Christmas lingers on

Still Christmas around here.  These are shots from across the street, and this isn't even one tenth of her decorations.  But you see how people abuse their cactus.

The styrofoam cups are there to prevent damage to the tops of the cactus during our cold (about 35 degree) evenings.  Not that the snowman has been disposing of his hot chocolate cups.

 

Golf Cart problem

One of our neighbors, about three blocks away, had a major fire a few weeks ago.

From what I've heard, the entire garage burned due to the golf cart catching on fire.  I have no idea how it happened, but you don't usually see something like this in the compound.  So naturally we had to take a walk to investigate it.

Our first Cardinal spotting of this season.  I have to be better about replenishing the bird feeders.  

This fellow and his mate were only on the ground briefly, getting seeds.  We still love seeing these birds whenever we can.  I wish they would nest in our backyard.

 

Golf Cart Parade

This is the first time we've been able to watch the parade of golf carts.  There were probably 40 carts that were all decked out for the parade.  It was very festive and fun to walk amongst the carts as they lined up and prepared to make their journey around the compound.

We were even treated to Christmas songs ala accordians.

A view of the well lit clubhouse.

 

Owls!

 We had to drive a few miles out of the compound to find this pair of owls.  We startled one of the owls which meant he/she left the nest.  I got a photo of what was in the nest.  Three eggs!  They look as big as chicken eggs.

Morning Rainbow

March can be a little unpredictable with the weather.  This morning's walk had a few sprinkles and some nice rainbow activity.

 

New Rare Animal Footage

We were happily surprised to find these animals walking near the animal camera, late one night.  The first is the Arizona state mammal - the Ringtailed cat - though it's not really a cat.

This animal is a skunk, maybe the Hooded Skunk.  I think there are five varieties of skunk here.

 

Sunday Morning Hike

 Dave has been working on clearing a trail to "Titanic Rock".  This morning we walked the almost 3 mile round trip and saw great rock formations.  No animals this morning.

Dave trying to push the rock down the hill.

Queen Creek Olive Oil Mill

Today a friend and I took a "field trip" up near Phoenix to the town of Queen Creek.  Lots of farming areas there.  We took a tour of the Olive Mill.

Besides the really nice gift shop full of olive products, there was a great restaurant.

The grounds were pretty nice and we saw olive trees and olive trees grown into hedges.  It was fun learning about, and tasting, olive products.  Pretty interesting things in AZ.

 

Window treatments

 We finally replaced out bedroom blinds with plantation shutters to match most of the house.

One of the new shutters is cracked, but the installer put it up anyway.  A new one is on order and should arrive in a few weeks.  The walls are the color on the "after" pics.  I did not repaint, just the different lighting makes the wall color look different.

Before

After

Animals in the Wild

Dave has found a really ideal spot out in the mountains to place the animal camera.  These are some of the best video captured so far.  Hoping for Coatimundi or Bobcat one day.

 

Whitewater Draw

 We traveled down to Douglas, about 2 1/2 hours, to view the Sandhill Crane migration flock.  I was told there were 38,000 birds.  I photographed them at noon and at sunset.

Donkey Rescue

We visited the Forever Home Donkey Rescue in Benson, AZ.  The owner took us all around and we met most of the donkeys.  They have over 10 acres to roam and eat.  The donkeys are very friendly and would all come up to us hoping for food.

This donkey is called a Nubian donkey and has a black cross on his back, and striping on his legs.  It was a very beautiful donkey.  I guess there are many breeds.

Dave was so happy.  I think he hugged all the Donkeys.

This donkey was digging which we were told is not a common behavior.

 

More Sunrises

 During the morning walk this is what I was able to capture, on the fly.

These two are from the backyard.

These look nice here, but they are better in person.

Backyard Project

We finally decided what to do with the old strawberry patch in the backyard.  Dave removed all the plants and it was just a big area of dirt and gravel.  So we hired Francisco to help us.

He cemented in this nice border of bricks.

Left openings for the seven plants we will put in in the spring.  Then he topped it with a larger, contrasting gravel.  So carefree.