Hot and Hazy Weather

And it's not just due to the 100+ degree heat.  We have a wildfire burning on the other side of this mountain (that you can barely see through the smoke).  It's quite a ways away, but the smoke is traveling this way.  I don't think they have it even close to being contained, but I read that it is not threatening any homes, so that is good.

As I was taking this pic, I noticed something on the top of this agave stalk:

Hello Beauregard!

Don't worry little buddy, we're safe here.

Keeping our fingers crossed for some rain to help fight these fires...

Bunny Sunday

Ginger and Turbo had some outside time this morning in the courtyard.  The other bunnies were being lazy and didn't want to get up from their naps.

They ran around a bit and did some exploring before it got too hot out.

What?  Everyone else is getting a treat?

We're outta here.  Happy Bunny Sunday!

Beauregard Returns

My little hummingbird buddy has returned every day since our very special encounter last Friday.  Although I suppose there are probably more than one of his kind buzzing around here, I prefer to think it is him.  :)

Since everyone was as amazed as I was by what occurred, I am posting a little video clip of Beauregard sitting in my hand.  He doesn't do much more than sit there, but you get a better idea of the beautiful colors he sports.  Enjoy!

Rottweiler Wednesday

Boots went in for her spay surgery yesterday.  All went well, but she was pretty out of it the rest of the day.  By the evening though, she wanted to go outside, so we sat on the patio for a bit.  Is this a pathetic pooch, or what?  Poor Boots!

This morning though, she bounced right out of bed at her usual 4:45 a.m.  She even went out and fed the horses with Lee.  Dogs are great, they just roll with the punches and keep on going.  We all should be more like them!

She's now 5 months old and weighing in at 47 lbs.  A full 40 lbs. more than this little furball I brought home back in February:

Happy Rottweiler Wednesday!

Freaky Friday

I just experienced one of the freakiest but COOLEST things.  I was out on the front patio with Boots when I heard a "thud" on the glass of the front door.  I turned around and there at my feet was a tiny little hummingbird, knocked out from the impact.  I scooped it up before Boots could even think about it.  (AND I was lucky enough to have my camera in hand, hoping to catch Boots doing something cute).

Poor little guy (girl?) was out cold.  I held it in my hand like this for at least 10 minutes before it finally started to stir.  I was getting worried that it had died.  I just kept looking at it, amazed at it's tiny size and iridescent bright purple and green feathers. 

After it finally opened it's eyes and perked up, I figured it would fly off.  But, it didn't.  It opened up it's wings and held one of them out to the side.  I thought that it had broken it's wing.  I was thinking, "I wonder if I can keep a hummingbird as a pet?"  How would I feed it?  (yes, seriously these thoughts went through my head!)

So, I tried it:

I think I almost fell over when it stuck it's little beak in the feeder!  All I could think was "how many people get to hold a hummingbird in their hand while it is drinking from a feeder?"

It sat there like this for another 5 minutes or so, drinking off and on while I watched, completely mesmerized by this surreal situation.

And then, all of a sudden it started to "vibrate" in my and and it flew off into one of our mesquite trees.  Just like that.  Leaving me to think, "Did that just really happen?"  

I did a Google search to find out what kind of hummingbird it was.  Turns out it is a Costa's Hummingbird.  Apparently, Tucson is located in their summer breeding territory.  The Costa's Hummingbird was named after French nobleman Louis Marie Pantaleon Costa, Marquis de Beauregard.

See you at the feeder tomorrow Beauregard?

Rottweiler Wednesday

We took Boots for her first trip to the lake last weekend.  Patagonia Lake is a little lake about 35 miles south of us, a nice little day trip.  We stopped and had breakfast on the patio of a little Mexican Cafe first and then made our way to the lake. 

Boots LOVES  the water.  I knew she would, she really likes to splash around in the hose when I'm watering my plants and flowers.  She had fun going out and retrieving sticks.  Just not TOO far out...

I can see that pretty soon, though, she'll be swimming around out in the deeper water.  She just has to get it figured out.

She's getting a lot of new experiences lately.  We are making sure to expose her to new places, new things, people, other dogs, etc.  It's SO important at this stage in her young life and will make for a very well adjusted dog later on.

We had a very tired out puppy on the ride home.

And a tired puppy is a good puppy...

I GIVE UP!

OK Piper, you win.  We've been fighting this fight for a long time now.  Just when I think we're making some progress, I go out to find this:

A HUGE chunk of mane missing right from the middle. 

I've tried just about everything to keep her from rubbing her mane off.  MTG, witch hazel, even diaper rash cream!  Nothing works.  Once summer rolls around, she starts rubbing with a vengeance and this is what we end up with.

Oh, and to add to her "bad hair" issues, the top half of her mane falls on the right side of her neck while the bottom half falls on the left.  I've also been working on that, banding her hair on the top to train it to fall on the left. 

Nice Piper.  I don't think you'll be winning any beauty awards for that mane anytime soon!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway, right?