Dog eyes...

Sammy didn't like the rambunctious young 'uns.  She held herself aloof that first day.

There are three sets of eyes drilling into me.  My dinner is done, but all three are hoping that there is a tidbit somewhere that I've hidden away.  Sorry dogs.  It's all done and gone.  I ate it all.  I know my father has led you to believe that tidbits exist.  But not tonight.  I was hungry.  And you didn't offer me anything from your dinner.  So I don't feel bad.

But I look into your eyes.  All so different.  Sammy stares at me with an intensity that is hard to ignore. Black eyes in a yellow face, not blinking.  She doesn't move at all. Everything is focused like a laser on my mouth.  Maybe there's a tidbit hidden there.  Meanwhile, drool begins to form a long string from her right jowl.  Uck.  It appears at the least possibility of food.  Paws shift on the couch next to me, a slight intake of breath that isn't regular and my attention is shifted to Jake.  He's horrified that "his food" might go to another canine.  His golden eyes hold a panic, an intense "Oh no!" look.  He's also upset that the newest dog on the block (Buster) keeps stealing borrowing his bobos (toys).  Jake is torn between watching for the potential tidbit and watching to make sure that Buster doesn't make a move towards the nearest bobo.  No drool from him... just a lunge into my lap to make sure that he still the favorite dog.  He conveniently manages to wipe his mouth across my chest and take up the whole couch so that Sammy can't climb up.  Multi-tasker Jake.  Yep.  And finally a huge sigh is heaved from across the table where Buster has concluded that there will be no more food.  His dark brown eyes are almost invisible in his black face.  He smiles at me, with his pink tongue shining out of his face and then flops down to nap.  He's too new to worry about food too much.  Wait until he meets my Dad.  That will change things.

Such different personalities in these dogs.  My worried, needy-of-constant-love dog.  My brother's laid-back, sneaky dog (she can slide out of a room and get in the garbage faster than any dog I know).  Buster, Terry's dog, is the young kid whose biggest concern is getting someone to throw a toy for him.  He can play catch for hours.  The other two older dogs appreciate one or two throws and then need a nap.  And now as this is written, Jake has gone outside to see what the neighbor dogs are up to. He's barking his opinion to the world.  Sammy has taken the spot next to me on the couch and keeps trying to lay her slobbery jowls across my keyboard. She oozes love but I know she just wants as much body contact as possible.  Buster keeps spitting bobos at me, hoping that I'll throw them.  He left when Sammy quietly growled.  The old lady keeps him in his place. He's now laying with his head out the dog door, unsure whether to go out or not. He wants to join Jake, but isn't really happy with the dog door.


I shall leave the dogs to their lives...and go get my daughter from work.

Jake and Buster about a half hour after meeting. This is before Buster started borrowing bobos.  They aren't so close now. :)

My morning's Cool Bird

It's Sunday and I HAD planned on going birding today.  I wanted to go to the Rio Salado Habitat as I haven't been there and it is the season for migratory birds to be moving through.  Alas, as usual, life gets in the way of what I want to do.  So instead, I'm being a good girl and getting some of my work out of the way as I know Monday and Tuesday I will not have enough time to get it all done and meet two deadlines.

I woke up early - not that I wanted to but my body chose differently.  Once I heaved that sigh both the cat and dog KNEW it was time for morning kibbles.  They started the full court press.  Cold nose under the quilt, looking for warm armpits, fluffy tail flicked right under my nose, louding purring, and equally, no..., louder panting.  Dog breath.  Yuk.  That was enough to get me out of bed.  Kibbles done. I went outside and listened to the Thrashers as they called back and forth.  My morning "Witty-wits".  This morning one of them was singing.  Really nice to listen to that sweetness and watch the sky go from violet to lilac to pink.  I went back inside before it went to the apricot hue.  I was cold and the coffee had finished.  Morning Sudoku done.  2nd cup of coffee has gone cold.  Time to go out and rid my yard of the dog's week worth of poop.  Lordy, how he can poop! As I worked a sound kept tapping at the edges of my mind.  Not one I'm used to hearing around my house.  I wandered around the yard, looking for signs that the plants are ready to explode into Springtime bloom.  Nope.  No signs other than the Fouquieria that my Dad planted is in full leaf.  

He planted it as an 18" 3 pronged stick.  I think he picked a good spot to plant it as this puppy is definitely a happy Fouquieria.  It isn't an Ocotillo - though it is related.  Meanwhile, that sound continued to tap at my brain.  Wasn't getting through completely.  As I turned to go inside, I heard it clearly.  Kind of a wheezy "creer" that just didn't belong to my usual yard sounds.  Whatever it was, it was up in the pine tree in my front yard, and wasn't big and showy.  Ran and got my binocs and headed into the front yard.  Of course the sun was shining right about where the bird should be.  Repositioned myself so that the palm tree blocked the sun, raised the binocs to my eyes, and Voila!

Not my photo.  I got this from Wikimedia Commons.  Photo by Calibas.

 There it was!  A Red-naped Sapsucker!  Not a common bird around my neighborhood.  In fact I've never seen one in Phoenix before.  Guess I don't get out enough as other birders have seem them, and often enough that they aren't considered an oddity.  Ah well.  Cool for me!  I watched him for a while as he picked about the branches, round and round the tree.  And I realized that the "creer" sound was very much like the Hairy Woodpeckers up at my parent's home in Colorado.  Just got to get the brain in gear a little faster.  AND! After reading up on this bird, I'm willing to bet most of the birds I've been calling Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers here in the desert are probably Red-napes.  I really need to get back on the ball with birding.

So now I can go back to my work that I don't want to do.  Except that my daughter just called and wants to go buy storage containers so she can begin to pack her room in anticipation of moving to the dorm this August.  Anything that gets her to clean her room I am willing to help with!  And yes, Mom... I'm going to send the birthday photos right away.

Thrashers and Life

I just watched a documentary that set my mind spinning.  It's called "Life in a Day". People were encouraged to video life on 7/24/2010 and submit their videos.  The vignettes were then edited down to a 1 1/2 hour movie.  As expected, there is a wide variety of life styles from all parts of the world.  And yet there is a similarity: sleep, awaken, wash sleep from the eyes, eat , start the day.  There are celebrations, smiles, tears, hardships, faith, love and poverty.  All sorts of homes. Bicycles, cars, trains, planes and feet.  Lots and lots of feet.

All of the people were ordinary, and yet extraordinary.  No celebrities.  We see too much of them already. People living through what I think of as difficult circumstances, smiling and accepting of life, seeing the good in the world around them.  Beautiful people, even with dirt and grime in their pores.  All sorts of children, old people, a Korean man bicycling the world, eyes that peer into your soul, and African women pounding out a threshing rhythm that wove through many pictures.

What really kept with me was the very last scene. A young American woman upset that she had had to work all day, with no time to video.  It was close to midnight as she sat in her car.  She called herself ordinary and thought about the fact that "nothing had happened today worth telling".  Yet she was a beautiful young woman, and oblivious to the barooming thunder and the flicker of lightning going on around her.  She called it a nothing day and yet Nature was celebrating around her.  We must remember that Life is not just us.  It is the world around us and the people all over.

And with that thought I switch gears slightly to my own little slice of the world.  A few days ago, after a string of overcast, cool and gloomy days, we had a short period of sunshine and warmth.  During the gloomy days the birds around me were finches and hummingbirds, fighting over feeder space and ownership.  A lone Verdin scolded anything/one that moved (particularly our cat), dashing in to catch a drip of sugar water before it fell to the herb pots below.  Sunshine however, brought out joy in others that I don't normally hear.  As I settled into my chair with my book, ready for the sunshine to warm my joints and the book my mind, a burst of song came trilling from the mesquite in the corner. Liquid, sweet notes tripped over one another, not quite a melody but definitely not an identifiable string of notes.  Already guessing, I grabbed my ever present binocs and yes...there he was.  A Curve-billed Thrasher was telling the neighborhood of his pleasure in the moment.  He of the first light "Witty-witts" was letting loose with his seldom heard song.  A treat.  There is a similarity to the mockingbird's short, repeated phrases and yet no mockingbird sings with such purity, sweetness and melody.  Curve-bills are in my top ten favorite bird songs along with Dippers, Canyon Wrens, owls hooting at night, and the completely non-melodious ranting of hummingbirds.

Although we people are very wrapped up in our individual worlds , there is another beautiful world around us, that can offer great joy if we only open our eyes, ears and minds.  And with that thought, I vow to get out birding WAY more than I have been lately.

I am definitely feeling the need to go camping.  A little on the chilly side this weekend.  But soon!

A storm is coming!

I wrote this 2 months ago.  Time to get it posted.

I feel as though I am awaiting something BIG.  There is that aura of anticipation such as a kid feels before their birthday.  Surely this is worth waiting for. Surely this will be the BIG one!

The weather people are all breathless when they talk about this storm.  Chaos and doom are sure to reign.  Don't drive this road or you're sure to be involved in an accident.  High pollution due to dust in the air - EVERYONE!  STAY INDOORS ALL DAY!  Wind! Rain! Snow! I do hope some of it actually happens.  Weather that is... not the accidents.

Weather is a good thing, especially here in the desert. Wild weather can be scary and destructive and yet there is an attendant exhilaration that goes along with the storms.  Listening to wind slashing through trees makes me wonder if the tree roots are truly strong enough to hold the tree in place.  Rain pelting down has me hoping that my roof is snug.  I worry about where the birds go in these storms.  When they have to cling to a swaying branch all night do they get much sleep?  Are birds grumpy after a night of interrupted sleep?  What is their equivalent of coffee to keep them alert after a stormy night?

We are anticipating (breathlessly!) the first winter storm.  High winds are predicted, along with rain and snow in the high country.  Temperature drop of 20 degrees between today and tomorrow's highs.  Because we have so much sunshine we desert dwellers always enjoy any big changes.  A single cloud in the blue sky "could" morph into a monsoon storm.  There is always hope.  So these impending storms have us excited, waiting impatiently, checking the world outside our windows.  Come on wind! Come on rain.  Let us have it!