Frozen in Time

Today is National Pink Day, so this week’s topic is…Pink! Not my favorite color, but with a little girl around, it’s plentiful in our house.

High yesterday: 112°. High today: 107°.

Mike and I noticed the other night that our saguaro was a bit crooked. Well, actually I noticed it. Mike said it went in crooked when it was moved. He decided to attempt to straighten it himself, something I would NOT recommend - saguaros are ridiculously heavy and could crush someone beneath if it fell. So, I wasn’t thrilled that he attempted to do this by himself, but after my lecture about being careful, not doing anything stupid, and thinking things all the way through before he did them, he went ahead with it. He used his truck, one of the block planters and a tree to anchor it and he managed to do it safely. The saguaro is straight and Mike is still in one piece, for which I’m grateful.

Taken June 22, 2008.

I don’t get to see my dad very often for reasons I won’t go into at the moment, and when I do see him, it’s hard to see how old he looks. The dad in my head is strong and younger and not nearly as fragile. It’s hard to watch your parents age. He came for a visit today, and I took the opportunity to take some photos. I love the intimacy of the one above. And the one below is one of his characteristic facial expressions.

Taken June 21, 2008. Little Girl at 3 years, 6 months. Dad at 80 years.

Taken June 20, 2008.

Mike took this, but since none of the photos that I took today came out the way I wanted them to, I’m using it! The property up the street from us is 3 acres and they are getting ready to split it into 2 acre and 1 acre parcels. This RV garage is being moved from the acre that is being split to a spot on the 2 acre parcel. It’s really been fascinating watching them prepare an actual building to be moved!

Taken June 19, 2008.

While watering the garden this evening, I saw a weird lump in a hole that had appeared several days ago in one of the garden areas. Upon closer inspection we found this…

Yet another creature in our yard. This one is a Sonoran Desert Toad.

I continued to water the plants and his hole filled up. He disappeared for a bit, but then we saw this…

Taken June 18, 2008.

Well, I have an update on the Killdeer family for you. Unfortunately, it’s not a happy update.

Yesterday afternoon, before I went to my goddaughter’s dance rehearsal, I went out to check on the eggs one last time and there were still two of them and at least one of them was still peck peck pecking away. This morning, I went out to check on them, and there were no eggs, but there was one dead little baby chick. Both the parents were still hovering nearby in the bushes, so Mike and I came to the conclusion that they had removed the egg debris and the other two chicks were most likely hidden safely in the bushes. I looked around a little bit but couldn’t see any sign of them, other than the parents being really mad at me for nosing around.

I took Mike to work (his truck is in the shop this week) and LG and I went to the grocery store. When we got back, I stopped the car on the street across from where the nest is and nosed around some more. They were both there and were both still agitated at me, so again I assumed that they had babies hidden there. But as I was driving up the driveway, I saw something that looked suspiciously like a killdeer egg, so I stopped the car again an got out to investigate. It was indeed an egg that hadn’t hatched all the way. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say it was not a happy ending. So, that still leaves one baby unaccounted for. And a mystery as to what happened to them. Was it the heat? Was it a predator? Is one still alive and well hiding in the bushes? I don’t know that we’ll ever know for sure unless we happen to catch a glimpse of the baby. I feel just awful and sad for the parents because they really tried so hard to take care of their little nest - sitting out there on the eggs through ridiculously hot temperatures. I was really hoping for a happy ending and I hate that there isn’t one. I guess that’s the circle of life, but it still makes me want to cry.

To end on a lighter note, though, we also have a nest in our saguaro and one of those babies fell out. Luckily, even though Melody found it first, Mike was right there, shooed her away and put it safely back in its home. So, at least one baby should have a happy ending.

I’ll try to find something to photograph later. I’m kind of bummed out, though, so I don’t know what it will be.

At my goddaughter’s dance recital dress rehearsal this afternoon.

Taken June 17, 2008.

Links to some of my favorite pictures from other blogs for Week 24:

18 candles

hydrangea

Waking up to the Sun and Clouds

162/366

Gazing at reflections

damsel fly

The Killdeer eggs are hatching! But there’s a mystery. If you remember back when I took the picture of the nest a few weeks ago, there were three eggs in the nest. And according to the kiddos who were visiting my house Friday night and went out to investigate the nest, there were three eggs there then as well. So, somewhere between Friday night and this morning, egg number three disappeared. I would think it hatched (and maybe it did), but there is no sign of any shell anywhere that I could see, so it’s a mystery. I hope the baby is alive and well, but I sort of doubt it. Mike had actually put some fencing around the nest area to keep our dog out of it, so it’s not like predators could easily get to it, but I just don’t know. I’ll hope for the best, though. And maybe tomorrow the babies will get the rest of the way out and I’ll be able to get some photos!

Taken June 16, 2008.