High Desert Life 

Fire is heading south east, father from my cabin then first thought, closer to my work. Planes and helicopters on it now, it sure is a fast moving fire. The fire is actually moving toward the mountains.

Fire update: They really got on top of this fire, with water dropping planes and helicopters. Before I left work Saturday one of my customers dropped by and told me about the fire. It started about 200 yards from his property. He and two other neighbors went out to fight it but things turned bad very quickly. The wind changed and the fire turned so quickly he said they had to run for their lives. He was still pumped up when he told me. Moral is don't fight wildfires! They will turn in an instant!! This could have been much worse, the winds were there but nothing like last Saturday's wind.

Now here we have two fires in a week, both on Saturday, both in close proximity to each other. Fire department is saying that these are both suspicious fires.

Hi Pros! Your garden must be really beautiful!! I sure hope you are staying inside where it is cool. I need to go on your blog to see if you were effected by the storms

Hi WTS! To bad on the Humbolt seeds! They may not have been viable. I would start the mallow seeds now and get them planted out in the fall. I have never seen a blue mallow!! I know the apricot colored one is a native wildflower not here but in Apple Valley and along 395.

Hi Ylee! Glad you liked the Coyote pics. I like taking them. I got an AC for one of them. I can't believe I missed seeing that I got an AC on two other pictures I took!!! I am not paying attention.

We almost never have dew!! I think our dew point is in the negative numbers! I am hoping you don't experience any fires, there is enough of them out west!
A Happy 1st of July to you too!

Hi Briar! Yes it is a dry heat! I sure can't take heat and humidity!! I can't take it when it goes up to 20% and the temp is 100. I wilt! I am a wimp!

At work I wear a sun screen long sleeve shirt and a hat and lots of sun screen. With all that if the humidity goes up I just drip!

Hi Karen! Thanks for the link. The Coast Guard actually has lots of different cabins and housing that you can stay in if you are eligible. I found that out through Miss Nadia.

Channel 2 and channel 5 were at the fire yesterday. I saw Channel 2 parked along the highway on my way home yesterday and my crazy customer that tried to fight the fire was interviewed by channel 5.

You must be getting ready for your 4th of July celebration and your vacation!!!

If anyone knows the monsoon forecast for this season, let me know. We could use the moisture (but not the lightning).

Tomatoes are ripening, strawberries and blueberries keep on bearing. The blueberries are a dwarf only 3 feet tall, and they bear over a long period! I have several butternut squash that have set and some peppers are bearing heavily and others have just begin to set fruit. The corn is still there, yea! We have it covered with bird netting so they will be protected at least for awhile.

Roadrunner is still here, yesterday he just got a beak full of feathers, he looked very funny shaking the feathers out of his beak. Now the Cooper hawk is back, predators everywhere!

A friend of mine is giving me a hummingbird nest. I have a beautiful oriole nest and this will be great to add to my small collection.

I have to work on the 4th, so I will be making everything on the 3rd. Potato salad always tastes better the next day anyway!

Everyone back east and in the mid-west KEEP COOL! Don't overdue!!!

Thanks LC! I hope I am in the blue area!!

Hi GG! Are you working tomorrow like I am? I get off a big 1/2 hour earlier then usual, whoohooo!

Hi WTS! Let us hope for monsoons with lots of rain! My rain barrel for my houseplants is running low.

Hi Ylee! I hope they aren't arson either! We shall see what happens this Saturday.

Hi Pros! Losing your air conditioning had to be awful! I was so late in hearing about the storm! It seems like there has been one weather disaster after another, plus all the fires!! I am so sorry about your garden. Your photographs of your flowers are so beautiful!! I hope for more cooler days and nice gentle rains for you and your garden!!!!

Hi OGal! Thanks for the greeting!! We are leaving in mid-August, I can hardly wait. My son in Kodiak went halibut fishing again on Sunday. Haven't heard whether he caught any or not. Only 1 guy caught halibut on their trip out of Cordova and he was nice enough to share with the other 2 guys. My son will be going out a lot since his friend has a boat. The rivers are still to high to do much fishing for salmon, you got to be able to see them to hook them!

Everyone have a safe and Happy 4th of July celebration! No fireworks, PLEASE!!! I will be at work trying to stay busy, LOL! Not to many plant shoppers on holidays!

Our water tank is full just in case of fires tomorrow.


Fledgling orioles are keeping us entertained! They are quite feisty right out of the nest and spend a lot of their time fighting each other on the feeders instead of drinking! Some window hits, but nothing fatal.

Take care!!!

.25 inches of rain!!!!!! A terrific start for the season!!!

To Pros, Ylee, Sandi, GG and shore, thanks for the 4th of July happy wishes!!!

Shore, I think that is the most wonderful 4th of July picture that you took!! It represents what is hopeful for our country, thanks for sharing.

On the 25 inches of rain, LOL. I would have to get Rob's Ark to make an escape!!!

Hi WTS! I got rain! It filled my rain barrel. It was running low. Now rain is back in the forecast. I thought I was going crazy, I would see rain in the forecast then it would be gone, then back, then gone....


Hi Ylee! I am still kicking and being a tad grumpy today! Trying to figure out a new program, it does not come easy to me!!!!

The temps are warming up, triple digits are coming our way. Santa Barbara with their 72 degrees is looking awfully tempting right now.

We are eating lots of nice ripe tomatoes now. I am starting a new batch that I can plant out in a couple of weeks. Corn is growing fast, still have blueberries ripening (amazing plants) birds are eating us out of house and home. The little squirrels (the Shorts variety) have had a tremendous decrease in population. Where there were twenty or so there is now 3!!! Ground squirrel population is steady no ups or downs there right now. Kangaroo rats have had a big population decrease for the last three years now. Quail babies are about average in clutch size, I don't think there will be many more hatchings this year.

The daily coyote still visits us, his new name Mr. C. I hope he is around for a long time, I have gotten to like this skinny guy.

New blog on the horizon, maybe the far horizon but it is somewhere out there. Can't decide what will be next a blog on nests or a blog on Llano (thanks SP). What would you all like to know about?

Hi Rob! The Cactus wren has a rather unique voice, I wouldn't call it pretty at all. It sounds like a cross between a jay and a raven, lol!!! But I was really glad to hear it could screech, after having it's head in Bobby's jaws!

Hi Ylee! Oh, the little guys will come back. It is just sad not to have them all around us.

It is 'warm' out here today! It's over the century mark.

I will most likely be the Llano blog, I think Llano has an interesting history, maybe a paragraph long! LOL!! But there are other things to talk about, like how to pronounce it correctly and well many others.
Sounds exciting doesn't it!!!

Rain is back in our forecast, especially for the weekend, they are saying 40%. That is pretty high, but also a ways away. 100 degrees and rain, that means miserable humidity until it does rain. No swamp cooler usage on those two days.

I had better get out and pick some tomatoes before they become sun dried tomatoes!!!

Hi GG! The cactus wren nests in the cholla cactus, hence the name. I see the one that Bobby almost got every day and I now wear one of his tail feathers in my garden hat at work.

Hi SP! I will WU mail you the name of the u-pick and the phone number. It really doesn't take very long to pick a half of a 5 gallon bucket full of fruit. We are going out again this coming Sunday, with my eldest son and his girlfriend. He actually has fond memories of picking fruit!! Go figure!! I will let you know if the peaches and the plums are worth your drive out.

You know what the best thing about your dream of you and Shocky driving down the road together? Shocky is still available!! The gal hasn't sold one of the babies. I LOVED your story!! It got me laughing!!!!

Hi Ylee! The monsoooooons suck!!!! There were some pretty amazing mesocyclones that I saw from work. When the cloudburst happened it was like a black curtain was lowered. But, alas I watched from a far. Many other desert areas received gully washers but we had some sprinkles and cooler weather (which was really nice) and that was it.

I have been busy with chores and errands and that thing called work that keeps interfering with my life! And of course knitting of which I have decided I really like. So blog time has been, well not happening!

I have been really working hard at the gym, which is wearing me out. I would like to lose a few pounds before Alaska, so I can go gain it all back, LOL.

New blog on its way, probably Tuesday, since I work part day tomorrow and have a couple of consulting jobs.

Hi shore! I think covered ( a lid) just to prevent evaporation.

To bad about the chloramine in the water. Our water is hauled by a truck and comes from a well, so no chlorine or chloramine for us. But I still prefer rain water for all my houseplants.

I have been going to the gym for years before I go to work, but I tend to become complacent and just do what I have to do to get through my workout. So when I want to lose a little extra pounds ( a result of being complacent and baking a bit to much) I really ramp up my workout. The results one tired calpoppy! And hopefully a little thinner. You can have a piece of pie and it will show up on the scales the next day, but when you work your tail off at the gym it can take a week or more to show! Not fair!!!!!!!