Rainy Riparian Preserve

My final photo foray in May was to the Riparian Preserve near my home. It had been raining quite a bit, so I was curious as to what was going on there on a cool rainy morning. I came across more critters than I expected. I had to use my zoom quite a bit, but I got lucky with a couple of the birds who allowed me to get closer than usual. There were a couple of guys lugging huge zoom lenses, which I am sure guaranteed them spectacular photos, but I guess I enjoy the "hunt" so to speak. It's much more fun to me to try to get as physically close as possible without scaring away my quarry. Click on a picture to see the actual size image.

Brush Bunny

Mourning Dove on her nest

Great Egret

Greenbacked Heron

Great Egret (l) and Great Blue Heron (r)

Great Blue Herons

There was so much rain, the constant weight of the droplets caused one of a Yucca's spikes to completely bend over.

Here's a closeup of some of the flowers.

I came across some wild sunflowers, I guess they could be considered weeds, but the light, plus the moisture made them look prettier than one I would buy from a florist. This one was especially pretty. In one of the flowers, a large bee was doing his best to snuggle up to the flower to avoid the rain.

Playing Catch-up

It's been forever since I've posted anything. I guess it's been so nice outside for the past two months I didn't want to stay inside and post to my blog. Well, now that we're getting into the triple-digit temps, I thought I'd play a little catch up and add some highlights from the past two months.

In April, while cleaning the glass door leading out to the patio, I noticed a smudge on the stationary panel. It took me a couple of moments to view it in just the right light to make out the shape. It's a tiny handprint from my grandson, Raine. Who knows how long it has been there. I don't clean my glass more than a couple of times a year, it that, so I'm guessing it must be from about a year ago when Raine was almost 3. So far I haven't cleaned it off. I don't get to see my grandson as much as I would like, so every once in a while I sit down and look at it. It was a bit of a challenge to photograph it, but I think it came out okay.

In May, I gave myself a Mother's Day gift. For the longest time, I've wanted to convert my whiskey barrel planter to a fountain. I looked for kits on the Internet and at garden centers, and settled on one from The Home Depot. It's still a work-in-progess, but it's shaping up nicely so far. I added some artificial ivy and my oldest daughter purchased some cute little "froggy fats" that I perched on the rim of the fountain. Here's a closeup of the little froggies.

My family is really fond of a game we call "Zonk". In this game, you roll 6 dice, with the hopes of being the first person to score 10,000 points. In the scoring system, rolling six of a kind is basically an automatic win, as you are awarded 10,000 points. I've been playing this game for over 20 years, and for the first time in my life, I actually rolled six of kind. Six sixes, to be exact. Sure, I could have faked the photo, but I have a witness! I snapped this photo once the shock wore off.

Later in May, I took a solo drive out into the desert. I headed out through Queen Creek and passed by the SanTan Pet Cemetery. It's up for sale if you're interested.

I ended up just southeast of Picacho Peak and snapped a couple of cactus blossom pictures.