Location, Location

We have quite a few unique birds here in the valley and I for one know very little about them.  I have a few friends that are quite knowledgeable about birds and their desert habitats but I just like to listen to their songs.  We have one particular bird that has always been close to us wherever we are in Arizona and that is the mourning dove.

Illustration (c) David Allen Sibley

Some people think they are kind of a nuisance and a bit noisy since they, like most of the birds start their "music" at sunrise!  They like to nest in a tree or a shrub, maybe on a ledge and usually with twigs that the male brings the female.  (There's something really right about that plan!!)  We saw all this up close and personal one day this week right out our kitchen window while we were eating breakfast.

The female was sitting on the top of Dean's 4 x 8 trailer that folds in half and he has stored on the patio.  The little woman was sitting so pretty and quiet, like she owned that section of the trailer and once in awhile she would turn, look toward the window like she wanted to see inside and then out over the patio like she was looking the place over.  I guess she really was because soon her mate would show up, bringing her twigs.  Dean could see better than I and he saw him try to drop them in a certain place only to have her move them around to her liking!  He laughed and started mimicking the male, "Look at this pretty twig I brought you and you don't like it."  Then in a high squeaky voice she replies, "I like it, you just didn't put it in the right place!"  

Pretty soon we realized just how much progress they were making on this little "love nest" of theirs and Dean went out to shoo them away.  The female sat for quite a long time while he approached and he almost touched her before she finally moved!  He removed a handful of twigs from the top of the trailer as well as the small well that was formed where the two halves settled together.  She'd flown off and settled just off the patio and was squawking at him the whole time!  We don't know where they relocated but I heard the "coo-ah, coo, coo, coo" this morning so I know they and their friends haven't gone too far! 

I'm sure the robins are back in Iowa and there will be many more new hatchlings soon.  It's that time of the year.  Here we see cardinals, wrens, woodpeckers, hummingbirds and other cacti feeders all winter long and feel really blessed to witness the many wonders of God's creation.  It is truly a wonderful place in our corner of the world.  I hope it is in yours as well.    

Plans? What Plans?

Just when I thought I had sort of a schedule for posting every few days, something comes up and changes my plans!  I think it boils down to a couple of things:  "If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans."  Dean tells me this lots of times (and most anyone that we come across as well!) and this verse from Proverbs 27:1  "Don’t brag about your plans for tomorrow—wait and see what happens." (The Living Bible)  When I first came across this verse I was in Bible College in Michigan, walking to my pastor's house a few blocks from my "dorm house".  It was on a small church's marquee and they used another version - "Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."  

I've thought about those words many times through the years as many plans have come and gone - many of them never coming to fruition and I can faintly hear the chuckle of the Lord!  This past week has been one of those times.  What began as a quiet week of a quick run to the doctor with my brother and was to end with a short surgical procedure for me today (yes I know it's Saturday!) has turned into something quite different.  John took a spill, broke his wrist and we've ended up with one specialist appointment on the books and 2 others in the wings!  My surgery is still a go and I'm hiding out in front of the computer while Dean eats lunch since I'm not allowed any food or water for the next 4 hours.  Why am I suddenly so thirsty?!

Dean had a pacemaker/defibrillator device put in 3 weeks ago and now it's my turn to have a heart monitor device put in as 2 rounds of a heart monitor and various tests can't find a reason for some pesky symptoms.  Hopefully this new little gizmo will work fast and furious and things will be back to normal here.  Wait - that means we have a normal around here!  I might not recognize when it shows up.  So I guess I'll just wait and see what tomorrow brings.  It's a bit more exciting that way and makes for some interesting things to talk about!  Have a great day in your corner of the world - it's a sunny day here in ours.

   

The Superstition Mountains - another view from the 

Visitors Center/Historical Museum