Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Thursday
Friday
Monday
Sonora Desert Museum
The Sonora Desert Museum is one of our favorite places to go. They have an amazing raptor/flight show. We were there on a cold day, so most of the other animals were sleeping.
Saturday
Saturday July 14
This is the story of our day. I didn't get chapter #1 on film, but chapter #1 and #2 are similar.
I was in the house and heard our swallows chirping like crazy and out of the corner of my eye saw them flying in and out of the porch. Their babies hatched last week on our porch and we have been watching their baby beaks and hearing their baby chirping. The cats and birds have been making a lot of noise. Today I was working in the kitchen hearing all of the noise and Joel came in to the house and said "oh, no." I looked outside and there was a snake hanging from our bird feeder withing a foot of the baby birds in the nest! I screamed. Joel chased the snake away with a broom and he took down the bird feeder.
This afternoon, the snake came back (below). He is staring right at the bird nest.
Here Joel is chasing it out of the yard, the cats are going crazy! The birds are swarming (there are 3 adult caretakers for the birds).
Tessy - in a blur - she can't believe this!
Millie - overly focused on activity in the yard.
Here is one of the swallows feeding the babies. There are 4 bright yellow beaks.
This afternoon, the snake came back (below). He is staring right at the bird nest.
Here Joel is chasing it out of the yard, the cats are going crazy! The birds are swarming (there are 3 adult caretakers for the birds).
Tessy - in a blur - she can't believe this!
Millie - overly focused on activity in the yard.
Here is one of the swallows feeding the babies. There are 4 bright yellow beaks.
Saturday
Finding Humor in a Long Week #2
The Exit
One morning this week (it has been such a blur of a week with every day starting off on the wrong note) I stopped short of leaving the house when I opened the laundry room door going out to the garage, and found a pile of shredded newspaper at my feet. Feeling quite confident that I was the last one to use the door the night before, and feeling quite confident that I had neither put a newspaper in that spot nor shredded it myself; I had to stop, think, and consider what was before me. What kind of animal or machine would shred a newspaper and leave it in inch long pieces - like oversized confetti? What kind of animal. I couldn't even call to the surface of my mind any type of animal that would systematically shred newspaper into confetti. The mission of the mess seemed too organized and violent for a rabbit and the cats had been inside all night.
History Sometimes Repeats
Three years ago I started a car while a rabbit was inside the engine. The experience was unkind to the rabbit, the car, and created a lot of work for me and Joel. Believing that there might be an animal in the garage, and possibly one in the engine of my car, Joel and I formulated a plan. I walked slowly out to the car and popped the hood so that Joel could inspect the engine compartment. He didn't see an animal. Still a bit bewildered by the paper, and concerned the animal might still be present, I opened the garage, put the car in neutral, and Joel pushed the car out of the garage into the driveway. Still nothing. It felt safe to start the car, so I did. The car started well.
Believing that the mystery of the paper might never be solved, Joel and I said goodbye and I prepared to close to door to my car. At the moment of departure, but still clearly in my line of vision I saw a giant gray rat run from under the car, northward toward the woodpile. Joel saw it too. It ran so quickly, all either of us saw was a giant gray streak of a rat. Talking about the incident later, neither one of us remembered seeing the rat's tail - which is usually a stunning feature of note when seeing a rat.
Animals Continue
It is nice to look back on that innocent day this week when we believed rats, mice, and deceptively-sweet-looking cottontail rabbits were the worst of our animal pests. Today we have been receiving frequent updates about the bear roaming our neighborhood. Our neighbors have seen a bear (like a mysterious fairy, just out of the corner of their eyes as it runs away from a pile of destruction). Emails with phrases: "bear sightings," "bear in our walled front yard," "more bear evidence," and "turds and claw marks" are crossing my desk as I ponder the fate of our rats, mice, and rabbits.
And yet one more email this afternoon from Joel about the kittens and their loud activities this morning. Somehow a lizard made it into the house. Poor lizard. The kittens have practiced their hunting skills with some success.
One morning this week (it has been such a blur of a week with every day starting off on the wrong note) I stopped short of leaving the house when I opened the laundry room door going out to the garage, and found a pile of shredded newspaper at my feet. Feeling quite confident that I was the last one to use the door the night before, and feeling quite confident that I had neither put a newspaper in that spot nor shredded it myself; I had to stop, think, and consider what was before me. What kind of animal or machine would shred a newspaper and leave it in inch long pieces - like oversized confetti? What kind of animal. I couldn't even call to the surface of my mind any type of animal that would systematically shred newspaper into confetti. The mission of the mess seemed too organized and violent for a rabbit and the cats had been inside all night.
History Sometimes Repeats
Three years ago I started a car while a rabbit was inside the engine. The experience was unkind to the rabbit, the car, and created a lot of work for me and Joel. Believing that there might be an animal in the garage, and possibly one in the engine of my car, Joel and I formulated a plan. I walked slowly out to the car and popped the hood so that Joel could inspect the engine compartment. He didn't see an animal. Still a bit bewildered by the paper, and concerned the animal might still be present, I opened the garage, put the car in neutral, and Joel pushed the car out of the garage into the driveway. Still nothing. It felt safe to start the car, so I did. The car started well.
Believing that the mystery of the paper might never be solved, Joel and I said goodbye and I prepared to close to door to my car. At the moment of departure, but still clearly in my line of vision I saw a giant gray rat run from under the car, northward toward the woodpile. Joel saw it too. It ran so quickly, all either of us saw was a giant gray streak of a rat. Talking about the incident later, neither one of us remembered seeing the rat's tail - which is usually a stunning feature of note when seeing a rat.
Animals Continue
It is nice to look back on that innocent day this week when we believed rats, mice, and deceptively-sweet-looking cottontail rabbits were the worst of our animal pests. Today we have been receiving frequent updates about the bear roaming our neighborhood. Our neighbors have seen a bear (like a mysterious fairy, just out of the corner of their eyes as it runs away from a pile of destruction). Emails with phrases: "bear sightings," "bear in our walled front yard," "more bear evidence," and "turds and claw marks" are crossing my desk as I ponder the fate of our rats, mice, and rabbits.
And yet one more email this afternoon from Joel about the kittens and their loud activities this morning. Somehow a lizard made it into the house. Poor lizard. The kittens have practiced their hunting skills with some success.
Tuesday
Ouray, CO
Below is the cabin we rented in Ouray - at the River Side Inn. The clouds were moving in to the canyon when I took this picture.
We had the most amazing breakfast - "breakfast for miners" at the Bachelor-Syracuse Mine. We took a really interesting tour of the mine (which included a train ride into the mine and a talk about mining in general and specifics about the Bachelor-Syracuse). After the mine trip we took a 2-hour horseback ride up the side of the mountain. We had stunning views of Ouray all along the way. Joel is on Bob and I am on Z.
Mountain canyon on the northwest of Ouray.
Below is Z the Horse.
We took a walk to Box Canyon on the south end of Ouray. The leaves below were on the walk.
River in through Box Canyon.
We had the most amazing breakfast - "breakfast for miners" at the Bachelor-Syracuse Mine. We took a really interesting tour of the mine (which included a train ride into the mine and a talk about mining in general and specifics about the Bachelor-Syracuse). After the mine trip we took a 2-hour horseback ride up the side of the mountain. We had stunning views of Ouray all along the way. Joel is on Bob and I am on Z.
Mountain canyon on the northwest of Ouray.
Below is Z the Horse.
We took a walk to Box Canyon on the south end of Ouray. The leaves below were on the walk.
River in through Box Canyon.
Monday
Tucson
When we arrived we went straight from the airport to the Tucson Zoo where we could enjoy some time in the sun.
Friday morning we took the "Shake Rattle and Roll" Segway tour. We were the only people on the tour. We loved the Segway tour we took last year, and really enjoyed this tour too. This tour took us on to the University of Arizona campus, through the historic neighborhoods, through some public art (including the snake bridge and the basket bridge) and ended with....
A milkshake! Yum!
After the Segway tour we went to the Postal History Foundation, a museum and library devoted to stamps and educating children through the use of stamps (teaching kids art, math, geography, history through images on stamps). They also collect historic postal service items like bags, boxes, and cancellation stamps. They take donations of canceled stamps - any kind any year. They sort the donated stamps - remove them from the envelopes and use them in their education programs for kids. Below is a sorting box one of the volunteers uses for sorting and later filing the stamps.
We toured Sabino Canyon. I wasn't feeling well, and we arrived late in the day so we took a trolley tour of the canyon. Maybe in the years ahead we will hike. Below is a cardinal. They had just arrived in the Tucson area.
Below are some images from The Lost Barrio. We went there to find local art galleries, but found most of the stores are imported "rustic" furniture. In the store below, I found one artist who had work displayed - photographs. As I approached the photos I saw the name of the artist was Karen Hymer Thompson, my photography teacher in high school! I bought one of her pieces. It was a great unexpected surprise.
It was kind of a sad visit to Tucson, with the funerals of the shooting victims happening while we were there. The Safeway where the shooting occurred was just across the street from the hotel we have stayed at for the last 2 years. The hotel had changed ownership in the last year, so we had decided to stay somewhere else. We did drive by the parking lot, on the day the grocery store reopened. It was totally packed with people - shopping and mourning.
Tucson is a city in mourning. One of the very special events we happened across is a public art project called Ben's Bells. On the news the evening we arrived, there was talk of this strange "Ben's Bells" phrase. As one of the injured people left the hospital they were given a "Ben's Bell" by a strange, and other "Ben's Bells" events were planned during the weekend. On our Segway tour the first stop we made was at the non-profit foundation --- Ben's Bells. So what is Ben's Bells? It is a movement, using public art, encouraging people to be kind to each other. It was a movement well underway before the shooting. The organization had been contacted by national news outlets and the New York Times, ironically, the weeks before the shooting. The organization was started by a family who unexpectedly lost their 3 year-old-son to a sudden illness. In honor of Ben's life, the family started making ornaments and hanging them around Tucson. They wanted people to take the ornaments and be kind to each other. Like finding the bell is both a blessing and a reminder of responsibility.
The morning we visited the non-profit headquarters, they had hung hundreds of bells at the Safeway parking lot. The volunteer we spoke to said the FBI was still at the parking lot, and was of course curious about what the people were doing. When they said they were hanging the bells for other people to take as a message of kindness, the FBI agents helped them hang the bells from the trees. I think it is a beautiful way to celebrate life and community.
Here is their mission:
Our mission is to inspire, educate and motivate each other to realize the impact of intentional kindness and to empower individuals to act according to that awareness, thereby changing our world.
Friday morning we took the "Shake Rattle and Roll" Segway tour. We were the only people on the tour. We loved the Segway tour we took last year, and really enjoyed this tour too. This tour took us on to the University of Arizona campus, through the historic neighborhoods, through some public art (including the snake bridge and the basket bridge) and ended with....
A milkshake! Yum!
After the Segway tour we went to the Postal History Foundation, a museum and library devoted to stamps and educating children through the use of stamps (teaching kids art, math, geography, history through images on stamps). They also collect historic postal service items like bags, boxes, and cancellation stamps. They take donations of canceled stamps - any kind any year. They sort the donated stamps - remove them from the envelopes and use them in their education programs for kids. Below is a sorting box one of the volunteers uses for sorting and later filing the stamps.
We toured Sabino Canyon. I wasn't feeling well, and we arrived late in the day so we took a trolley tour of the canyon. Maybe in the years ahead we will hike. Below is a cardinal. They had just arrived in the Tucson area.
Below are some images from The Lost Barrio. We went there to find local art galleries, but found most of the stores are imported "rustic" furniture. In the store below, I found one artist who had work displayed - photographs. As I approached the photos I saw the name of the artist was Karen Hymer Thompson, my photography teacher in high school! I bought one of her pieces. It was a great unexpected surprise.
It was kind of a sad visit to Tucson, with the funerals of the shooting victims happening while we were there. The Safeway where the shooting occurred was just across the street from the hotel we have stayed at for the last 2 years. The hotel had changed ownership in the last year, so we had decided to stay somewhere else. We did drive by the parking lot, on the day the grocery store reopened. It was totally packed with people - shopping and mourning.
Tucson is a city in mourning. One of the very special events we happened across is a public art project called Ben's Bells. On the news the evening we arrived, there was talk of this strange "Ben's Bells" phrase. As one of the injured people left the hospital they were given a "Ben's Bell" by a strange, and other "Ben's Bells" events were planned during the weekend. On our Segway tour the first stop we made was at the non-profit foundation --- Ben's Bells. So what is Ben's Bells? It is a movement, using public art, encouraging people to be kind to each other. It was a movement well underway before the shooting. The organization had been contacted by national news outlets and the New York Times, ironically, the weeks before the shooting. The organization was started by a family who unexpectedly lost their 3 year-old-son to a sudden illness. In honor of Ben's life, the family started making ornaments and hanging them around Tucson. They wanted people to take the ornaments and be kind to each other. Like finding the bell is both a blessing and a reminder of responsibility.
The morning we visited the non-profit headquarters, they had hung hundreds of bells at the Safeway parking lot. The volunteer we spoke to said the FBI was still at the parking lot, and was of course curious about what the people were doing. When they said they were hanging the bells for other people to take as a message of kindness, the FBI agents helped them hang the bells from the trees. I think it is a beautiful way to celebrate life and community.
Here is their mission:
Our mission is to inspire, educate and motivate each other to realize the impact of intentional kindness and to empower individuals to act according to that awareness, thereby changing our world.
Espanola Wildlife Center
The Wildlife Center came to the library today to present 3 birds. A couple of drawing and photography classes came to the library to participate in the event.
Sunday
Saturday
Auntie Val's Snake Dream for Daniel
Auntie Val was sleeping a couple of weeks ago. She was so happy to be sleeping after a long day of work. She was dreaming many happy things, but around 11pm she had a dream that there was a black and green snake slithering trough the bed and coming right for her. She told herself in her dream that this was impossible because snakes are so hard to find! But her dream mind answered back. It told her, "NO, there is a snake in your bed. There really is. And it is going to hurt you!" So in her sleep she jumped out of bed and yelled at Uncle Joel that there was a snake in the bed. Uncle Joel was only half awake. He got out of bed without saying anything and he took all of the covers off the bed. Then still without saying anything he put all the covers back on to the bed and went back to sleep. There was no snake anywhere, so both Uncle Joel and Auntie Val went right back to sleep! Uncle Joel still doesn't even remember checking the bed for a snake!
But the next morning Auntie Val felt very bad. Her neck hurt really bad and she wanted to cry all of the time. She could not move her neck and arms and could hardly walk. So after several hours Uncle Joel called Grandma, and Grandma said Auntie Val should go to the doctor. So Uncle drove in his careful but fast way to the urgent care center where the doctor was waiting to see Auntie Val. The doctor gave Auntie Val some very strong and helpful medicine and told her not to sit at computers and not to feel stress.
Now Auntie Val feels better because she took the medicine (even though it tasted bad) and she knows there wasn't a snake in her bed so she can sleep every night. She also set up her computer so she won't hurt herself at work, and she will never feel stress about anything (especially about silly things at work and school) ever again.
The End!
Snake Pictures for Daniel from Uncle Joel
I found 2 snakes on our trip. Joel took pictures. This is a giant rattle snake near the campground we stayed at near the Gila Cliff Dwellings. There was a sign at the beginning of the trail that said there had been rattle snakes recently spotted on the trail. We took the trail that went to cave dwelling. I was looking at some petroglyphs and I hears a sssssssssssssss. I think it was the sound of the snake coiling up. Joel took the camera and took these pictures. He said the snake's head was a big as his fist.
The snake below is a garter snake we saw at the Catwalk Trail. I spotted this snake as we finished the trail - at the picnic area. It was just moving across the ground. We ate lunch - and there was a couple walking near the spot we had seen the snake - and I was going to warn them about the snake - when I looked up in to the air and saw the snake falling out of a nearby tree. It fell about 15 feel out of the tree - and looked kind of strange. When Joel went over to it to take pictures, he saw that the snake had a giant horny toad in its mouth and was eating it by taking big bites out of it. A group of fellow picnic-ers came over to see the snake and when they did, the snake picked the toad up in its mouth and raised its self (the front part of the snake's body) about 4 inches in the air - and carried the toad across the empty area into the bushes. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen!
The snake below is a garter snake we saw at the Catwalk Trail. I spotted this snake as we finished the trail - at the picnic area. It was just moving across the ground. We ate lunch - and there was a couple walking near the spot we had seen the snake - and I was going to warn them about the snake - when I looked up in to the air and saw the snake falling out of a nearby tree. It fell about 15 feel out of the tree - and looked kind of strange. When Joel went over to it to take pictures, he saw that the snake had a giant horny toad in its mouth and was eating it by taking big bites out of it. A group of fellow picnic-ers came over to see the snake and when they did, the snake picked the toad up in its mouth and raised its self (the front part of the snake's body) about 4 inches in the air - and carried the toad across the empty area into the bushes. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen!
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