We're having very weird weather this week... extreme wind, and I do mean extreme today and tomorrow, followed by much lower temps (into the seventies!) and maybe even rain Friday. I'm worried about all the little baby birds who will be blown out of their nests and probably die, not to mention the baby quails... depending on size, I can imagine some of them blowing away too. Oh, well.

Quail update: There have been quite a few families at the quail block by my pond. I saw 7 or 8 first-graders more than once, and a family of four sixth-graders. I've seen a family crossing the road on my walk. I don't know if anything is going on in the dorm tree just now.

The most exciting happening lately occurred day before yesterday. I went out back to look at the quail block around sunset. I had my camera with me. But before I could get to the pond area I saw three animals running east across the back yard. Two were rabbits; one was striped and so big that at first I thought it might be a coatamundi. When I got closer I realized it was the BIGGEST gila monster I have ever seen. I thought it was at least two feet long, but the reptile book says they only grow to 14 inches. It was running, with a strange rolling gait in which all movement seemed to come from its front shoulders. I was so excited I couldn't get my camera out and set up before the gila monster ran into a big thicket of prickly pear. So... no picture. I think I do have a gila monster pic I shot while out hiking a few years ago. I'll see if I can find it. And I will be on the lookout for THE GIANT MUTANT NINJA GILA MONSTER.

Finally: the pictures with this post. One was taken the other morning on Calle Karina, one of the streets we power walk on. The other is a closeup of my young pomegranate tree. This is the first year it has really bloomed, and it amazes me. Instead of putting all its blossoms out at once, like a citrus or peach tree, it sets them out now and then, from time to time. New ones are still coming out (it started in February!) while old ones are turning into pomegranates. You can see one of each in the photo.