Leslie here.
I ran to the grocery store a few minutes ago, to get dog food. At checkout, the cash register tape churns out a series of coupons for items similar to those just purchased, to be used on your next store visit.
I don’t typically purchase with these coupons, because they are brands I don’t use.
This coupon will in NO WAY be used!
Was no one paying attention when this coupon design was approved??
Am I the only one who will not purchase Classic Ground Puppy?
pause,
Leslie
I don’t think much about the weather, but Mom does. She says the weatherman on the TV this morning said that “we were to expect a high temperature of 98 today, with temperatures increasing by the end of the week.” I don’t know what that means, but it sounds like it’s hot, getting hotter. What is hotter than 98?
We had a good morning walk. We saw a few javelinas, and a few nighthawks still out catching the bugs that were making it home very late.
When we got to the house, Mom ran outside with the camera, and took some pictures of plants. They looked very tasty to me. I don’t know why she doesn’t try to eat them like I do.
Oh, Buffy…I see the pictures of you walking through the mustard fields, and I am jealous! What few wild mustard make it up in this yard, I eat ‘em! They are delicious. Yours look all juicy and nice. Ours are a little tough, but I chomp them off at the bottom, prance them around the yard some, and then settle down for a snack. Mom has given up trying to stop me from eating them. Says they are “good roughage”. Ha ha. Good “ruff-age”. I get it!
Here are some of the pictures Mom took this morning. She will explain what they are. I just think they look like food…
paws,
Deuce
Leslie here. The weather is getting ready to get blasting hot. It amazes me how quickly the plants change. Some are beginning to come into their own, and some have already set seed.
Presently, the wonderful fragrance of the sweet acacia is everywhere. I have some of them growing naturally on the property, and I have planted one. I can’t have enough of them. The first two pictures posted above are of the acacias.
The next two pictures show the hesperaloe (pink). Hummingbirds love these. The first pic was taken a few weeks ago. Already there are seed pods formed on some of the stalks.
The red bird of paradise flower is the first on my plants. It is just starting to bloom. This tough plant will bloom all summer.
The paloverde picture shows the beans that form after the yellow flowers are done. These beans are primary food source for most all the native animals…javelina, ground squirrels, birds. I have watched chipmunks stuff their cheek pouches with these, once they dry completely and fall to the ground later in the season.
The next three pictures show the blue agave plant making its “last effort”. The base plant dies after the flower stalk is made, and blooms. Takes a number of years and adequate rain to make the plant feel that it is ’safe’ to produce a stalk, flowers, and seeds. We had heavy rain last year monsoon season, and this agave thought it was time. The one next to it is obviously not old enough yet. Or they had an agreement…
Typically, many small “pups”, baby plants, form at the base, so the saga continues. Javelina dig and eat the pups, so it’s the survivors that aren’t eaten that get to grow and form new plants.
We took the first picture in early May, though the stalk had begun to form earlier. I always think these look like giant asparagus stalks when they first appear. Wish we had gotten more pics in a series of the stalk development. I will make the effort to catch the next one on camera.
The only time there is not a bird of some sort perched on this stalk is when I have the camera ready!
Dove, hummingbirds, mockingbirds, housefinches, boat-tailed grackles all have stopped to rest here.
The stalk is approximately 15 feet tall. Really. And that is the color of the sky.
Thanks, Deuce, for letting me take up your blog space with pictures of plants.
Mom
P S If anyone wants to ask questions about these amazing desert plants, please post a comment. I am fascinated by them, and would love to hear from anyone who thinks these plants are more than just something for the dog to munch on…
Here’s the WEATHER REPORT:
News Flash, everybody! It is officially summer! Dad’s sandals have appeared!
Yum!
paws,
Deuce
This is Eddie as a puppy.
I have got to get Mom to take a new picture of Eddie. He is getting so BIG! Maybe there is a reason for that camera.
Eddie walked by the house last evening, and I yelled for my people to let me go see him. Mom took me out on the driveway, and Eddie and I jumped all over each other. We are the Best of Friends.
Hey, Eddie!
Dad has been home for a few days, and it’s been great. He took me for a walk yesterday morning, just us two, and he walks fast!
He said we were “bonding, James bonding”.
After I saw Eddie, we all took a walk. It was busy. We saw Cooper the Italian Greyhound (he is grey and white, so he should be a greyandwhitehound) and his brothers. I met a new dog, Theo. Theo and Gabriel (I met Gabe the other day ) just moved to the dog hood. Gabriel is a ’service’ dog. That means I can’t pester him. But I want to. He is very handsome. He’s a big collie. I am a borderline collie. We are cousins, Mom says. Theo is all black, and has a cool pom-pom on his tail. He is VERY good and is French. We didn’t get allowed to play, but I don’t have any problem with a language barrier or anything. And Mom said he is Standard. One of these days we will play. Parler vous play?
And there were a bunch of people just walking. They were walking without dogs. I don’t get it. Mom says it was for exercise. I wanted to run right up to them and tell them about how great it is to walk with dogs!! Everybody should walk with dogs. Mom laughed and said, maybe we could get Kevin Costner to make a sequel called “Walks with Dogs”. She thought that was funny.
We saw 9 javelinas hanging around in the dry wash. And so many nighthawks flying around! Mom really loves them, and says there are so many more this year than last year. And we saw a little bat. We saw one for the first time day before yesterday, on the evening walk. Bats and nighthawks mean that there are plenty of bugs to eat. They’re right. I have been catching flies and ants like crazy. Those big ants put up a fight! But I step on them first, and then I can fling them in the air. Mom says I look like I am all crazy, tossing imaginary stuff around, but it’s just that the ants are little, and she can’t see that I have one I’m trying to get off my nose.
This morning, Tuesday, Dad went back to his favorite, work, and Mom and I walked. We saw the girl cardinal singing in the tree, and we listened to the cicadas. They have started to buzz, and it really sounds like hot summer when they do that. They started about 4 or 5 days ago, and now they are at it all the time.
We haven’t seen any baby quail around here yet, but Mom saw some at the grocery store in the landscape there. She calls them “fuzzy little golf balls”. She says they are cute. They could be, but then I have never seen a fuzzy golf ball, so I don’t know…
Oh! I can play a musical instrument.! Well, sort of an instrument. And I have a special song I play. It is the “William Tell Overture”, or Mom says the Lone Ranger song.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3115213134814599261
I play my song on my green squeaky dinosaur. Mom and Dad were laughing so hard last night while I did it, that I had to sort of growl at them while I was playing. That even sounded better, so they laughed harder. Then I started wagging my tail, growling, and squeezing the squeaky real fast…they laughed til you couldn’t hear them.
I am a musician. I love my squeaky dinosaur.
paws,
Deuce
