Mother Nature at last had mercy on us and the blasting winds stopped on Sunday morning.  What a relief!  The temperature also dropped a bit, into the 80s.  

I decided to move our three little goats from the northwest pasture to the old turkey pen in the southeast corner of the front yard.  Of course, one cannot just move animals without some changes and forethought.  The turkey shelter, while plenty big enough for the little goats, was too close to the fence.  We moved it so that the goats would not be able to jump on the roof and high-tail it over the fence and down the hill.  Steve also added an overhang at the back for additional cover from the sun and rain.  We also moved the feeder.  It is a big strong wooden box so we placed it on the wagon and rolled it onto place.  Then we had to remove the old chicken wire that kept the turkeys in so that the goats can get the hay out of the feeder.  After cleaning up the area and moving water buckets, we were ready to move the goats.

Frankie and Georgie have collars so all we had to do was get a hold on the collar and snap a lead on them.  Billy does not have a collar.  He was given to us by a neighbor and is somewhat skid-dish.  He loves to get cookies out of my hand but he stays just out of reach, not allowing petting or catching.  So, we figured we would have to lasso him and drag him, kicking and bleating, over to the new place.  Steve was walking Frankie and Georgie down to the gate to close it.  Those two walk pretty easily on the leads.  Since goats are herd animals, I thought maybe Billy would follow them instead of having to be dragged.  I went in the barn and got a can full of grain.  I opened the gate and started rattling the can and calling Billy.  Steve walked ahead of me while I called and coaxed Billy, rattling the grain can all the time.  I stopped and let Frankie and Georgie have a taste of the corn which caused Billy to take note.  He wanted his share of that treat too.  He started following!  All the way to the new pen!  Wow!  Sometimes quiet and gentle beats foolery and force.  Lots less sweat too! Ha!


In honor of Memorial Day, thanks to all the veterans and people who serve in the military.  We would not be America today if not for their brave and selfless sacrifice.  And, as a former military spouse, I thank all the spouses too.  Their support and sacrifice makes lives easier for those who serve. Thank you all!


And, Happy 30th Birthday to our son, Sam.  Our love and prayers are always with you!

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!

Happy Mother's Day! 

On May 9th, we had our first big thunderstorm of the season with rain and hail.  Now all the cactus are blooming madly and are quite beautiful.  It is getting hot too.  We hit 100 degrees today.  Of course that temperature is the signal to start swimming again which we did today.  The water is still quite invigorating to say the least. 

On May 10th, we had the alpacas sheared for the year.  We had a new shearer this year, a young lady named Lacey and her helper from a neighboring farm, Melissa.  The ladies were fast and efficient, completing the 3 boys in just about one hour.  All the boys had fighting teeth removed again and Prince finally had his huge front teeth cut down to size.  He seems much more comfortable now.  

After the shearing all the alpacas seemed rather dazed.  They would not even come near me when I fed them the next morning! Ha!  Didn't trust me after that is my thought.  They are slowly coming around again.  Now that it is hot again they cannot stay away when they see me drag the hose over.  They love to get sprayed with a nice cool shower of cold water.

The girls, my daughters that is, a friend and I took a "girl's day out" and went to La Encantada Mall in northwest Tucson.  We ate lunch at an upscale restaurant.  Some of us had mahi mahi tacos and some of us ate salmon and fried spinach.  It was quite a treat.  After lunch we walked around the mall and checked out all the interesting shops and stores that we don't usually get to visit in our neighborhood shopping centers or Walmart. We visited Victoria's Secret, Cold Water Creek, Anthropology, Crate and Barrel and Williams-Sonoma to name a few.  The mall itself is different in that it is 2 stories and has a big outdoor courtyard with fountains and huge trees.  It is also high above Tucson and the views of the city from there are spectacular.  What a great Mother's Day treat for all of us!

Also this week I got through my yearly check up with flying colors.  I have to continue on a couple of medications but do not have to add any.  I hope to get a call from a dietician sometime in the coming week.  In spite of using my treadclimber faithfully, I am not losing weight so the doctor recommended the dietician.  He or she will probably tell me I am eating too much, but we shall see.  Sometimes getting older really sucks!

I got my workroom cleaned up and reorganized after purging stuff for the yard sale.  I have plenty of room now to get some sewing and writing done.  Hopefully this week I will feel motivated and get myself in gear.  Then again, the pool whispers to me...

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter.  Ours was very nice.  Steve and I got up early to hide eggs for the grandkids.  We hid them all over the yard, under plants, in trees, and even in the flower pots.  An hour later, Steve yells at me, "Buddy is eating the eggs!"  Yikes!  I ran out and, sure enough, that smart old beast had eaten about half the eggs!  He cracked open the plastic eggs and ate all the jelly beans and chocolate eggs right out of them.  Wouldn't you know, it was only the ones I had hidden!  He didn't get as far as the back yard where Steve hid most of his eggs before we caught him!  I was afraid that he would be ill but he never was.  So much for revenge!  I ended up collecting all the eggs again.  I washed the shells Buddy had slobbered on and refilled them with candy.  Then Steve and Jeff hid the eggs all over again just before the egg hunt so they could watch that wiley dog!  

I used the good China for the Easter meal.  We had ham and potato salad.  Our daughters made bread and dessert.  Boy, was I stuffed!

On April 5, I noticed the return of the barn swallows.  I have no idea why, but the sight of them soaring and diving after being gone all winter, filled me with an inexplicable joy!  I love those little birds!

I spent the week after Easter getting ready for the yearly neighborhood yard sale.  It is a lot of work and I never really feel like I have much to offer.  But this year I decided to empty my over crowded book shelves and sort through my closets and drawers for all the clothes I haven't worn in over a year.  I ended up having over 150 books and quite a pile of magazines.  Last time I did this, a couple of years ago, I had the magazines out for 10 cents a piece.  They did not sell at all.  So this year I sold them for  5 cents a piece and gave one away for free.  They went like hotcakes!  I also sold my hard back books, which I love and hate to give up, for .25 each or 5 for $1.00,  I sold over half of them as well.  I put out my aprons and stuff that I made for the Farmer's Market this past summer.  NONE of it sold!  Not one piece!  People freak out when they see the price of new stuff at a yard sale!  

The first day of the yard sale went really well.  The weather was sunny and warm but not hot.  In the afternoon the wind picked up as usual.  By Saturday we were having rain, snow and sleet.  I tried to keep the sale open.  I even had about 5 or 6 hardy souls visit and buy a few things.  But after an hour with no customers and the pouring rain and cold I decided to close up shop.  I didn't do too badly.  We took in a little over $100 for one day's sale.  I just won't count all the work up to the sale!


The weather is back to sunny, if not quite warm yet.  I hung clothes out on the line to dry this morning.  The weather people promise we will be back in the 80s by the end of the week.  I hope so cuz I put all my winter stuff away all ready.


Sandy's little doxie seems to be pretty much back to normal and has not stopped challenging the bigger dogs.  Prince continues to take his medicine easily so all is well at the moment.  I have not heard back from any shearers as yet.  They are a strange lot, just busy I guess.  I posted pictures of the alpacas at the yard sale.  One lady said, "Oh!  You have Appaloosas?"  
"No, I don't have horses," is all I said.  Hehehe!

Last week it seemed that Spring had really sprung, but today we are getting blasted with 30-50 mph winds and only about 60 degrees!  Yikes!  Oh well!  I suppose I should be grateful that it is not blowing snow and hail stones again!

I have been giving Prince his valley fever medication for about 3 weeks now.  He has been very good about taking it.  I put the two good sized pills in a handful of grain and he runs to the fence to get it.  Sometimes I have to push the other two away but I do give them a little grain too after I make sure that Prince has gotten both pills.  This takes place at the morning and evening feedings.  I am about out of feed again.  I'll have to send Steve to get more tomorrow.

This weekend we spent getting our #3 daughter relocated to an apartment closer to her work.  It is a one bedroom but plenty big enough for her and her little dog.  Poor dog!  He is just a little miniature dachshund and he was attacked by a much bigger dog about 2 weeks ago.  It turned out he had several puncture wounds and a broken rib.  The vet put him on antibiotics and pain pills for about a week.  He seems to be doing fine even though the vet said it will take about 2 months for the rib to heal.  The dogs in the new apartment complex all seem about the same size as Chewy.  So maybe he'll be better off there.  Also, our daughter can now walk to her work.  That is a big help to me.


I moved most of my plants back outside last week when the weather was so nice.  Now they are getting blasted by the wind.  The wind was so bad and so cold this morning that I decided to wait til this afternoon to water.  I hope all the plants aren't dead from the drying blasting wind and no water.  In this hostile desert, watering plants becomes a ritual every day just behind feeding the livestock.


The little tomato plants that I put outside will have to be replaced.  I planted about 20 .  Each day I have fewer and fewer.  I think I am down to about five now.  No, it's not the wind or water.  It is the birds!  They are eating up the little leaves as soon as they appear!  So frustrating. Sometimes I have to remind myself why I moved here.  It was for the warm weather and our grandkids.  I guess if I ever want a really great garden, I'll have to stick to cactus and mesquite trees or move back east! Ha!


I took some pictures of the weather front that moved in about the 19th of last month.  It brought lots of wind then and snow and hail.  Now the weather people are warning us of fire danger again.  Why didn't I move to Hawaii???  Oh yeah!  It cost too much, it's surrounded by ocean and none of my grandkids live there!

Burr!  It is cold!  We have been in a winter storm watch since Saturday.  The wind has been howling and hitting 45 mph.  This morning it is snowing and hailing and the wind has not diminished at all.  The road is a sloppy mess and my car needs a good wash again.  But the weatherperson has promised that the storm will be gone by tomorrow and we will be in the 80s again by midweek.

The vet came out on Tuesday as promised.  The Valley Fever tests came back on Friday, also as promised.  The news was good and bad.  Stewie and Cimarron tested negative, but Prince's test came back positive.  Today I talked to the vet and picked up medication for Prince.  She said he may never get sick, just carry the fever.  It is unpredictable.  I am still working with the lady who showed interest in taking the boys.  She will have to decide about these results.  I'm hoping she will come visit some day this week.

The alpacas really showed their personalities when the vet was out.  There were 3 of us, all women who had to catch them and hold them while the vet took blood.  We caught Cimarron fairly easily and he stood stoically while the vet stuck the needle in his neck and took his blood.  Then we caught Stewie.  Stewie did not want to be caught so he bucked and dodged and squirmed right out of my hold.  The vet stood back and said," If you 2 can't hold them, we'll have to get a man to do this!"  Well, I just looked at her because Steve had taken the whole day off before and she had not shown up!  But we showed her anyway, the vet tech and I.  The second time we caught Stewie , we caught him in the barn and crowded him into a corner so he could not escape.  He still did not cooperate however.  He cushed!  Just laid down and then bounce up whenever the vet tried to stick the needle in him.  So the vet tech pushed down on his hind quarters and I held his head and neck while simultaneously pushing down on his withers with my knee.  I paid for that for several days afterwards with a very sore gluteus maximus!

Then it was time to catch Prince.  He was the hardest to catch but he stood quietly while the vet did her thing without moving or flinching.  He had a good trainer named Liz!

I need to put a beeper on my glasses!  I carry them around with me then leave them when I have to pick something up, go away and WAAAA!!!  I can't find them again til I back track everywhere I went in the last half hour, which could be a lot of places!  Anyway, I found them now.

Some of the seeds I planted last week are coming up already.  I am watering the raised bed outside so it will be ready to plant soon.  Our humidity has raised to a whole 4% and there is no rain in sight, at least not this week.  We are supposed to have sunny, blue skies and temperatures in the 80s.  Wonderful! 

The vet was supposed to come out yesterday morning to draw blood from the alpacas for the valley fever test.  She never showed up.  It turned out that she had an emergency surgery that took an hour and a half and then she had to perform an autopsy on a 3 year old male alpaca that had died suddenly.  Turns out the alpaca belonged to the lady who might take my boys.  She was devastated.  She did not tell me why the alpaca died.  She may not know yet.  She did say it was her favorite male.  I felt really bad for her.


Saturday we celebrated the birth of our first grandson.  He turned 10 years old!  Unbelievable!  That means we have lived on this windy desert hill for 8 years now.  One of my alpacas, Prince (Shoot to you, Liz) is now also 8 years old.  Cimarron, gray with a white face, is 6 and Stewie, beige, is 5.  My little red dog, Penny, a Tibetan Spaniel, is 14 or 15 years old.  I think she tried to kill herself this past week.  She started spewing really dark diarrhea about every hour or so.  She got me up every hour one night, scratching on the door to go outside.  I gave her a single pepto bismal tablet which seemed to slow things down a bit.  She was still eating.  She acted a little sheepish because she didn't get out in time a couple of times.  My bedroom stunk to high heaven!  Ugh!  Anyway, I think I might have figured out what she ate, CHOCOLATE!  The poo was the same color as dark chocolate and I saw her snatch a little piece of chocolate pop tart off the couch this morning before I could grab it.  I hope she doesn't get sick again.  She literally poisoned herself.  Poor baby!  I'll have to be more diligent in picking up after the grandkids or anyone else who happens to leave chocolate around or dropped on the floor.  With Easter coming, it may be a chore.


Back to the grandson's birthday, we went to "Funtastics" which is a fun park in Tucson.  You pay one price for a certain amount of time and get unlimited access to all the rides and miniature golf.  The little kids liked the flying dragons the best.  The big boys and the men liked the go-carts.  It was the perfect day for the outing.  The sun was out, no wind and it was about 70 degrees.  Fabulous!


The vet is supposed to stop by today on her way to Tucson.  I hope she does.  I really want to get this test out of the way and find a new home for the alpacas.