I did it! I got our taxes ready for the CPA. I realized because of my foot surgery late January, I was behind my usual timeframe. I also had a hard time focusing. But powering through Friday, Saturday and Sunday — I did it! But now my brain feels like a bowl of mush.
Consequently, there will few words on this post. I’ll rely instead on photos of mostly Red and one of Mrs.
I like the photo above because of the flower. It looks like Red is wearing a fancy head ornament. I’ve had a few close encounters with Red. I call out to him and he doesn’t flit away like normal. I’ve been a few feet away from him as he waits for me to fill the bird feeder.
Red with a House Sparrow.
Red waiting for his turn in the feeder.
Mrs. on the fence.
More Red photos. He hung out last evening right outside the casita.
My goal for 2026 is to be better organized with the taxes. It’s something I could do monthly, to keep track of my husband’s business and rental home expenses, rather than power through 12 months the following year! But I’m already starting out behind the curve, two and half months behind.
Do you have a strategy for preparing taxes that works for you?
I don’t know where January went. Probably because I’ve been laid up for half the month. It went pretty quickly, although some days dragged on and on for me. The Bird Buddies have been keeping me company. There’s always plenty to watch and enjoy with the birds and squirrels in our backyard.
I have a pretty busy week ahead so more time will fly. I can’t believe it’s time to post another reading list. I am getting further and further behind with my Daughter In Law’s syllabus for AP English. I had agreed to read along with her class, but I have a feeling I’ll be reading well into the summer to catch up!
READING LIST:
I’m looking forward to reading Emily Dickinson and Shelley’s “Ode to a Skylark.” Dickinson was one of my mom’s favorite poets. And because it’s a new month, my mom is on my mind. I’ve shared this before, but we called each other at the beginning of each month to say “Happy February First” or whatever month it was. It was a race to be able to say it first. I miss her. She was an avid bird watcher and when she was in high school she created a book of all the birds she’d seen along with sketches and paintings of them, much like “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” by Amy Tan. I can’t help but think she’s smiling down on me pleased with my bird photos.
Happy February to you!
What have you read on this months reading list?
One more photo of Red. He likes the birdseed that I’m buying. It has a photo of a Cardinal on the front of the bag.
This is a view of our backyard with flamingos, doves on the fence and a bright red spot in the cholla cactus on the other side of the fence. That red spot is Red! It’s where I believe Red and Mrs. have built their nest.
Here are a few photos of my backyard wildlife:
A bevy of quail appear every time I put out some birdseed.
This sparrow was all fluffed up when we had seven days of rain! I put a rain gauge in the backyard and we got more than three inches. That’s a lot for the desert.
The Gila Woodpeckers are the bullies of birdseed. They also can hang upside down. Look at the grip this guy has on the Beavertail Cactus art.
Here’s looking at you, kid!
My backyard bunny and friends.
Harris’s antelope squirrel making his move toward the birdseed. I bet it’s not a coincidence that our hawks are Harris’s hawks. Any bets the squirrels must be named after the same guy?
A little out of focus but a better view of Red on the nest.
Happy Thanksgiving! Is anyone traveling for the holiday?
I have never seen this cactus bloom before, let alone in August! Must have been our recent monsoon.
I’m wondering what happened with the week? It rushed by. Usually the dog days of summer in the desert are slow to pass. But not this week.
What was I up to this week?
On the weekend, we made dinner for newish friends of ours. We cooked an all American meal of ribs (my husband), potato salad, corn on the cob and cherry pie (me.) We met these friends at the funeral of our friend who introduced me to my husband 40 years ago. He died suddenly from Valley Fever after we moved to Arizona. Our friends we had over for dinner were his brother and wife who moved to Arizona from Seattle. A circle of new friends all bought homes in Arizona, including us and another couple from Kirkland, because of this one friend. We’ve all pledged to keep his memory alive and get together several times a year.
The next busy moments came Monday morning meeting to brainstorm with my newsletter co-hort to write and layout the quarterly HOA newsletter. I’m proud to say that after 30-plus years of “newslettering,” I returned to my roots. We initiated a new process this issue that worked and the President of the HOA approved.
I compiled all the copy in a word document and sent it to the board to approve — prior to spending hours laying it out. This was similar to my early PR days, before desktop publishing and Mac computers. I would drive copy to the typesetter and then get it approved before giving copy to graphic designers to layout. Or, do the layout myself.
This is saved me countless revisions. It was annoying to have the newsletter all ready to go, and then have five board members give their two cents worth on what to change — one by one.
Other than the newsletter, which took up most of Monday and Tuesday, I had my first hair appointment since April. My hairdresser, who I love, went on maternity leave and it wasn’t worth it to me to try someone new for a one off appointment. It was fun to learn how my hairdresser is totally amazed and feels blessed with motherhood. She wasn’t expecting the dramatic love and emotions she’s experiencing now.
Thursday was a doctor’s appointment for my husband that I drove to. It was his final cataract appointment. He has new-fangled lenses that can be adjusted post-surgery with a laser light. It meant four or five extra appointments, but it’s supposed to make vision sharper.
Now that it’s Friday, we’re meeting friends who moved here from Palm Springs for dinner. But I have the day free to relax, read and comment on posts. I might visit the library, too.
I feel like one of my husband’s older clients from decades ago. My husband would call them to come into his office for an appointment. Often they’d respond, “Oh I can’t make it Wednesday. I have a doctor’s appointment.” Those were the days I was volunteering at school, taking kids to piano lessons, packing lunches, making dinners and volunteering at swim meets. I always wondered why people thought they were busy doing one “main thing” a day. Now I know!
How did your week go? Did it flash by quickly or seem slow?
Yesterday on our walk, we saw a huge coyote walking down the wash. He stopped and we stared at each other for a minute. Then he sauntered away. He was too far away for a close photo, thank goodness!
I also captured a bobcat on my outside camera. This guy paid us a visit at 4:30 a.m. and stopped by last week around 10 p.m. one night. (Video below).
I found my favorite photos of wildlife to share:
Javelina on the sidewalk enjoying prickly pears.
Mule deer in the side yard.
Coyote on the wall behind our house on a snowy day.
Outside our bedroom sliding glass door. This bobcat climbed a tree, ate some birds and then napped in this spot.
Below is the Bobcat Video:
The bobcat walks by at about 6 seconds. After he disappears behind the tree, you can stop watching. Sorry, I don’t know how to edit the video from our Cox Camera.
I’m on the App Next Door, and a lot of people are posting wildlife photos. It must be another sign that Spring is in the air. What I don’t like is the rattlesnake photos. One I saw this morning was a rattler on a workbench inside a garage. Yikes!
I love all the wildlife we have around us. I enjoy watching the animals way more than worrying about the homeless guy who moved into our yard and said he bought our house in Palm Springs.
A page from my parents wedding album given to me by my aunt who visited last week. Mom and Dad were 23!
A strange thing happened during my aunt’s visit. I glanced over at the sofa and Olive the cat was sitting next to my aunt licking her fingers! Now this is a first. Olive has never let a guest touch her or vice versa. Olive does sleep with my daughter, but that doesn’t count because she was my daughter’s cat until college took my daughter away.
My aunt and I did most of the things on my list and we found ourselves very compatible. We both got hungry at the same time, wanted quiet time in the afternoons to ourselves and went to bed early to read. Having a house guest doesn’t get much better than that!
It cooled down considerably, we lit the outdoor fireplace and cooked s’mores. We hiked in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. We went to the farmer’s market in Carefree and explored consignment stores in Cave Creek. We had some delicious lunches and dinners out, plus I cooked. We visited the Musical Instrument Museum and to my delight, they changed up a few exhibits so there were new things for me to enjoy.
You might wonder what would be exciting about visiting a museum of musical instruments.
From the MIM, here’s the Artists’s Gallery experience:
ARTIST GALLERY
Celebrate music’s most influential artists.
In every time and place, there are musicians whose art deeply touches the lives of many. MIM’s Artist Gallery highlights these personalities with ever-changing exhibits that span sound, style, and era. Through generous partnerships, MIM features historic instruments owned, played, and loved by the musicians who have created a shared soundtrack to our lives for generations.
Nearly 40 displays showcase instruments and artifacts from some of the greatest musicians in the world. See and hear instruments played by icons such as Elvis Presley®, Tito Puente, the Carter Family and Johnny Cash, Roberta Flack, Glen Campbell, Joan Baez, Maroon 5, and many others.
The exhibits not only have the artists’s grammy awards, gold records, costumes and instruments, they have a large screen that plays selections of their songs on the headsets you wear. I think my favorite was “Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison. On display is his hand written lyrics on a yellow legal pad. So not only do you get to sing along with Roy, you get to see how he wrote it, along with a photo of him and his pretty woman. There are many other galleries from all over the world. I haven’t touched the whole of MIM yet.
Here are a few photos from my aunt’s visit:
What is your idea of a perfect house guest? What do you like to do when entertaining company?
Here’s the thing that happens when we have guests. Olive’s world turns upside down.
First, her litter box is moved from the casita bathroom along with her food and water bowl. They end up in our bathroom in the Master bedroom. She knows that something is up.
So she disappears, showing her displeasure. Why should we turn her life upside down when everything is exactly how she likes it? Why do we let people into our house when she’s a fraidy cat?
Because maybe our house guests down’t want to share a bathroom with a cat.
She’ll disappear for hours at a time. I look under beds, in closets and then I find her in my closet. Sometimes, it’s only a little paw or a hint of a tail that shows. But today I saw this. She was giving me a look. I have no clue how she gets up to the top of my closet. My daughter is convinced she she powers up “Beam me up Scotty” style.
The only time Olive shows more displeasure is when the suitcase comes out.
Olive blocking me from packing. She has wicked polydactyl claws and is not afraid to use them.
Do your pets feel change in the air? What triggers them?
