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.