Recent Excursions

Last Monday we went hiking in the Out. (Out. Meaning, outside of a confined space. As in, The Boov who was locked in the freezer said, "Can I come into the Out now?" ---see, The True Meaning of Smekday for further context).

We found so many tadpoles one wonders if a plague of frogs is on its way in the near future. To my great dismay, none of them had sprouted little legs yet, they were all in the squirmy wormy stage. They can wiggle themselves through the water at a fairly fast pace, though, I managed to catch several of them.


And where there are tadpoles, there must be frogs, though usually they are harder to find. Not so where we were hiking:




(He looks like a sluggy bum of a frog all smooshed up in that hole in the rock.)

(I love how they sit on their hands... and his eyes are incredible. Can you see that his skin is iridescent?)


While we were standing at the side of the stream, The Rock noticed a humming bird had come unusually close to us, so we were watching it hover and then...it plopped itself down in a NEST that was Right In Front of Us!

It looks so regal. You should have seen how the branch bobbed and swayed when the wind blew. The little bird didn't seem to notice at all.


We found a snake in the pond, probably enjoying the plethora of tadpoles. And then later in the week, I was with some friends who caught just such a snake in a similar pond. This one, though has a fabulous red and black tongue:




This weekend we mountain biked in Prescott and came across a TON of these:





And one of the oddest looking things I've seen:

This guy has legs like a lizard, but moves like a snake (and seems to be in the process of sprouting a new tail...or maybe he's just dang ugly all the time).

His skin was really shiny too. Like it was slick from being wet. But he really wasn't near any water we could see.



Not all our run-ins with wildlife have been pleasant. Last night it seemed like every animal outside of Prescott had a death wish. We almost hit a chipmunk, a bird, a big dog (or coyote) that was already dead in the road, and a black cow (I was so startled at the sight of the cow...it came into view as we rounded a corner, and it was dark and the cow was black and for a moment I actually thought it was a Huge Dog. I cried out, "IS THAT A DOG?!" The Rock, who was driving and had expertly avoided the animal, said in a calm voice, "No, that's a cow." Duh.)

But those were all the anmials we Didn't Hit. A large jackrabbit wasn't so lucky. In fact, he was plain stupid because he stinkin' ran INTO the side of our car. Crunch. Bump. (I don't have a picture of that...)


Let's end on a happier note. These were in bloom last weekend:



and I jumped out of the car several times to get pictures. Ironically, my favorite shot was taken from the car, by The Rock.


I love springtime in the desert, don't you? --Lu