Here we are nearly at the end of May!  Wow!  The year is hitting it's half-way point.  

Yesterday afternoon we watched the eclipse through specialty cardboard glasses.  The shades were so dark it was like having a blindfold on except when you looked toward the sun.  It was fascinating watching the slow but steady progress of the black moon crossing over the blinding orange sun.  I heard that is not going to happen again here in my life time!  Glad I got to witness it.

As I said in my previous post, the cactus have been going crazy blooming since we had the rain.  My desert willow tree is also loaded with blooms.  I took lots of pictures to share.

Our weather has been about the best we get lately.  The only time I notice the wind is when it's NOT blowing cuz it just blows all the time.  We are not getting the monsoon thunderstorms in the afternoons yet.  There is just not enough humidity in the air.  It was about 10% yesterday.  Once the humidity goes up to about 50% and the wind changes to the right direction, the monsoon will come.  Usually not until about the 4th of July.

This morning I watched as 2 Gambel Quail crossed the back yard followed by about 10 little ones.  They are so cute and too fast to get a picture.  I did get a picture of the Gilded Flicker that has a nest in the top of our Saguaro Cactus.  I also saw a bright yellow Warbler sucking nectar from the Desert Willow flowers.  Our yard is overflowing with birds.  The swallows have completed their nest over the front door.  They will be hatching babies in a matter of weeks.


Steve and the grand kids caught 2 scorpions and a centipede.  They put them in jars for me to see.  Creeped me out!  Ugh!  It was fascinating to watch the big scorpion kill and eat the smaller one though.  Gruesome but fascinating!  The remaining scorpion is the biggest one we've seen around here and it is so fat we are wondering if it is full of eggs.  We have Bark's Scorpions.  They aren't very big as far as scorpions go, but they have the worst sting.  This one is probably a little over an inch long, not counting the nice tail with the wicked stinging barb at the end! Yikes!


The rattlesnakes are out too.  We've seen some on the roads but have not had any close encounters so far.  I pray that they avoid our little piece of desert this year.  My daughter saw a skunk cross the road.  The tarantulas don't usually show themselves til monsoon.  So much to look forward too! 


Enjoy the flowers!