Cactus Kate

**AHEM**  The big news of the month:  We have a nest of baby Robins right now!  They are just outside and above our back door.  Mrs. Robin built her nest over the last 2 weeks, and laid her eggs.  We have been watching her.  A few days ago, I came home to find Rich up on the ladder, taking photos of the babies.  I was worried that the mom wouldn’t come back, but as soon as Rich took the ladder down, Mrs. Robin came back, and fed her babies.  Here are some of the pictures Rich took:

In all their ugliness, they are very sweet, and endearing.  And helpless.  I think they are beautiful.  They are amazing.  I am so happy that Mrs. Robin chose our tree for her nest!

I am very proud right now.  Not only are there Robin babies, but I have vegetables!  I have only had a serious garden about 3 times in my life, and they have never done all that well.  This year is not an exception…my garden itself is not doing well.  However, I have a very happy tomato plant in a pot, and a very happy cucumber plant (also in a pot).

The tomato is producing lots of tomatoes.  The first should be ripe and ready for consumption tomorrow.  They are beautiful.

I have one cucumber.  This took many aborted cucumbers.  I am not sure what made the plant do this, but I had a bunch of little cukes, and they shriveled and died.  I have ONE cucumber right now that looks like it may actually survive.  The ones that aborted were beautiful.  I never realized how amazing cucumbers are before they are fully grown.  Here are some pictures of the cukes that have gone to the Great Garden in the Sky:

…and here is the ONE I have now that is going to make it (think positive thoughts, please):

I think what amazed me the most about these cucumbers is that they grew the actual fruit, and THEN put out a flower.  Most fruits and veggies, it seems to me, put out the flower first, and once it is pollinated, the fruit grows.  As you can see on the above cucumber, the fruit is already about 3 inches long, and the flower has just opened.

Today, there was a Lesser Goldfinch in my front yard.  I didn’t know they stayed in Moab over the summer, but I guess they do.  Here is one, denuding the dandelions in the lawn:

On June 26th, I shaved Mindy.  This is a yearly ritual in which I remove 3 dogs’ worth of fur from my one small dog.  To say that this is NOT Mindy’s favorite activity is a major understatement.

To shave a furry dog like Mindy, you must first cut off most of the fur with scissors.  I think she likes this less than the actual shaving.  You would not believe how much fur can grow on such a small dog!  Here is a before shot, so you can see my furry little beast:

Rich happened to be in the yard taking pictures when I finished the scissors portion of the clipping, and he got a shot of her between scissoring and shaving.

I didn’t get any pictures of me actually shaving her.  She barely holds still and submits to the shaving…I didn’t want to add insult to injury, and photograph her misery.  However, here are some shots from after it was over.  She was well rewarded for her patience, and was so much happier and cooler!

Good dog.

Rich and I were dropped off at **a road** (a ‘concerned citizen’ has asked that I change names of places) at about 7:30 in the morning yesterday, and hiked home.  It was a long day, involving a few twisted ankles, a scraped shin, a little sunburn, some hot and tired paws, and a great time!  Below is a view from the top, looking down toward **our town** from the top of the canyon we hiked.  **Our town** rim is the highest thing on the right-side horizon.

We saw lots of lizards (but nothing exciting like a collared lizard), lots of birds, a cute little toad (which I think is a Great Basin Spadefoot toad), but no furry wildlife.  Also, there was lots of evidence of others who had been there.

The wildflowers are still beautiful out there in the desert.  Below are a Sand Verbena (Abronia fragrans), some yellow beeplants (Cleome lutea) with globe mallows (Sphaeralcea coccinea), an unidentified purple flower (in the hope that someone out there will know what it is…sorry for the bad photo!), and Anderson’s larkspur (Delphinium andersonii) with a Yucca.

Some Yellow Salsify (Tragopogon dubius), Sand Dock (Rumex something), and a Penstemon I can’t identify.  The Penstemon was the most true shade of blue you can imagine!:

A woolly locoweed (Astragalus mollissimus), and some Skyrockets (Gilia aggregata):

Opuntia erinacea v. ursina times 2, and I am embarrassed to admit how bad I am with the names of our native Opuntias, but here is one with a Silvery Townsendia (Townsendia incana):

These are painted milk vetch (Astragalus ceramicus) pods.  The plants themselves aren’t much to look at, but the pods are spectacular!

Here’s some of the MASS of poison ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii) we walked through (without any casualties, mind you):

Mindy did very well, for someone with legs only 8 inches long.  If we walked 10 miles, I can’t even imagine what that equals for 8″ legs.  She loves the water, and gets in at every possible chance.  In the end, Rich ended up carrying her for about the last 3/4 of a mile home.

I love the view from above the canyon.  Any way you look, it’s beautiful!  I particularly liked this view, because if you look closely, you’ll see a nice big patch of Opuntia (prickly pears) hanging over the sandy edge of the wash in the foreground:

Here are some more views from the hike:

Down in the canyon is beautiful, too.

Well, that’s about all for this hike report.

P.S.  Did you all enjoy the action shot of Mindy shaking the water off after her swim?  A whirl of black fur!

P.P.S.  Oh, and the name ‘Toxicodendron‘ for poison ivy makes me laugh!  Not to be confused with a Rhododendron, this is a TOXICodendron!