Another Saturday of Vaccines

 Today we were supposed to have 1500 vaccines for the residents.  Here are some photos of the cars lined up waiting for their turn.  Everyone has a 15 minutes time slot.  Looks like the whole ordeal is at least an hour.

Doesn't fit

Friends of ours are building a new home here in the ritzy area.  With upgrades, they have spent about one million dollars.  Here is just one of the problems.  Put in the cabinets.  Order the washing machine.  Appliance it too tall to fit.  You'd think with such a high end house you wouldn't have simple problems like this.

 

Moonrise

 My first "adventure" with the photo club.  Me and about 10 men waiting near a canyon for the full moon. They have all sorts of phone apps to tell them when and where the moon will rise.  I am not that technical, yet.  I hope to try again this spring during the Supermoons.

Hawk Shots?

 On a very cold morning walk we caught this hawk resting.  Because we could get fairly close to it, it seemed like a juvenile.  Plus his feathers are a bit fluffy.  We're not sure if it's a Red Tail or something else.  Our hawk id skills are not good.

Snow

Just a dusting in the mountains from last night.  May be a better chance tomorrow.

 

Study of Cactus Wren

 This time I had my good camera with me and the young Cactus Wren was in his usual spot.

It's nice when nature cooperates.

Morning Views

These are some heavy clouds.  It's interesting the way then literally sit on the mountains.  Very fluffy.

Views of SB on the early morning walk, on top of a hill.

 

Getting Ready for the Vaccine

It's Saturday so that means it's Vaccine Day at SB.  I went to the location where shots will be given today.  I got there too early to see the line up of golf carts.  But the approach is a mess of security/police type vehicles.  Some roads are blocked off.

Right now, as a volunteer, I have only had to phone people to tell them about their appointments.  I don't know if I'll ever be called to direct traffic.  

 

Finally a Jackrabbit!

On a morning walk I noticed this Indian Fig cactus.  Obvious signs of being munched by Javelinas.  Our neighbor gave us a young Indian Fig and we are strategically planting it in the backyard so the pigs won't get to it.

On my morning hike I finally saw a Jackrabbit.  My walking friend thought it was a "baby" because it didn't dart away.  This is the closest I've ever gotten to a Jackrabbit.  Unfortunately I did not have my good camera, just my iPhone.  But it was still fun to see him.

 

Another Nice Sunrise

This shot was from a 7:30 a.m. walk, on the cold morning.  I only slightly upped the colors on this shot.  It's pretty true for the morning.

I'm looking forward to seeing some great sunsets as the weather heats up.

 

Where are the Jackrabbits?

We took a walk in a natural area we call Jackrabbit Hill.  But we didn't see any Jackrabbits.  A lot of the land is now for sale and already platted out.  We could see a lot of the desert plants were gone.  And I think the rabbits are gone too.  Very sad.

We did spot this Phainopepla (sometimes called a black Cardinal).

The Quail are so timid.  This one was on our back wall, but the minute they see me or the camera they usually flee.

A healthy looking purple Prickly Pear.

 

A Beautiful, Uneventful Week

 We've been having 70+ degree weather and have been taking advantage by playing Pickleball almost every day, sometimes twice a day.  Because of that we haven't done any new "off compound" exploring.

But, we have some events coming up that will hopefully be interesting to share on the blog.

So, tonight we have pizza, with a scratch, whole wheat dough.   This is the yeast in the mixer.

Here are the two pizzas, unbaked.

Vaccinations are happening here and hopefully I will b helping out with that as a volunteer soon.

Garage Floor

 The previous owner of our house had a son who did something filthy.  The garage floor is hideous.  His old bedroom carpet has so many black stains I can't imagine what he was doing.  The carpet is all gone.  And half of the garage is better.  I just painted "my half" which is the less cluttered side of the garage.

I used a degreaser and scrubbed the floor then let it dry for a day.  The painting only took about 1 1/2 hours to do "my half", but it was some work.  I think I'll live with it for a while and see how it holds up.

Saddlebrooke Nature

This is one of the several varieties of Hummingbirds I see in the backyard.  This one has a violet throat which really shimmers in the right light.  It's barely visible in this shot.  I'll have to work on better positioning of the camera.

This morning's very pink sunrise on the golf course.

 

Things seen around the Compound

The best shot I've gotten of a Cardinal, so far.  He and his mate are often eating seed in the backyard.  But they are very shy when I bring out the camera.

On a hike behind the Compound there is this arrangement of cairns - known an Cairn Village.  Kind of fun to see.

 

A New Addition

Yesterday I saw a bobcat come into our yard three times.  He was sometimes stalking birds.  Other times batting a leafy branch.  So I'm thinking he's a young one.

This morning he was on our wall again.  We think he is splitting his time between our house and a few adjacent neighbors.  It's fun watching for him.