterday morning. A surprise because this was the first time we have seen these anywhere near our house.
He was sitting on this vintage barbecue grill that is on our patio. I was inside typing yesterday's birthday blog when Rachel came running in looking for the camera. She and I were planning to go swimming and she had started to head out there when she saw that guy perched on the grill. Long pointy beak, gangly legs and beady eyes. He was pretty interested in the far side of the yard and soon hopped down and scurried along the side of the pool.
There were two of them. Both on a quick mission, running I assumed, to get out of the yard since she was out there snapping pictures. If you clicked on the highlighted sentence above, you will have read that they are not often birds of flight, but I will say they seem a bit flighty as they dash around at top speed.
So... zoom...within a quick minute they were both over in the far side of the yard. As they were running and darting, they were making a funny noise that we found interesting. If you
click here, and scroll down to the spot labeled 'vocalization', there is an audio bar that you can click on to hear the exact noise they were making. Interesting.
Then, as one was on the ground, the other hopped/flew up to the brick column of the fence. Next, they flew over to the oleander bushes that line the side yard. That is when a lot of chirping started.
The two roadrunners worked up a commotion in the bushes. We saw that there were a couple of cardinals in the bushes too. I commented, "I hope this isn't like the
ruckus of the hawks who were trying to steal the
baby owls in the palm tree." As the roadrunners made their way up and over the fence and out of our yard, we noticed some more red movement in the oleander bush. The two cardinals that we had in a rose bush last month were flitting around. I never reported that a couple of days after we discovered the
rose bush nest , we noticed that something had gotten to the nest and had "stolen" the two little eggs. Once again, saddening me and causing me to wonder how birds ever survive the harsh cycle of wildlife. I have seen the cardinals flying around once in a while, but not very often. As we watched closer, we could see a few little baby cardinals flitting around in the bushes too! Cute!! It looks like they had found a safer place to nest and hatch their eggs. Rachel was only able to catch this photo of the male, as the others were too quick. And soon, they all flew off.
So, after our wildlife photo session, Rachel went in to the pool as I went back to my desk to finish my birthday blogging. Our wildlife event was over... or so I thought.
As I was sitting at my desk, I heard some chirping and squawking behind me on the patio. I turned around and on the other side of the sliding glass door, turmoil was breaking loose. The two adult cardinals were about three feet above the ground, circling and diving, chirping and screaming... and below them, standing on the patio about to take off was the roadrunner. He leaped up and over the fence with the cardinals swooping and circling, making all kinds of distressing noise... because clasped in his long pointy beak was a little red cardinal baby!
Oh no!
In the amount of time it took me to turn my head and stand up it was over. Stolen. The big creepy roadrunner was actually hunting for a meal? Ughh.
Just awful!
post edit: both the Reptile Wrangler(and he should know) and Rachel said that the roadrunner reminded them of a velociraptor from the dinosaur days. Well, I just looked it up and the word velociraptor is greek for "speedy thief". Umm, okay, that makes sense.
Although a little rain would be nice...
Our oldest baby girl is nineteen today. A girl who knows how to light up a room and bring a smile to your face. The one, who growing up, if someone gave her something always thought of her brother and sister and asked if she could have one for them too. The one who's laugh was very contagious. The one who could melt your heart with her pretty eyes and long eyelashes. The one who knew just how to give hugs to make you feel good. The one who was sad when school would end for the summer because "she loves school" and didn't want it to end. The one who loved helping others. The one who is about to go off to college. That one.
I heard on the radio the other day that we have had the dust monsoon. This week we are suppose to have the rain monsoon. Oh boy.
He was sitting on this vintage barbecue grill that is on our patio. I was inside typing yesterday's birthday blog when Rachel came running in looking for the camera. She and I were planning to go swimming and she had started to head out there when she saw that guy perched on the grill. Long pointy beak, gangly legs and beady eyes. He was pretty interested in the far side of the yard and soon hopped down and scurried along the side of the pool.
There were two of them. Both on a quick mission, running I assumed, to get out of the yard since she was out there snapping pictures. If you clicked on the highlighted sentence above, you will have read that they are not often birds of flight, but I will say they seem a bit flighty as they dash around at top speed.
So... zoom...within a quick minute they were both over in the far side of the yard. As they were running and darting, they were making a funny noise that we found interesting. If you click here, and scroll down to the spot labeled 'vocalization', there is an audio bar that you can click on to hear the exact noise they were making. Interesting.
Then, as one was on the ground, the other hopped/flew up to the brick column of the fence. Next, they flew over to the oleander bushes that line the side yard. That is when a lot of chirping started.
The two roadrunners worked up a commotion in the bushes. We saw that there were a couple of cardinals in the bushes too. I commented, "I hope this isn't like the ruckus of the hawks who were trying to steal the baby owls in the palm tree." As the roadrunners made their way up and over the fence and out of our yard, we noticed some more red movement in the oleander bush. The two cardinals that we had in a rose bush last month were flitting around. I never reported that a couple of days after we discovered the rose bush nest , we noticed that something had gotten to the nest and had "stolen" the two little eggs. Once again, saddening me and causing me to wonder how birds ever survive the harsh cycle of wildlife. I have seen the cardinals flying around once in a while, but not very often. As we watched closer, we could see a few little baby cardinals flitting around in the bushes too! Cute!! It looks like they had found a safer place to nest and hatch their eggs. Rachel was only able to catch this photo of the male, as the others were too quick. And soon, they all flew off.
So, after our wildlife photo session, Rachel went in to the pool as I went back to my desk to finish my birthday blogging. Our wildlife event was over... or so I thought.
And I couldn't have been more proud. Our little boombotz. The little guy that started our journey of parenthood. The one who looked like a cute little old man, with the serious wrinkle of his forehead. The one who amazed us with his alphabet skills at an early age. The one who could spend hours drawing hot air " ba-lloons" when he was three. The one who showed he could be a big brother twice. The one who reminded us of Howard Cosell with his play-by-play sports announcing. The one who worried the heck out of us when he was eleven, but proved that he was born to take on challenges. The one who always managed to catch the first fish (and the bigger one too) every time he went fishing with his Dad. The one who aced high school and just recently got his college degree. 
Cute hair for goodness sake.
And the last shot I took before the sun went down. We went in and ate dinner, lamenting as to how everything would look in the morning and how we would be faced with another week of pool cleaning.
Haboob just beginning to surround our house. No mountain.
I got up early yesterday morning to make some cookies. Leah was going to the lake with some friends and needed a contribution for their lunch. These are easy, yummy, soft and chewy, and never last very long. I got this recipe from a Mom of one of the boys Austin played tennis with in high school. She would bring them to the tennis matches and the boys would swarm like flies. In fact, so did the coaches. 
... you will always find warm love.
Hold on to it forever you two.
Even the birds are choking on the heat. 
The graduates. Without them...we would not have had a party. 
One of my photo tributes measuring how quickly they grow. Inch by inch. Year by year. sniff.
The dessert table. Because that is what it is all about. And yes...we pretty much ate them all. "sah-weet!"
Cupcakes!
Our night-before-the-party bull riding extravaganza!
Pool race extravaganza!
Our Arizona event would not be complete without this early morning visitor. Evidently, the heat was getting to this guy because he had wrapped himself around this plant pot and was drinking water out of this dish. Sssspecial.
Our post-party-day fun at the lake with cousins. Way fun!
The Minute-To-Win-It game night. It ended with this girl getting tossed into the pool with one of her uncles!
And then, our Tie-Dye t-shirt event.
Hooray!
It left a big mess in its path. Today, two days later we are still cleaning up. I think the pool will take a few more days to filter it all out. We had to put extra treatments in to ward off bacteria that they say will grow pretty quickly in your pool. Also, I learned that this phenomenon can cause Valley Fever. Now, that is just awful. 
Here it is after the haboob.
This is another night shot during the "storm". I did not spend much time outside for obvious reasons.
Here is the pool yesterday morning.
This is what the sky looked like for most of the day. No sign of the mountains at all.
This is the coating of dust that is on everything! I commented..."you know if this was a snowstorm it would all just melt away."
This is another one of those... "I've lived here all my life and have never seen anything like this before!" We have heard comments like that already. (Put it on the list with the gila monster sightings.) We, at least, did not lose our power as did some in Phoenix. A whole night without air conditioning after that would have been miserable. The floors inside the house had an extra layer of dust yesterday, so they got a thorough cleaning. It looks like I will need to do it again today based on the foot prints I see across the floor. 
This is the view of the palm trees in the backyard at 10:00 tonight. The weather we experienced is what they call a monsoon here in Arizona. This was the tail end of it. We did have some rain, but what you are seeing is dust. Those are not rain drops that the flash is reflecting off... just dust. Actually...I will call it dirt. 
