Sunday, March 29, 2009

Dragonfly



Michael called for me to get my camera quickly.

I grabbed it and ran outside to see a VERY large dragonfly just sitting on the patio. He sat there and posed for me and was still sitting there when I finished. Not at all disturbed by how close I got with the camera.

More yard work



Today (Saturday) the young men we had hired to help us clean up the yard came and worked on the rockery around the house.

In 6 hours they managed to move all the rocks, dig up the roots to buffel grass and other weeds, then apply RoundUp and put all the rocks back for half of that rockery.

Thursday afternoon they are planning on coming back to hopefully finish up that area of the rocks before we move on to other areas!

Boy, they worked hard. Saw several centipedes, scorpions, spiders and they believe one baby rattle snake (but we're notabsolutely sure what kind of snake it really was and it is a little early for the young rattlesnakes). We even saw a live pack rat go running by after they lifted a large rock and disturbed it -  And a pretty big lazy lizard resting in a prickly pear.

Monday, March 23, 2009

The Cacti are starting to bloom and the first Javelina









Our Hedgehog and Barrel Cacti are starting to bloom!

The saguaros won't be too far behind.

Some of the Ocotillo are blooming but others are trailing behind.

BUT we saw our first Javelina in our yard Sunday morning. We have seen signs that they have been here for quite some time but we hadn't seen them. How exciting.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

What a great and productive weekend!



















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My sister and brother-in-law, Beverly and Cliff, drove down from Avondale (just west of Phoenix) to help us with projects.

They arrived Thursdsay evening and left earlier this afternoon (Sunday).

Michael and Cliff concentrated on electrical issues with a few other items thrown in.

We now have all our low voltage lights working around our driveway and we added a couple to highlight more trees. They identified all the wires and fixed the problems with both lights and broken wires. They reburied the wires when they finished and it looks great! We all went out last night and adjusted the lights for the best tree view. Cliff managed to back in to a prickly pear! Ouch!

They also changed out our motion sensing spotlights on the garage and the breakfast nook with brighter and more sensitive lights.

Cliff removed some poles I could not get out of the ground and some rebar that had been used to support trees that I couldn't get out with hammers!

However, the first project they started on was a new socket in the middle of the steps in our hallway. A simple - maybe 40 minute - job that took all three days to finish. There turned out to be horizontal 2x4s in the wall supporting a vent pipe between the electrical source and where we directed Cliff to cut the hole. With the hole we were committed and through many hours of work and a lot of brainstorming they managed to finish the new socket without damaging the wall anywhere. Michael even got to use his orthopedic skills to remove the old electrical box. We're waiting to see if our medical insurance will pay for the procedure and the damaged hands of both Michael & Cliff.

And for everybody's information the power was off so all those wires touching Michael's hammer were not active.

We now have new dimmer switches in our bedroom and by our jacuzzi and a motion sensor switch for one set of inside garage lights.

You can see that Cliff and Michael had to remove and replace all the boxes that make up the modular box springs for our air mattress.

Beverly and I concentrated on vacuuming (several times) the carpeting and then shampooing all the carpeting in the house to get rid of cat hair from the previous owners - of course, we had to move all the furniture from the two bedrooms including all the boxes of books. I must admit Beverly did all the vacuuming and shampooing - I was the support crew for both Beverly and Michael and Cliff.

Washed the mop boards. Painted many areas of the house. Repainted the outside furnace doors and doorframe.

Recut the pool cover.

Worked on the pool scale again and so on - you get the picture!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Bird Watching in Agua Caliente Park


















We managed to drag ourselves out of bed at an earlier hour than usual and join Ed and Joanne for a guided bird walk at Agua Caliente Park.

Saw a lot of birds and according to our guides a few of those are not often seen and a few are only found in this part of Arizona.

Had a wonderful time!