Optimism Is

Yesterday was the rabies vaccination expedition to the Deming Animal Clinic for dogs and the cat. Everybody was due except Sandia, who's a year off the schedule.

This included the nearly 13 year old Randir the Scottish Deerhound (which the clinic hilariously recorded as a Scottish Terrier...).

It's a 3 year vaccination.

That's optimism.

Living Bottle Brushes and Desert Porn..

Yep.  We're growing bottle brushes,

and these yellow, fuzzy balls (protected from the trunk on up by very sharp thorns!),

And if this isn't just a little bit disturbing.... I don't know.

Some of the many life-forms popping up in the yard now.  And there's more we're going to miss because we're about to take off on a 7 week torture tour. (See schedule to the right).  And I can say without any problem at all that if we'd had any inkling we were going to be settling down to a life of landed gentry we certainly wouldn't have committed to the bulk of these.  By the time we get back this will all be gone, I'm sure.  The next excitement will come when the rains start in August.

If anyone can ID these plants, please do so in the comments section.  Adios!

UPDATE:  big Hat Tip to friend Val (who should know!)  From the top:

Bottle Brush...  and I thought I was making a joke,

Sweet Acacia,

and the small yellow flower with the 10 (10 is the number and the  number shall be 10) massive erections stamens is

Desert Bird of Paradise!

We also have an almond tree!

Busy Busy Busy..

No rest for this little guy.  He's working the ocotillo from sunrise to sunset.  My "blind" is just sitting in the parked car next to the flowers.  I wanted to add this because I noticed the shot of the black chinned hummer I posted the other day is actually out of focus when you click to enlarge it.  Not so on this, which is my best hummer shot ever!  Click it.

In The Yard Today.

Tarantula Hawk.  Check it out, this is one big wasp.  The body is about 2" long.  Click the link for the scientific stuff.

Wow! That's A Lot of Pixels!

You won't believe your eyes.  Hat Tip to Frank Vigneri..  Hmm, I've got some tree frog close ups in my archives...

Birds and Blooms.

In the past, we're usually long gone from Deming by this time of year.  We've never seen the bursting forth of life that starts happening in the desert about this time of year.  Now that we live here, that's about to change.   Having  the plants we have in the yard gives us a front row seat.

First up is the Ocotillo,
of which we have half a dozen samples in the yard.  A couple of weeks ago, they sprouted a group of red buds at the ends of their "stalks".  I took a closer look at them and realized that they would bloom even further, but I had no idea this plant that actually looks dead most of the year, would bloom like this.

The nectar naturally attracts members of the local hummingbird population, like this Black-chinned Hummingbird .

There's another, larger hummingbird hanging around, but I haven't captured his image yet.  It's either a Broad-tailed, or a Ruby-throated.  My money's on the Broad-tail.

Not hanging around the Ocotillo, but a new bird for me, is this 

Wilsons Warbler.  A bird that looks like it bought a bad toupee.

I've also seen a Scott's Oriole in the yard on a couple of occasions now, but haven't got its picture yet.

This is only the beginning.  I can't wait to see what happens with the prickly pear cactus.  Still no sign of the Mexican Poppies on the mountainside.  Still waiting.  If it happens while we're still here, (we have to take off on a shooting trip late next week), you'll be the first to see it.

"The Bird" 1954-2009

All through its history, there has never been a shortage of characters in baseball.  In 1976, there was no bigger character than the Detroit Tigers Mark "the Bird" Fidrych.

It was quite a jolt watching the local news tonight and hearing that Fidrych was found dead under his dump truck in Massachusetts today.

In 1976 I was living in Saginaw, MI. The local and national media was all abuzz about this eccentric, but amazingly talented pitcher who was starring for the Tigers.   Several of us with the day off, decided to drive the hundred miles south to see Fidrych pitch.  We got there, but the game was rained out.  We spent the next several hours drinking beer at the legendary Lindell AC bar.  So, while we missed seeing history on the mound, we did spend some time in a historic bar before schlepping back to Saginaw.

R.I.P.  Bird and the bar.