Category Archives: Empty Nest

A Flicker, Sparrow and Goldfinch Flew Into Our Yard…

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There were a few bird photos I took this weekend that made me smile. I never know what I’m going to get until I connect my memory card to my laptop and open up Adobe Bridge. That’s the program I use to view my photos. If I like the image, it gets exported to my laptop. It dawned on me that I should backup my photos on a thumb drive! I have a bad track record with backups. Once I lost an entire novel’s manuscript because I didn’t back up my laptop and files started disappearing. I contacted Apple and they couldn’t recover my files and they suspected it was a hardware issue.

The photo above is a Gilded Flicker and it made the cut.

This House Sparrow at the birdbath was a saver, too.

Here he is getting a sip of water after a rainy day.

I had another visit by a Lesser Goldfinch. I wrote about them for Bird of the Week after my first encounter with this tiny little bird. Here are a few more photos:

This photo gives perspective of the size of Lesser Goldfinch next to a House Sparrow. Prior to seeing Lesser Goldfinches, the sparrow was one of the smaller species we had in our yard.

The Lesser Goldfinch is getting ready to make her move!

There she goes!

I hope you enjoyed my photos today. I welcome your feedback.

Which ones did you like and why?

A Bright Sunny Day

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With a break from rainy days, I took my camera across the street to the nature’s preserve to get some photos. I marveled at how green it is in the desert.

The Octotillo look very happy.

Then I slowly walked around our yard to observe the beauty. This bee was busy with a fairy duster plant in our front yard.

The Pyracantha white blossoms have disappeared and been replaced with fruit.

A cactus in bloom.

The Honeysuckle is blooming, too.

The Fire Stick plant is huge and topped with new growth.

Even the Aloe seems healthier with all our rainy days.

One last look at the greenery in the desert.

Happy Friday! What are your weekend plans?

Rainy Days on Mondays…

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We’ve had several rainy days with thunder and lightning including today. I spotted a few hearty doves on the fence in the rain as well as one hanging out on a Beavertail Cactus.

This dove took advantage of the wet feathers to do some grooming.

The dark clouds were interrupted by a few bright blue spots and sunshine yesterday.

The pool bar floods when we get more than an inch of rain, but it dries up pretty quickly. We also get a river running from the wash down the side of our house. But it’s outside the fence in the NAOS. What’s a NAOS you ask?

Natural Area Open Space (NAOS) is a permanent, recorded land easement in Scottsdale, Arizona, that keeps a portion of private property or community land in a natural, undisturbed Sonoran Desert state

Another view of the pool bar with a bit of rain building up.

Another view of the fluffy Mourning Dove in the rain.

I don’t mind the rain at all. In fact, I love it. We do need the rain and the desert is so green this year. When I get a break in the weather, I’ll walk down to the nature’s preserve across the street to get more photos of green desert landscapes.

A quail mom braved the rain standing on a bench to watch over her kids at the bird seed block.

I love the Carpenters’ music, may Karen RIP.

What your weather like this week? Are you a Carpenter’s fan?

One Year Ago….Birds Plus More Surgeries

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I like looking back on what I was focused on in the past through old blog posts. Sometimes I feel I am doing the exact same things at the same time of year. I looked back on what I was doing last October. It’s eerily the same as this year.

Ever since my ankle and foot surgeries in the past year and a half, my kids and my husband have been urging me to get back to PT. They say they see a difference in my balance and strength. They are right. I’m weaker and I hesitate when climbing stairs or scrambling over a rocky trail at the beach.

So I did it. I went to PT last week for an evaluation. The physical therapist told me to see my orthopedic surgeon. That’s where we are starting in this quest for balance and strength. I’m having pain in my left foot that then makes my knee hurt. She said that’s why my balance is off. Hopefully, I need new orthotics, different shoes and not another surgery. The therapist said she wasn’t going to push me and make my foot hurt worse until I see my ortho. Appointment made for later this week and I’ll find out what’s up.

This is what I wrote last year from a post October 2025:

I was so excited to capture this photo of Red taking off the Ocotillo!

I’m going to the Bay Area to take care of my daughter post shoulder surgery. She has a repetitive use injury from swimming from kindergarten through college. Her practices in college added up to 12,000 yards of swimming per day.

I’ve been especially nervous and haven’t been sleeping well. There’s a back story to that, besides the anxiety and worry. (Ever since our last thunder and lightning storm our house alarm has been going off at 3 a.m. Now that I figured out how to get it to stop, my body is programmed to get up at 3 a.m.) Once awake, I worry about my upcoming trip and my daughter.

Mrs. giving a side-eye to another bird at the birdseed block.

I had an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon to take a last look at my ankle. I discussed my other foot with the doctor. My first visit to her was about the left foot, but she discovered my “sprain” was a break in the right ankle — and I was scheduled for emergency surgery.

Now we’re back to the original issue and I’ll have surgery after taking care of my daughter!

Back to 2026:

Hopefully my kids won’t need my help in October 2026 because of new ailments or surgeries!

How was your weekend? What are your plans for the upcoming week?

In case you were wondering about Red…

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He’s still looking gnarly with his late summer molting, but his crest is coming back.

Red can be seen most days feeding his adopted Cowbird. If you missed the post about Cowbirds, I wrote about them HERE.

I haven’t seen Mrs. for a few weeks. Although there was a very young female Cardinal who stopped by. Maybe Red is in charge of all the children, legitimate or not?

Red’s current look makes me miss the days of old when Red was the most handsome bird in our desert.

Happy Friday! What are your plans for the weekend?

It’s a Jungle Out There!

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bobcat on the patio
This precious kitty was inches from our bedroom sliding glass door.

I was wondering what I was up to five years ago. I looked at my blog and this is what I found:

My husband called to me from the bedroom. “The bobcat is here!”

“Where?” I asked scanning my view past the fence in the backyard.

“Right here.”

Wow. The bobcat was lounging inches away from our sliding glass door. She looked hot with mouth open breathing. But instead of panting, she was scenting her next meal. My cat Olive used to do that when scouting for birds in our backyard — before we moved to the wilds of Arizona.

The bobcat nonchalantly grabbed a bird midair and took it behind a potted plant to munch. She climbed a tree and came down with another snack of a baby bird. Another baby bird was hopping on the patio oblivious to the danger. That life ended quickly.

The bobcat moved into the shade and fell asleep on our patio, sated with an afternoon meal.

Climbing into a tree to fetch a baby bird snack.
Arizona desert bobcat
Acting casual before catching a snack.
She looks like she owns the place!

I’m a little nervous to go outside after dark. You don’t know what’s out in those trees or under our patio furniture. It’s literally a jungle out there!

Thanks to my sister-in-law for the amazing videos.

Olive cat the barfly
Here’s Olive our wild cat who is hanging out on the bar.

Home After Holiday!

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We’ve returned to our home sweet home. It feels wonderful to be back in my own home. One of the surprises was Red was waiting for me singing for my return. This vacation he didn’t hide and avoid me for weeks on end. I’m sure that had something to do with my neighbor making sure the birdseed was out every day. But Red did not look like himself. I’ll post photos later this week.

My trip highlights besides beach walks with my husband enjoying the ocean breeze would be spending time with our friends we don’t see often enough. Plus having my son and daughter-in-law with us for part of our vacation.

Here are some photos I took with my Nikon and 105mm lens on the beach. I was worried about getting sand in the camera or on the lens, but finally decided I could do it!

A man sitting and reading on the beach. I figured out to make photos black and white.

I found a piece of sea glass which is rare at this beach.

In the evenings, the misty fog comes ashore.

A sunbather enjoying a beautiful day at the beach.

Sunlight reflections on sand and water.

A Long-billed Curlew foraging in the sea.

View of where we walk looking south.

Almost sunset and time to go home.

Beach vacation has ended until next summer. It reminded me of a Madonna song “Holiday.”

Are you ready for fall? Or do you miss summertime?

What are your goals for fall?