Tuesday, May 22, 2007



Time is slipping away. It seems like only yesterday it was spring, and now summer is here. We've already had a few 100 degree plus days, and this week, which is cooler, is undoubtedly the last taste of low-nineties until maybe October.

A mama dove is incubating her eggs on top of one of the posts outside the carport. A mama quail has repeatedly flown out from behind some boxes on the top shelf of a very cluttered shelving unit at the back of the carport. I haven't seen her in a while, so maybe her eggs hatched. I wish her well. So many of the baby quail fail to make it past the feathered-thimble stage.

My pond area is shaping up, and things are growing. Unfortunately the pond is overrun with algae again. I try to rake away as much of it as I can, but it's a losing battle. There are seveal dozen bees buzzing the pond every day. They settle on the algae and become trapped, then die. It's rather gross.

I have a new feeder, a mesh sock full of niger thistle. It's attracting lots of beautiful goldfinches. The cardinals and pyrrhuloxia come often to the cardinal feeder, but I've not yet seen any babies.

The saguaros are blooming, the ocotillo just finished. The pix above are of a whitewing dove on the big saguaro behind our house, and the lovely ocotillo outside our bedroom window. It no longer has blossoms, but the leaves are still green.