Happy Birthday Tag

Tag was born 13 years ago today.

Shots from this evening

Black Mesa

Nevada in the distance

Tux was off exploring on her own so no picture of her to add, but here are Hoop and Tag looking sharp, appreciating the cooler weather.

Vestiges of the Past

Hot already at 9 am

Beautiful Sunset Tonight

The Devil Dogs all ready for Halloween

No Place for Wimps

So after a loggerhead shrike banged into the window a few times during breakfast and a screech owl startled me on my morning walk, this fella was waiting at the door to the studio. He got a little shy with the camera and took off. He's a big one.

Rattlesnake

First we've seen since our return. Western diamondback. Bob almost stepped on it in the wash.

House Showing #1

There is a first time for everything. Sometimes it goes so bad you want it to also be the last. So it was for this first showing of the house.

It was a man from Oatman. Said his wife wouldn't move from Hawaii unless he had a decent house. She wanted nothing to do with a trailer up in Oatman. Yes, he was a serious buyer, he said. So he made an appointment to bring the wife.

We cleaned and fixed and got the place ship shape in the next few days. Clean doesn't last long with the dogs, dust and general living but I sure do enjoy it while it does. If only someone else would do the work. Anyway...

The couple arrived without notice forty minutes early. I scrambled to get the dogs into the Rhino and out of the way on a walk leaving Bob to handle the showing on his own. Maybe next time we should just shove the dogs into a closet and let them bark.

When I returned an hour later Bob was angry, confused and disappointed. He had looked forward to showing off everything we'd done in renovation but the couple nearly ran through the house hardly looking at a thing, expressing little interest, appearing like anything but real buyers. Fifteen minutes later they were gone, the man's parting words that he had to show his wife the house he bought for her in Oatman.

Huh? House in Oatman??

We still haven't figured what that was all about, but I bet we need to be prepared for more and worse before we find a real buyer.
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Sale and Stuff

We have put the desert house up for sale as a FSBO and have a showing Saturday. Not feeling particularly hopeful about this buyer, but I am not anxious to sell anyway.

Our listing on FSBO.com.

The desert big horn have been around for a few of our evening walks and we were treated to a rare sighting of a burrowing owl couple of days ago. We have never seen one out in that area so this was an exciting event.

Link to Arizona Game and Fish Department film about efforts to save burrowing owls:  http://www.azgfd.gov/video/BurrowingOwls.shtml

Surprisingly, there are still flowers blooming, including the ocotillo. Don't recall ever seeing them bloom like this in October!

The desert after a good rain

Boundary Cone in setting sun

Yellow barrel cactus top

Hoop and Tag

Hoop with paper bag flower

Old Trails abandoned buildings

Fishhook cactus fruits

Tag

Red spotted toad after the rain

Desert Concerns

Yes, we are back in the desert dealing with critters large and small. Above picture shows a big spider that is caught between the window glass and shade, thankfully on outside of window.  It is not quite as big as a tarantula, nor as beefy. Still, it is a very large spider and fast as the dickens. I have little tolerance for spiders and that little is reserved for tarantulas. I do not like these big, fast guys. Once caught here they don't seem to be able to get out. Maybe they eat well and grow too big. Since we can't easily get the shades off the windows, the dried out skeleton hangs around awhile as a little torment.

Dog update: Changing out Tux's meds was the worst idea ever. Without the anti-inflammatory she was barely able to walk by the time we got into the Yukon. I called the Homer vet, asked her to fax a prescription for the different eye meds to a vet in Idaho so we could resume the anti-inflammatory when we got to Jason's. But she is having a hard time of it this go round, in a lot of pain. Maybe time will bring improvement. Hooper's eye still shows some inflammation in the membrane. Tag, is doing well. They are all delighted to be riding the Rhino again despite their issues.

People update: We have been getting the house back in order. Cleaning, unpacking the truck and trailer, finding places for things in the house, shopping. The Black Widows made hay while we were away. There are more than I've ever seen with egg casings all over the garage and in the little storage shed on the back of the house. None inside the house, but there were many dead small spiders and the dreaded cone-nosed bugs that had to be vacuumed up before I could sleep the first night. The pool chemistry was totally off and required a lot of stuff to correct, but Bob got it under control before disaster struck without much difficulty. Most of my plants survived the summer. The trees were getting weekly waterings and really thrived. Leaves are green and some things are in flower. Actually, the desert is in flower from the monsoon rains and it is a pretty sight. But there have been high winds and it is so dry my hair stands on end, skin is reptilian, and lips are always dry. What a difference from the coastal climate we are used to.

Bob just spotted a hummingbird so out go the feeders!

A long trip

And we are finally back to the desert.

Everything's bigger in Canada

Paper wasps under the eave of the studio