Things you see in the morning

Doing the 7am walk enables me to see things around "the compound" that I might normally miss.  Such as the Javelinas knocking over trash cans on trash day.  And rooting around in the garbage.

We're always told to put out the trash the morning of the pickup, and never the night before.  Now look what this homeowner has to clean up.

 

Arizona Nature

I think this is a young Cactus Wren.  There is a Cholla plant that I walk by that reliably has a Cactus Wren singing away.  When the birds don't fly away it sometimes tells me that it's a fearless baby.

This was my shot at the Wolf Moon.  Not much of a contrast with the night sky.  I'll try again with the next full moon in February.  I do like the Saguaro's in front.

 

We had my aunt over for dinner last night.  She brought with her the doll on the left.  This is a knitting project.  My doll is on the right.  It's the same pattern.  She used larger needles and larger yarn and ended up with this, which is not the correct doll.  My doll will soon have appropriate hair and a dress.

This morning's walk yielded the first bobcat of the season.  Can you see him there?

Morning sunrise.

 

Birding Day

We went exploring today and hoped to see some interesting birds.  We headed west to the town of Marana to the El Rio Preserve.  The entrance sign was very nice.  However, the ground was dry and there were no birds.  We need to go back during rainy season (August?).

Then we headed south to the Sweetwater Preserve and that was a great place for birders.  If we couldn't identify a bird, there was always a nearby person with binoculars who could tell us. 

 This is a green heron.

Northern Shoveler - notice his extra large bill.

American Wigeon - our first spotting of one of these sweet ducks.

American Bittern - a very still and camouflaged bird.

A red breasted sapsucker, rapidly pecking into this tree.

 

"New" Golf Cart

We finally caved in and upgraded our 25 year old, slow as a snail, golf cart.  The "new" one is only 14 years old.  But it's got the bells and whistles the old one did not.

Like, a horn which is really needed with all these crazy old people here.

A turn signal, also needed for safety.

This one has a cover so we can zip in on cold drives.

 

Road Closed

One of the many exciting things happening here is that part of the main road is closed, blocked off, due to a collapse of a culvert. ?  I don't know how long Ridgeview will be blocked off.

Some tractor workers.

This?  This is what's closing the road.  I don't even understand since this puddle is about 20' away from the road.

 

Walking the Strip

The day after the CES we got up early and started walking up one side then down the other side of the strip.  We went into all the splashy hotels and tried to find interesting things to see and do.  By noon the Saturday crowd was growing.  The evenings get packed, loud, and a little rough on the strip.

This is the Caesar Forum shops where you feel like you are outside, in Italy.

This is the Chandelier 3-story bar in the Cosmopolitan.  This was the most trendy and nice hotel.

If there is a cat, Dave will find it.  Statue of Sigfried and Roy at the Mirage.

In front of Caesar's Palace.

The Eiffel Tower in the background.

The old fashioned Flamingo Hotel has a habitat with ducks, flamingoes, and Pelicans.

The door to the secret bar, The Ghost Donkey, in the Cosmopolitan.  We had to really hunt for it and it wasn't open when we got there.

Gondolas at the Venetian.

Pairs of "showgirls" asking for $ to get photos with them.  They were everywhere up and down the strip.

We saw two Elvises walking on the strip.

 

Consumer Electronics Show

We went to this show in Las Vegas and it was very empty.  I talked with some vendors and they were pretty bored compared to years past.  Several huge companies like Amazon and Google were not there due to Covid.  But we still had fun and had to wait in line for certain "experiences".

This is Sony's prototype all electric car.

John Deere's all electric, $500,000 tractor.  We got to climb in and sit at the controls, too.

Relaxing at the BMW tent with free drinks and fancy candies.

Petting virtual cats in the VR booth, one of many.

Skiing, VR style.

 

Greek Orthodox Monastery

I finally got to visit this monastery that is only about 40 minutes away.  It was built in 1995, so not that old, but beautiful grounds.  It was fun to walk around and explore the interesting buildings and gardens.

Here is part of their citrus grove.

One of many intricate mosaics.

One of many fountains around the grounds.

Acres of saguaros and desert.

 

Cardinal Trouble

This poor little guy!  He's our favorite bird in AZ.  I have caught him flying into our dining room window the last two days.  He sits on the back on the lounge chair and keeps banging into the window.  I don't know what he's thinking.  I always go out there are have a talk with him and he flies away.  My goal is to get much closer for a much better photo.

T

 

2022!

Very wet start to the new year.  This morning we work up to a rain/wind storm.  Once it stopped this was the "lake" in our backyard.  It should drain today because tonight's low will be about 25 degrees and we could wake up with a skating pond in the backyard tomorrow!

We were able to take a nice walk yesterday, between storms.  All the birds were out and happy to see some sunshine, as were all the retired snowbirds.  We got pretty close to this curious Roadrunner.

And even this shy Vermillion Flycatcher cooperated for his photoshoot.