My Charmed Life

You know how some weeks (or days) can seem perfect; the last couple of weeks fall somewhere in that range. It started a couple Sundays ago with what would end up being a final tune-up ride before what was the last running of the  El Tour of The Tucson Mountains.

We opted for trails vs. roads since we had a bit of a late start. We were met by unseasonably warm sun and a flurry of wildlife. Tops on the list was a mid-sized rattler begging me to pull over and take a closer look. Counter to all common sense and education I’ve received of course. Fortunately by the time I turned around he had started to slither back toward cover which included crossing under a fence affording me some measure of protection. Dumb, I know, yet too good to resist. 

 

Overall it was a nice ride marred somewhat by a rather nasty crash (not me!). 

I was also lucky enough to get to rack up 13 run-miles one day thanks to a couple (canine) clients. Minus the lizard diversions they’re solid runners and it made for maybe the highlight of the week. 

Oh, and one afternoon of the same week included a dip in the pool (with permission of course!) of the (human)client. That gets filed under WorkPerks! 

Wait, the highlight may be finalization of my research on composting. It mostly ended with a trip to visit with the composting lady at the local Botanical Garden/Center.  If she didn’t have a full-time career (she’s a volunteer at the gardens) I’d make her an offer to come out and help get me started. This gal knows all things home-composting. With the end of the research came the purchase of a composting unit. We’ll go into that later. 

Golden Blooms of the Foothills Palo Verde

Late in the week, or maybe it was the next week as sometimes my great days blend together, the critter count ticked up yet another notch as I was driving through the neighborhood. The desert is in near full bloom and a big part of the spring bloom includes the Foothills Palo Verde (AZ state tree). We have a bunch of them in the yard and they line the neighborhood like the oak, elm and maple along Polk/Waterbury/Ingersoll neighborhoods. Ok, only not so tall. As I was putting away the camera (phone)I saw the beginning of something pretty normal; a couple of Gambel’s quail. We have them everywhere–I mean everywhere. Yards, houses, trees, streets. In fact the builders of our home installed metal fencing with cutouts of them as part of the metal. Everywhere.
I paused for a second before putting the car back in gear to let them cross the street and as I looked up I couldn’t believe what I saw: the quail were escorting and seemingly yelling at a Gila Monster crossing the street right in front of me! Unusual because the Gila Monster are very rarely seen just wandering around–especially in a neighborhood. I fumbled to get out my camera as it ambled just a few feet in front of the car, quail escort in tow. Camera out I tried to switch to video but couldn’t and settled for a couple poor quality photos through the wind-shield before the troop made its way into the undergrowth on the other side of the road.

Gila Monster Chased by Gambel’s Quail

 

Time for a go-everywhere camera upgrade. I may never have another shot at something like this.
As if all this weren’t enough I can toss in another. Another client over and he’s a little energetic guy; a little MinPin and pretty young. Lots of hopping around and lizard chasing. One day he refused to come in so I took a look at what had piqued his interest and of course it couldn’t be as simple as a yard lizard. Nope–this time he’d treed a rat. Well; not exactly treed it. Unsure how to give it a label. He had her trapped between a wall and a shed out back clinging to the wall spider-man style. Poor thing was terrified and took me some maneuvering to get it down so it’d zip under the fence and out of the yard.

Yoshii Trapped Mouse (Scaling the wall)

Even worse it was a mom and she was so scared she left behind a baby which I scooped up with a rake and put right out where the mom slipped out of the yard. Checked later and he was gone so either the mom came back to pick it up or some other wildlife had a snack. Either way a win.

Yeah, all in all I think it’s pretty charmed and I don’t get much argument from Ames; in fact sometimes I think she’d trade hers for mine. Almost.

AniMal