Boys come to visit

What to do when you get a crew of boys together? Why put them to work! Dec, Archy, and Coy came for a couple days. Nona offered them paying work to weed the drive up to her house.  As it was starting to scrap the bottom of cars. 

Very Excitedly picking out gloves. 

The Offending weeds

Dec and Coy shovel while Archy puts the weeds into the trashbox

Dec showing us fine technique

Mccoy Helps Arch with a particularly stubborn weed. 

Success! Is there anything funner than a hard days work? (or maybe 45 mins of work?)

They were very helpful, and made thier beds! 

After that we went to the Gila. It looks deeper than it is in this pick, but they had fun!
Next time we will have to try and get the weeds on the side of the road too.

At Long Last!

Over five years ago, Eddy got his masters degree in Education Leadership so he could be a Principal.  He has applied for four Principal jobs over the last five years but never got the job (we had decided we didn't want to move away from here to pursue a job so Eddy had to patiently wait for principal jobs in our area to open up).  He didn't let the rejection get him down and when he heard that a nearby district was hiring an Elementary Principal he applied.  

Introducing the newest Elementary Principal in the Gila Valley: 

Principal Carlton.

All gussied up for his interview, soon to be Principal Carlton

Eddy is very excited to have his first administration job and funnily enough he applied five years ago for this same job but didn't get it.  Although he is a bit nervous he is ready to jump into his new challenge.  We are all very happy and know he will be a great Principal!

Deer Me!

About forty-five minutes of highway lie between my sister and I.  In order to get to stores or visit me she must traverse those miles.  It is quite a pretty drive, as about 30 minutes of it is just hills and desert with no homes to mar the view.  You will see various wildlife as you drive especially in the morning or evening hours.  Coyotes, desert long tailed mice, rattlesnakes, rabbits, jackrabbits, and roadrunners are most often seen.  

I have a friend from Pennsylvania who married an AZ boy and when they moved here she was so excited to see a roadrunner in real life.  When she finally got to see one she was quite disappointed as she had been misled by the Looney Tune cartoon, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner.  She thought that roadrunners were six feet tall much like an ostrich.  Sadly for her they are only about a foot tall.  Despite their small size, they do take on rattlesnakes from time to time which is pretty impressive.

Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote

Roadrunner enjoying a mid-morning snack

   One fine morning, Ashlee was on her way to see me as we were headed to Tucson, AZ for some thrifting fun.  She was admiring the scenery when she noticed a few deer on the side of the road.  Then she noticed a deer or two on the other side of the road.  Suddenly the deer on the left side decided he wanted to join his brothers on the right and didn't want to wait for the pesky car going 60mph to get out of the way.  Ashlee saw him coming and slammed on the brakes.  Despite her best efforts she was hit by a deer.

Desert deer watching the mayhem

After the collision, Ashlee was very shaken up but the deer continued on his way to his friends.  She believes that despite the damage to her car the deer was fine.

What do you see? A few scratches? 

Nope.  Those there are deer hairs.  Poor thing probably has a bald patch.

Poor car did get some scratches though.

Ashlee could talk of nothing else all day; of course, it's not every day you get hit by a deer!

A Feather in his Cap

Every evening these days is spent at the ballpark.  Sometimes we are there from 5pm to 10pm, other days not so long thankfully.  While I watch baseball the kids amuse themselves as they can.  Archer likes to climb a big hill behind the baseball diamond.  Archer found something great behind the wall at the bottom of the hill--an owl feather.

Me: Archer how do you know it is an owl feather?

Archer:  Because it is quiet.

Me:  What if your feather was loud what kind of bird feather would it be?

Archer:  A blackbird.

Me:  Archer what are you going to do with your owl feather?

Archer:  I don't know.  I will do with it . . . maybe I will cuddle it.

Me:  How about put it on your cowboy hat?

Archer:  Sure.

Archer with his quiet, owl feather

Maybe he could put it on his head

Wait he has a unadorned cowboy hat!

Adorned cowboy hat with a owl feather

Hopefully next time he can find a loud feather to add to his collection.  Archer has decided instead of just looking and taking pictures of birds he is going to find feathers from birds.  Well Ashlee I guess Archer just upped the ante.  Let's see what kind of feather Ashlee can find!

rhi vs ryder

I have been busy moving, and so dusted off these pictures from a day in early may I think.  

Now that we are Zoo members we decided to take the kids in rotation to the Zoo a couple at a time. Here is the the gang, for this day that was a while ago. 

Zoo hats!!

Look closely and you can see me, Rhi, and Nona in the glass .

A preening peacock

They have this wee water park for the kiddos

Declan giving Z a bath.

My favorite animal at the zoo the Otter

Rhi holding bag aloft so Ryder can't reach it

My greatest memory was this one. Rhi had found a bag of random sewing supplies that she had to defend from this wee fellow. His name was Ryder we later found out. He really was fighting hard for it.  It was surprising and shocking.

Rhiannon Note:  This was a bag that had not only vintage sewing notions but a random key in it.  Ryder, was a stranger kid probably five or six, who saw the lone key and said he collected keys.  From that point on I was literally having to keep the bag out of his grubby hands.  He was pawing me and trying to grab it for the longest time and I kept looking around desperately for his mama to call him off.  Ryder had no sense of personal space encroachment and would hang all over me.  I wasn't about to let him get my baggie of sewing things.  He followed me all the way to the front doors of DI.  It was truly obnoxious and I couldn't believe his mother was no where to be found.  I could have easily taken him right out of the store and home with me but that was the last thing I would have wanted to do.  If he hadn't been so rude I would have given him the key.  As it was I had to do the old, "Is that your mom calling you trick?" to get him off of me.  Should of done that soon as he started pestering me!

Here Rhi says "Where's your Mama? I think I hear her calling you." Z scratches her head at the scene.
Kid in red shirt and ball cap the stranger, Ryder.

Someone may have ate the who knows how old pez that came in these from a bag of thrift store toys.  She is fine. I don't think Pez have an expiration date. 

New House for Ashlee

Ashlee has become a homeowner!  She has purchased a darling 1930's Adobe home.  It has two bedrooms and one bathroom.  She has been consumed in recent days with moving in and getting all settled.  Her kitchen is to die for so very cute and vintage.  She has lots of plans for it. I can't wait to see it all decorated.

Congratulations dear sister!  

 All these are before views from when previous people lived there.

Ashlee will have to post some new photos of it soon.

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime . . .

McCoy Edition

McCoy the Commodore

With summer break here, the kids and I spend all day together.  I noticed that McCoy kept writing in a notebook.  I was curious as to what he was doing so I sneaked a peak and discovered an ambitious to do list.  I am a to do list person as is my sister and father.  We like to mark off finished items and sometimes need a list to organize all the to do lists.  I smiled when I saw McCoy's handwritten to do list.  As follows: Sleep in, Play video games, Eat, Play Outside, Fake Clean, Take a Nap, Go to the Pool, Eat, Watch TV, Play Outside, Baseball Game, Victory Dance, Eat, Watch TV, Play Kindle, Go to Bed. My eyes may have glittered with annoyance a bit as my smile faded when I read item number five "Fake Clean."  

McCoy is really the king of fake clean.  Up to this point I just assumed he was a really bad cleaner but now I know it is all a ruse and he purposefully fake cleans.  He always seemed such a wandering and forgetful cleaner.  He would be assigned  to clean the living room acting like he would do it and then disappear to the backyard to practice baseball.  When called back to task he would pick up an item or two and then fade away to his room to read a book.  Threatened with no lunch if he didn't get X done he would put a bit of effort into it but he still was the worst cleaner.  

Now I know it was all by DESIGN.  He is a FAKE CLEANER!

The only items not finished on his to do list:  

Go to Pool-our neighborhood pool had some plumbing problems and hasn't yet opened

Victory Dance-his baseball team as of this to do list paper had not won a game yet so no victory dance; but they won their first game last night! Let the victory dance begin.

McCoys to do list

I found item five to be my personal summer challenge, get McCoy to clean for real!   I will let you know if I can cross it off my list.

Outing to Gila Box-Riparian Area

We took a outing to the Gila Box for a picnic and river play.  The 23,000-acre Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area is truly an oasis in the desert. It has four perennial waterways - the Gila and San Francisco rivers and Bonita and Eagle creeks, which are the lifeline for this remarkable place. The Gila River canyon section, known as the Gila Box, is composed of patchy mesquite woodlands, mature cottonwoods, sandy beaches, and grand buff-colored cliffs. Bonita Creek, popular for birdwatching, hiking, and picnicking, is lined with large cottonwoods, sycamores, and willows. The perennial creek and riparian vegetation make this a cool year-round desert oasis.

In this hot desert any oasis is a welcome one.  Now that the summer heat as truly arrived any water escape is so refreshing.   We took tubes not knowing how deep the river would be sometimes the river is not deep enough to float on tubes.  Luckily for us, the water was waist deep just right for tubing.  This day the weather was quite cool for us and it was just as delightful on the bank as in the water.

Eddy prepares to go tubing

I take Zany for a float while Archer in green floaties and McCoy look on

Quinton enjoys the sparkling water

Eddy takes Archer for a float

Zany on the sandy beach

Cheezy Cheeto smile!

Man sized rock throwing

On the cliff face about a hundred feet up were two silent observers 

Across the river in the cliff wall was a small cave just right for a bit of a lounge.

Declan and Quinton

Quinton considers letting Declan join him

Look how well they are getting along . . .

until Quinton pushes Declan in the water

Quinton enjoys some reading on the beach

McCoy dropped his ball in the water and when he was rushing to grab it before it floated off downriver he stubbed his toe on a rock and was out of commission for the rest of the trip. I was worried he broke it but he may just lose part of his toenail. So he wasn't in the group photo.

River party

With the heat now upon us and it routinely being in the 100's we may be headed back soon!

More Birds of Duncan Arizona

Well, another bird post.  Its hot (finally) it was a late start to summer this year, so my birding will probably be curtailed. But I still have a few more birds in the can so to speak. So here are a group of larger birds. 

Common Black Hawk. I always feel sorry for the birds and plants with the word Common in thier name.  He really is quite fetching, though I never can catch him when he is just hanging out. He is very quick to fly.

Here is his home. 

Remember all the fuzzy pictures of Karl? He sat very well on this day for his photo shoot. At my workshop, I believe the leader said he is a juvenille Red Tail hawk, whose hasn't yet got the easy to identify red tail yet.  Doesn't he need a pedicure?

Here is his lovely profile. 

I am still working on identifying this one, maybe a juvenille Gray hawk? 

 Our Great horned Owl. He likes to hang out up on top of the antenna during dusk, and during the day you can spy him in our pine tree. I like him, but he never seems amused.