quote monday

 

                                                                  Happy Monday
                                                                      ~norma~

a little color in the trees

It is officially fall! 

So the calendar says anyway. 

There aren't too many happenings here in this part of Arizona that shout FALL. This week however, the mornings have been in the 70's rather than the 90's, we've had a little rain the last two days, a few of my plants have been waking up from their long summer heat-induced sleep, and there are more cars on the roads with out of town license plates.(The snow birds are coming back!) In other words... summer is now on the back burner. Literally, the heat is now behind us. 

The trees here don't change color in the fall. But, as I was lamenting over the fact that we don't see the bright golds and reds of the leaves...I remembered we did have some red in our tree this summer.

This big, beautiful cardinal hung out in this tree for quite awhile. I was finally able to catch a few photos of him and his family. While lounging in the pool one afternoon, I watched him and the female and another male flit in and out of the tree. It is unusual to see a second male, usually it is just the female and her mate watching over the nest.

The cardinal couple had a nest early in the spring that resulted in some young ones. These birds have finally gotten smarter about where they build their home, which has helped them to be safe from predators that steal the eggs and sometimes even the baby birds. You have read about those tragic times when one day there are eggs or new born babies and the next day...stolen. But this time, I'm happy to report, as best I could see, this past spring and summer were a success for this hard working couple!  So, the second male that was watching over this summer nest was possibly a youngster from the spring nest. That's what we think anyway. And since we are experts, that's what we'll go with, for now.

As I have watched these birds on their nests in the past, they take turns building and they take turns feeding the babies. It's pretty much a 50/50 situation in their relationship. All couples should be like the cardinal. While one is at the nest, the other is usually out gathering more nesting material or finding food for the young. While one is working, building, nesting or laying, the other is a short distance away, chirping and chattering the whole time. I'd like to think they are just telling the other about their day or warning each other of potential danger, or chatting it up to keep attention on them, rather than on the one in the nest. I'd like to think is is such,  rather then whose turn it is to take out the trash.
Have you ever seen an abandoned cardinal's nest? No poop. They are clean and spotless. Not all birds do that...clean the poo from the babies out of the nest. Nope, the doves just let it accumulate all around them, inside and outside the nest. Messiest birds ever! Once, while in Colorado, we had a house finch make a nest in a wreath hanging by our front door. They picked the droppings from the bottom of the nest and stacked it up around the rim. Like bricks. They just made the walls of the nest taller and taller. A natural fortress. But the cardinal nest...clean and poop free!

Okay, back to this family. Here was the male by the nest. They had it hidden pretty well and it was actually up very high. I had my lens completely zoomed to get these shots. It only looks like I was up in their business, but actually I was far enough away that it didn't seem to bother them.

The female arrived and was off to the side of the tree while the male was in by the nest. She was keeping a good eye on things, looking around constantly and keeping up a chatter the whole time.

She would look around as other birds were flying up into the palm trees, always alert and watchful.        Look at the tuft of feathers on the top of her head. So fluffy!

The male was feeding the babies. I could hear the little chirps as he would get close and put his beak into the nest. I couldn't see the babies at all so I don't know how many were in there.

And over to the other side of the tree, this guy was hanging out. He was the second male which, as I said earlier, is rare to see two males and a female around a nest. Usually it is just the pair.

But, this guy was a bit smaller and his feathers were not as red. We assumed that it was a young one from the spring nest, but as I was looking back at some of my other posts about cardinals, I see another that looks like this one. Click here to read about last year's spring nest. And here to see the sad ending, but mostly look at that male cardinal. What we were thinking were young, underdeveloped feathers might actually be older, thinning feather's. And years of sun exposure might be resulting in age spots.

 This could in fact be an old guy. The grandpa watching over the young couple and their babies, giving them good sound advice about life and all the experiences he has lived through. Perhaps it was his experience about nest building and where a better tree would be that got them to this higher, less visible spot. Maybe it was his advice on working hard together and watching out for things that will do them harm that made this nest a success!

It is always a treat when the cardinals are around the yard. They are so pretty and the color of the male is so vibrant! I love that we have them around every spring and summer and certainly love when they have a successful nest.

I hope where you are you have a little color in your trees!

quote monday

Happy Monday!
~norma~

college graduate classroom birthday

 Well, May around here was all about the college graduate. Rachel made her way through ASU and the teacher's college and her student teaching with flying colors.  Maroon and gold with a splash of turquoise anyway! We were a proud family watching her walk across the stage and receive her diploma!

And when all the pomp and circumstance was over...the skies opened to a mass of very large balloons!

So many balloons with the graduates donning complimentary sunglasses to celebrate their "bright future"! The balloons kept dropping making it impossible for this mom and her camera to spot her smiling daughter.  I just wanted a glimpse. A small little recognizable face. Rachel are you in there?

                                                                     Yep...there's my girl!!!
                                                            She never fails to make us smile!

The next day we had a nice celebration party at our house. 

I wrote a fitting quote on a chalkboard by one of her favorite scientists to set the mood for a science teacher graduation party. It was a fun evening!

And then summer came and went. She made the move to Tucson, where she had accepted her first teaching job. Seventh and eighth grade science!

I spent a couple of days doing a little cleaning in her classroom and helping with some final touches to get her ready for the first day of school, which happens pretty early in August here in Arizona.

She has a lot of great posters, her mineral collection and some books about all things science to educate
                                                       and inspire the young minds.

 Of course, paying tribute to Colorado, she hung her Broncos flag where it could be clearly seen.

Here is her desk area with a chair suitable for the queen of science! Oh...and do you see the basketball hoop? It is actually a trash can that, during an act of spontaneous humor, I hung on a big bolt that was just begging for something to hang. Yes, it is still there and she has had some "motivational fun" with the students trying to perfect their shots!

  She is pointing out the back of her t-shirt which we brought back from Hawaii for her.
It is Albert Einstein surfing the ocean waves. HA! HA!  A perfect and very sciencey shirt for her!

    And just when things were exciting enough with this girl...for her birthday, at the end of July,
                                                    she received her very own fiance'!
                                                                        Meet Troy...

                                                         A wedding is in their future.


                                      What a year for this beautiful and fun-loving girl of ours.

                             

                                                      Science on Rachel...you rock!

quote monday

                                  Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love,
                                   the things you are, the things you never want to lose.
                                                                                                               -unknown



Hold your memories close...so you don't forget.
Happy Monday
~norma~

what lurks in the shadows of the dark

This is an actual photo taken by Austin last night. The original wasn't this zoomed in, but as it made the rounds between his cell phone and Rachel's...it became this. Which is a telling sign of just how creepy it is to be in our yard after dark!!!

Any guesses?

  Austin was in the studio last night and heard some clattering noises on the patio right outside the doors. Innocently thinking it was his dad, he stepped out the doors to see what the commotion was about. As soon as he stepped out...growling from the dark corner commenced. As he explains it... he did what was probably a Norma maneuver to get back inside, standing hair on his body and all. Clatter and growling continued from the corner. He pulled up the flashlight mode on his phone and beamed it towards the ominous growling.  Which is how he spotted that large mother up in the corner! Literally a mother, because he could see babies down on the patio. That explains her territorially snarl as it was apparent he was way too close to that momma's youngins'.

Ya...look how big she is!! So, Chuck and I (inside watching t.v.) received simultaneous texts from Austin..."Raccoon staring me down and growling..."

He was trapped! Chuck did what any Reptile Raccoon Wrangler would do and grabbed the large flashlight and his trusty Red Ryder BB gun! I texted Austin and said... "Dad is on his way!" 

 Oh the comedy of all these wild animal adventures!

Here was one of the youngins' hiding out. They were making quite the clatter back there knocking things down to get away from the light. Austin made it past the momma to where Chuck was standing (safety in numbers you know) and together they clapped, hollered, and stomped their feet to scare the raccoons off. They were scared all right...so they scattered!

 After a bit of scrambling and my failed attempt to record said scrambling (I thought it was on video but not at all) and some laughing, and more hollering of such stern things as "get out of here", because we all know all these animals know we mean business when we start yelling... "get out of her raht now!!", they started to move quickly.

In fact, the boys were so successful in their tactics... lickity-split just like that... they sure as shootin'
                                                          treed themselves a coon!



                                         Yep...a palm tree climbing raccoon!

This little one went the wrong way and scooted over to the palm trees by the pool. It had a great view! The momma and other little ones were still over near the studio...(in the darkness of the night) clamoring around and knocking things over,  the mother chattering up a litany of what were probably raccoon expletives aimed right at us. Shame on us for interrupting the foraging and havoc that these messy animals wreak! It was one thing we were happy to say good riddance to in our Colorado yard. We had so many raccoons and were really tired of them. So this little visit... was not a welcome sight. Especially because it startled the puddin' out of Austin when he was confronted with the growling mother staring him down.

Soon, the mother's chatter brought the little one down and it ran off to meet the others. Some more hollering and clapping of hands helped to insure they made it up and out of our yard. We heard a dog barking and hoped that between our comical escapades and the yapping dogs, it was enough to make those critters go far far away!

Far away where all bobcats, gila monsters, tarantulas, javelinas, large rodents, (except those that drowned), king snakes, bull snakes, rattlesnakes, anysnakes should go...to someone else's yard!!






Note: no raccoons were harmed during this wrangling.

quote monday

Today, on this Labor Day, choose a bit of time for yourself.

When you work hard, you deserve a little something special.

Happy Monday.

Happy Labor Day.

~norma~