Well, after many requests from my hundreds of readers (actually, I think the number is about 6), asking "what does it look like in Arizona", "what does your neighborhood look like", "does anything grow in the desert", "are there snakes, coyotes, mountain lions and other evil creatures in your yard", "are there mountains near you"....and a few others I've forgotten...I decided to load up a few pictures. This morning, we had a very rare rain shower (for this time of year) move through and I took advantage of the beautiful clouds and muted light to run out and shoot a few pictures of the neighborhood, the golf course, the local Verde mountains, our yard, etc. I promise to add more when I can remember to take along my camera. I have to tell you this...the morning and afternoon light here is amazing. It has a yellow cast, unlike any I've ever seen. I now really understand why Georgia O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico to paint and why so many photographers love to do landscape work in Arizona (I'm planning on doing lots of it).
To answer a few of the above questions: Yes, it's green here. The John Wayne cowboy movies never showed it, but the desert is very much alive and beautiful plants live everywhere. Some bloom in the morning, some only at night. We even have orange groves (the orange blossom honey is great) nearby and a pecan orchard down the road. Both of those are on the local Indian reservation (yes folks, it's actually OK to use the term "Indian"). When I was in high school, my English teacher was a Native American and he was adamant that we not use the term "Indian". Times have changed. Now, the older generation like to be called American Indians and the younger generation often use the term "indigenous" or even "aboriginal". The Indians were here roughly ten thousand years before "America" was even a gleam in the eye of the Spaniards or the English....and they want and rightly deserve to be referred to in a way that references that history.
Now, on to the critters. Yes, there are critters out here in the desert. So far, we've had a small bobcat walk right up on our patio. He was looking for one of our quail, who live in the tree by the patio. You probably won't believe this, but the quail hop up into the tree! Yep, I didn't believe it either, but they do. Anyway, as soon as Tuck saw him and let out a howl that raised the dead..he took off and we haven't seen him since. That's a good thing...Tuck wouldn't stand a chance in a face to face battle with a desert-hardened animal who has to kill to survive, even though Tuck outweighs him by at least 40 pounds. Labs are lovers, not fighters. So far, I've seen one snake...and he was crossing the main road into Fountain Hills. I've seen only one coyote running across a neighbors yard, but we can hear them howl at night. Hey, we had coyotes in Punta Gorda....what's the big deal? Anyway, they sound cool. We've seen a couple javelinas (for those of you who don't know about them, they look sort of like a Vietnamese pot belly pig...but meaner). So far, that's about it. Stay tuned....that could change any day. This is, after all, the desert.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading!
Wayne, Claudia & Tuck (the bobcat ninja)