We did nothing to celebrate St. Patty's Day. It was just another glorious day here in southern Arizona. Well, Paul wore a green Dublin T shirt, but thats about it.
The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and wonderfully warm - but....tremendous winds blew. Nina was off exploring with her bike, Dave was inside Beluga retrieving binoculars, Paul and I were sitting innocently outside enjoying the day. All of a sudden, seemingly from out of the blue, a dust devil filled with tumbleweed clumps raced over us. Chairs tipped over, the dogs ran for us and dust and dry brush blew every which way. Dave was just opening Beluga's door to come back out as the dervish arrived and it nearly ripped the door off the hinges. My dashboard plants blew over and pieces of tumbleweed and dust forced their way in.... And then it was gone. It all happened so fast, I didn't have time or the presence of mind to get my camera out so you could see for yourselves. We all laughed about it.....what an emotional girl mother nature is!
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| can you see us? |
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| one of the trails at White Water Draw |
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| Incoming.... |
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| we're so glad there are still some hanger's on, most have moved on by now |
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| two of the probably 30,000 cranes that are here during the winter |
On our way back from our last "Crane walk" we stopped by the Great Horned Owls in the barn. I wanted to find an Owl pellet to dissect and Mr. Owl happily obliged. I picked up my prize with a kleenex and we took it back to share with Paul and Nina. After flooding it with water, we discovered a few tiny bones, lots of fur and a cool little skull with its jaws and teeth intact! Once again, small pleasures. I didn't take any pictures, didn't want to gross you out......
Thanks to Paul, you are able to read this blog tonight. Things went haywire last night and neither Dave nor I had any idea what to do about it. We were resigned to days, maybe weeks, of no internet and plenty of angst, but....Paul came to our rescue....
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| Paul at work |
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| Polly at play |
Polly came along with Paul, ostensibly to lend her assistance, but she really comes to Beluga to play with Lewis' toys...
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| sunset at the end of another happy day |
We do Owl dissecting in school. After the students yuck a bit they have fun discovering all the goodies inside.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Paul!!! We would be devastated without the internet blog for days...that's just not acceptable for Dave/Sue's northeast friends, family and acquaintances! Lovely to have a techie nearby ...I need one on my shoulder every day!
ReplyDeleteYes, Mother Nature is a sensitive one! Glad that it was brief and all's well.
Crocus' are up here. Snow's lessening ...tho another storm predicted soon. But, spring's on its way! Saw our first doe and fawn yesterday.
We've had more sustained winds here in Dragoon for the past couple of afternoons. Giant gusts and whirlwinds will come through then taper off to steady wind for awhile, before gusting again. I love a big wind, especially when we don't have to drive in it!
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to have seen pictures of the pellet dissection!
;-)
The desert is wonderful...most of the time. But sand and wind don't mix! It was very windy here, as well.
ReplyDeleteSo cool to think about getting an owl pellet! I use to read about an owl and then have the students do owl pellets. Always a fun discovery time.
Never thought to examine owl droppings. Very cool. Just to let you know, I will probably be quoting that segment of your blog on my blog. I think it's very interesting and may encourage others to search for the "prize"!
ReplyDeleteOh, glad that there were still some hanger's on waiting for you guys to show up :)
ReplyDelete-MonaLiza