August is a Wrap!

Corona de Tucson 

August 31, 2024

I have been keeping an eye on the front yard bottlebrush tree.  This immature male Rufous Hummingbird has been hanging out there all week.  He won't be staying around here as he is migrating from Alaska...nearly 4,000 miles they travel...to southern Mexico.  What a treat it was to have him visit for a few days !  

And speaking of migrating...the White-winged Dove has made himself quite at home here.  They migrate here to enjoy the nectar, pollen, fruit, and seeds of the saguaro cactus.  All of this is totally essential to the preservation of the saguaro and ironically the Sonoran Desert is the only place in the entire world where the saguaro cacti exist !

They are so dependent on the saguaro that they time their migration and nesting to match the fruiting schedule. I read an interesting fact...the saguaro seeds are the only tiny seeds the White-winged Dove will bother with and that is because those tiny seeds...2,000 +... sit in a large cup-shaped fruit that makes them plentiful and easy to eat.  

We don't think these White-winged Dove are going anywhere !  

I can't believe August has come, has gone, and is now in the memory bank.  This week was another nice week as we had not one thing on the calendar except to change the AC Filters and pull a few weeds in the yard.  We headed over to Jamie and Andra's last Sunday for a visit and had lunch with them at a nearby Mexican Cafe...Ole Mexican.  It is so cute with all the colorful murals, the service was great, and the shrimp tacos, refried beans, and guac were yummy.  On Thursday, we made a trip to the post office and took the long way home.  Houghton road is a long, straight road almost from the base of the Santa Rita Mountains to Catalina Highway which is the road we go Mt Lemmon on.  We headed west towards the Santa Ritas.  

Headed towards the Santa Ritas....

We stopped for pictures along the way...

  

The road ended and we had to turn around...

The Catalinas in the distance as we headed home...

Friday morning, we went to see if Madera Creek had running water.  We are happy to report that it did.

It's also nice to take a walk with shade...

Back at the oasis, we pretty much carried over what we enjoyed last week...napping, watching the clouds, and rocking on the patio, making for another uneventful and quiet and wonderful week.  I did make parmesan crusted tilapia baked with cherry tomatoes...

and baked cornbread tacos for meals this week.  Sometimes I surprise myself !

To close, I'll just share a few favorite photos from home...

Blue skies and rain squalls...

Agave plant on the patio...

Butterflies are enjoying the frontyard lantana...

This little sparrow was very serious about his bath time...

Early morning sunrise from the cart path...

Brand new leaves on the bottlebrush tree in the backyard...

An early morning sunrise from our backyard...

My sweet mother-in-law said every room needs a touch of red...that should include the yard too...

The hummingbird moths are enjoying the frontyard lantana too...

The rain squalls skirted us this week...not a lot of rain at our house...

 Our sweet little Sally...

Until next time...

Madera Canyon Road...

A local resident at Madera Canyon... 

Sally enjoying her last August morning walk...

HAPPY TRAILS !

P.S. 

Ozzie is very excited college football starts today !  

Have a great week and start to September everyone !

A Nice Week...

Corona de Tucson

August 24, 2024 

Joe had MOHs surgery for a squamous cell skin cancer on the back of his neck Tuesday afternoon.  The rest of our week was quiet, peaceful, restful, uneventful and wonderful.  We read, napped, fed the birds, watered flowers, laughed at the birds, studied the clouds, enjoyed the storms, and rocked on the patio.  All is good at our little oasis. 

I did spend time on the computer sorting thru photos...hundreds (and hundreds) of photos... that need to be organized and deleted and I only made a small dent.  It's a fun project and a trip down memory lane for sure.  Sally keeps me company...

Teenagers...

One of our emergency flood/wind weather alerts was on Thursday. It was trash pick-up day and we had a few empty trash containers float right by our house on their way to the reservoir... 

We are glad all our trees are still staked.  I thought the bottlebrush tree in the back might break...

Mornings usually start out sunny with clear blue skies...

Clouds roll in...sometimes it rains and sometimes it doesn't.   

We enjoy the rain and the fresh desert air the next morning after it rains during the night.  

The hummingbirds have been busy this week.  I have a small feeder we use in the summer because of the hot temps.  I fill it everyday.  This week it has been empty every morning when we head out to feed our other feathered friends. 

Always on guard...

I did practice trying to focus thru the fence...the blurry line down the middle of the photo is the iron fence.  

The Desert Broom bush is just on the other side of the cart path we walk on behind our home...

These two coyotes were on the tree line at the far side of the "fairway" that is not a fairway anymore.  Lots of blurry fence bars.... 

I zoomed in on the coyote in the back.  Joe and I haven't seen a lot of coyotes lately...the desert grasses and bushes are so tall, we almost didn't see these!

A couple of posts ago, I wasn't sure about the ID for the bird below.

Jeff and Janna came to the rescue.  It is a female Vermillion Flycatcher.  She is such a pretty little bird and I'm glad to finally see her.  The mister has perched on the fence a few times this week...there is no doubt about his ID !  

The cactus wrens continue their noisy, grumpy antics.  

The Gamble's continue to gather...

and scatter...

 That's a wrap on our week...until next time,

HAPPY TRAILS !

And have a happy week !