Our Desert Yard

We've been taking advantage of mild weather to work around the house. Bob is painting exterior trim and woodwork while I have been working in the yard. The pool garden survived my absence but next year we're going to be gone much longer and the plants need to be watered once a week. I'm not sure yet how we're going to manage that.

The three Palo Verde stick trees we planted last year are starting to look like real trees. One of them was stunting in a bad location so I moved it down to the pool area and will have to keep my fingers crossed that it survives.

With such tiny leaves and a stick-like trunk it is kind of hard to pick out the replanted tree. It's actually easier to see the stake next to it. Anyway, the three new trees are blue Palo Verde. In the picture directly above, the tree in the upper background is a seven (?) year old yellow Palo Verde (variety Desert Museum). The Desert Museum's bark is green and it blooms more heavily and for a longer time than the blues eventually will. In the picture below are the two other blues in the back yard. They are the same age but quite a bit bigger than the one now in the pool.

This is where the moved tree spent it's first year (below). You can see there is little here but rock. I'm pulling aloe from other areas of the yard and planting it here. Aloe isn't my favorite plant but it is tough as nails and nothing eats it.

Here is a cactus variety I found growing at a little higher elevation. It's doing well here. Got to watch those nasty glochids but something occasionally will feed on these cactus.

Here is a shot of the pool garden from the deck. The shrubs grew a bit, the grass a lot, and I finally put the potted cactus into the ground at the corner of the pool since the last pictures.

Image Editor

My sole Black Friday purchase was an image editing app called Pixelmator. I've been waiting for the update for Yosemite before purchasing and was delighted to find the latest version half price online. Now I'm going through tutorials learning how to use it.

Sharpen and Blur

Here is a before and after photo of the Mojave Patchnose we saw the other day where I've sharpened around the eye and nose and increased the blur around the photo edges. Once you learn what all the tool icons mean (and there are dozens of them) so you can select the appropriate tool, using it is pretty easy.

Before

After

Salvia mohavensis

I'm using a new Canon digital super zoom camera and need to get familiar with it. It's similar to my old Canon but with lots more functions. The macro flower shot is Salvia mohavensis, best I can ID it. Mohave sage. There were just a few fading flowers this time of year but it is a gorgeous burst of blue in full bloom.

Salvia mohavensis

Black Mesa

A Warm November Day

We're saving a turkey and having pot roast for Thanksgiving dinner.

It was warm enough to bring out the reptiles today. This is a Mojave Patchnose. The second picture shows the flattened enlarged scale on the end of the nose that identifies the snake.

Dog Issues

Valley Fever

Tux's titer came in at 164, unchanged from the last test, so we are starting up with Fluconazole, 140mg 2x a day with the addition of a small amount (20-40mg) of turbinafine. Both work by inhibiting the synthesis of ergosterol in the cell membrane of fungi. Itraconazole inhibits synthesis of ergosterol too, but in a different way. Why one antifungal works for a dog but not another probably has something to do with an animal's genetic makeup. It's far beyond my understanding. Anyway, the small amount of turbinafine apparently gives fluconazole a boost in effectiveness that we hope will make this round of treatment more effective that the first. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the medication won't throw her off food again reversing her much needed weight gain.

Sore Feet

Tag is having such a hard time walking I was thinking about leaving him home, but if you know border collies you understand that he would rather die than be left behind. So today I put the old dog boots on him and Hooper, (she's been hurting too, though not as much) thinking the sharp rocks here in Oatman could be causing the problem. It was unbelievably cute to watch them high stepping and stumbling in the odd footwear, but once they adjusted Tag was actually trotting again so I'm happy to report we are back to enjoying our walks.

Tag, closing the gate in his Ruffwear boots

The Dogs

Feelin' sentimental. Old dogs, sick dogs, my dogs.

Good times

Tux, one year later

Had to do another blood draw yesterday for the latest Valley Fever titer. This will give us a baseline for a change in medication. 

Dr. Cartwright and the clinic staff were amazed at how good Tux looks (weight 61 lbs!), and admit they had little hope she would even be alive now much less thriving. She conferred with Dr. Shubitz at Valley Fever Center for Excellence and came up with a new treatment plan. Based on titer results, the plan is to go back to Fluconazole with the addition of a small amount of the tablet form of Lamisil which somehow improves the uptake of Fluconazole. Unless this is a fungal strain that is resistant to Fluconazole, the Itraconazole may have knocked it down enough that Fluconazole will prove effective this time around. The blood test takes about a week so Tux gets to enjoy a little more time free of these nasty anti-fungals.

Before the Hickory

Over the next few months the new floor will be installed. This is how it's looking as of mid November. 

Water damaged spots were removed to check for subfloor damage. We confirmed that the damage most likely came from leaking potted plants. 

Rolls of old carpet and pad

All this wood comes out

Designing a cherry inlay

One of two pines we put in. This is the Japanese black pine.

New Pieris and heathers

New stuff here

Rose still growing in Nov.

Love the purple heathers

Front bed cleaned out

Our patch of trees

The Blue Hole

We're planning our trip back to AZ. Weather all around is stormy and bad for travel; here it is cold but beautifully sunny. I'm going to miss the farm fresh foods and color everywhere.

Free Day at the Park

It's Veterans Day and the entry fee was waived at Olympic National Park so we took a drive to Port Angeles and out Hurricane Ridge. Weather was unpleasantly cold and windy, and despite a cloudless sky heavy haze detracted from the views. Park policy for dogs is they can go, leashed, anywhere cars can go, which is to say they can walk on the road. Oh well, it was 26 degrees, colder yet with wind chill, and we didn't have winter clothes so hiking the ridges wasn't at the top of our to-do list.

Looking towards the Dungeness Spit and Canada

Ridge tops in the Olympics

Mt Olympus from the visitors center

Mt Olympus to the right of the glacier

Model showing rugged Olympic topography

(Headless) Blue Grouse 

Raven

Dog Woes

Complications from Valley Fever Meds

Once again, off to the vet we go. There is another lesion on Tux's leg so I suppose this will mean discontinuing the Itraconazole and trying another azole. With luck we'll be able to get it at a more reasonable cost in the states this time, and if prescribed by the vet in WA we can order online if that's the best price. My AZ vet says by law they can't provide online pharmacies a prescription and then balks at handing over a written prescription to be used that way. I guess that's the kind of small government you get in a Republican state.

Not happy with another bandage

I'm afraid to ponder just how much we've spent in unused medications treating this fungus. I have seven boxes of Itraconazole (105 capsules) we won't be able to use in addition to the unused Fluconazole, appetite and nausea meds, arthritis meds and anti-inflammatories. 

Ouchy

The Rain in Sequim

This map of rainfall on the Olympic Peninsula over the last 24 hours shows a classic rainshadow effect, the "Blue Hole" this area is known for. Compare rainfall on the south and west sides of the Olympics to the north and east. 

Avian Pests

The crows finally picked the neighbor's walnut tree clean and took off for parts unknown. While it was interesting to watch them repeatedly drop walnuts on the driveway to open them, we didn't appreciate the litter of cracked shells they left. Now we have another kind of mess as a flock of gulls has moved in. The driveway and roof are white with guano. At least we're getting enough rain to clean it off. 

A few of the gulls making themselves at home