Thursday at Borrego Springs

For a change of pace I thought I'd start with a sunrise picture instead of the usual sunset shot.  Thats right, I said SUNRISE....If you know me you know that seeing a sunrise is a very rare occurrence and this one was superb.

 picnic table at the back of our site

Sasha relaxing along side Beluga

Lewis sitting on the front seat watching for Dave and Sasha

dashboard view

As I was taking pictures of our campsite, I kept seeing hummingbirds peering in at me through the windshield.  Turns out they were trying to get at the red balls on the Palm Springs Christmas tree on the dashboard!   Silly birds.  Actually, silly me because I went right out and set up our birdie spa in and under the mesquite bush on the side of Beluga.  Almost immediately the hummers started whizzing in for a drink, they almost knocked my head off as they made kamikaze raids on the feeder.  As soon as I found a good branch for the seed feeder, the rest of the neighborhood dropped by. A  cactus wren, tiny black throated sparrows, even smaller Berwin wren's, white capped sparrows, purple finches, a bevy of California quail, a white winged dove, a bright yellow headed Verdin and even a cocky antelope ground squirrel found their way to the "spa".   It was a busy coffee hour for us, alternating between the binoculars, camera, and coffee cups kept us busy for at least an hour.   Lewis sat quietly, very alert, until the ground squirrel came just a bit too close.  He couldn't help himself and would spring up and boof at it.  As soon as he sat back down, however, the little darling scurried right back.   Kept him busy too!

the shadow in the middle is the wire ex pen I was shooting through, sorry!

After lunch we had a great, long talk with Jesse about the essays he's preparing for MBA applications.
Then we drove out to the desert to where Nina and Paul (and, of course, the sweet miss Polly) are boondocking (free camping in a remote area of the desert).   We took the long way through the desert to find them, but eventually did.  What views they have, and what a wonderful back yard Polly has to play in.
We sat outside, had a refreshing rum and coke and watched the dogs romp and explore. (Lewis and Polly romp, Sasha explores every single bush)   When the sun set and the temperature started to drop, we gathered our black dogs and headed home for dinner.  Dave and Paul made a golf date for Saturday morning and we've been invited back to the "boonies" for a smoked rib dinner on Sunday.  Fun, fun, fun.

Paul and Nina's "beast" on the left

Polly and Lewis in a "mexican standoff" in the desert.
I know the picture is out of focus, but its the best I could do, seems they were always on the move.