A walk in the park....

It has been 4 days since the "foal in the fence" consumed my life and the last post of the blog.  My life has since returned to normal.  Golf on Sunday morning, birding on Monday, and oh, cannot forget to mention the beat-down the Seattle SeaHawks gave to the Carolina Panthers on Saturday evening.  Plus, as a bonus, the Dallas Cowboys departed the season by losing to a team for the mid-west somewhere.  I can't recall the team, but when I try to remember I get a craving for cheese.   Oh well, it will come to me.  Anybody got some crackers and wine??

We got up this morning to read that our newly elected Mayor back home held a "press conference" yesterday to inform the world that he is a liar, an adulterer and that the police are after him.  No, no, we are not from Toronto.  We are from one of the 37 municipalities on southern Vancouver Island.  No, wrong again.  Not "Sodom By The Sea" (quote with thanks to Jack Knox).  We are from Saanich, B.C.  Did I mention that our new Mayor also thinks that municipal staff have also installed "Spyware" on his computer in order to keep track of his every keystroke?  This going to make a great movie.  I can see it all now.  The movie will be called "The Press Conference".   The newly elected Mayor will threaten the makers of the movie and all the theatres who plan to show it.......  Wait a minute.  Hasn't this kinda already been done?

Back to reality.....  Today we were supposed to play our first league match of Bocce Ball.  Unfortunately it got rained out even though the clouds cleared and the sun came out by 2:00 p.m.  Didn't matter as the courts were wet.  So, Tony, Gayle, Dana and I headed to Usery Park for a short hike.  As is often the case, we discovered magic in the desert.  Not 10 minutes from the parking lot we spotted a Black-tailed Jack Rabbit.  These are BIG rabbits.  Their ears are extremely long and must provide them with exceptionally good hearing.  A few minutes later we spotted a Coyote.  Then another, and another, and another.  Four (4) desert dogs together.  All within 100 feet from the 4 of us.  Clearly they knew we were there and they kept their distance from us.  They did take the time to "mark" their presence.  Shortly after that we spotted a Loggerhead Shrike on the top of a Saguaro cactus.  Nice photo op.  On the return leg of our hike we had good views of the Superstition Mountains in the afternoon sun.  Another good photo op.

All in all another great day in the desert.  I'm kinda glad to be here enjoying the wonders of the desert rather than being back home having to put up with the antics of our newly elected Mayor.

Enjoy the photos.....