A Single Flop

I keep a pair of flip flops on my back porch, right next to my kitchen door. Correction: I kept a pair of flip flops on my back porch, right next to my kitchen door. It's the wilderness out here in the wide open Mojave Desert, you don't want to be surveying your land in bare feet and you don't want to be tracking all that sand back into your house, so a pair of flip flops by the back door equals perfect solution. Until today. When I went outside this morning to water the trees, I found this:

I can't decide which thought is more disturbing. Something big enough to carry off my right flip was on my porch, just outside my kitchen door, while I carelessly slept. Or, that some poor something is wandering around the desert right now wearing a single flop.

Man, I loved those flip flops too! I've had them forever and they fit just right.

It will take every ounce of energy I have NOT to google "desert serial killer and flip flop thief".

An Even Wilder Kingdom

I realize I run the risk of becoming Marlin Perkins here, but I gotta tell ya, my yard is amazing! Yesterday, I discovered I don't just have the two roadrunner lovebirds living in my yucca bush, I also have both species of roadrunners, the Greater Roadrunner and the Lesser Roadrunner, in my yard. The lovebirds living in my yucca bush are the Greater Roadrunners, but I've seen an adorable little Lesser Roadrunner two days in a row now. It's kind of blowing my mind! I've had zero luck getting a good photo of either of these guys, but I've had lots of luck getting mediocre ones. Like this one of one of the lovebirds:

I spent the late morning and early afternoon today tearing down some old fencing and doing some general yard clean up. This involved lots of wire cutting and hauling and moving pieces of wood from one pile to another. That's where the scorpion comes in. He was having an afternoon nap or something underneath a previously discarded, but yet to be hauled away, fence post. I fear he might have the misfortune of being one of the Greater Roadrunner's dinner tonight. Again, no luck getting a good photo, but I think if you click on this one to make it bigger you'll find him, right smack dab in the center:

This evening I was sitting at my desk, listening to "Ted Quinn's Sunday Evening Variety Show" on Radio Free Joshua Tree and gazing out my big picture window when this sweet guy came hopping by for a visit:

Apparently, he was hungry:

Luckily for him, not for scorpions.

It was a really good day at the Double D Ranch and Wild Kingdom Desert Critter Sanctuary.

Wild Kingdom

My desert yard is teeming with wildlife: quails, jack rabbits, insects by the dozens, lots of birds I don't know the names of, and my favorite of all, roadrunners. I have two roadrunners. They live in the yucca bush next to my driveway. Roadrunners are usually solitary, but occasionally live in pairs and are known to mate for life. In fact, I swear the two in my yard were courting last month.  I see one, or both of them, every single day. And every single time I see them is a treat. They're wily little things -- which is funny if you think about it. They're quite shy. Quite skittish. And they don't stand still for more than a couple of seconds at a time. And when they move, they move pretty darn quickly. Which is also funny because they do indeed, run. I'm told it's great luck to have them around your house because they eat tarantulas, and scorpions, and rattlesnakes, as if just being completely adorable wasn't reason enough to love them.

Today though, I had a couple of quails put on a show for me. I was sitting at my desk which faces a large picture window that looks out at my side yard. The view is breathtaking and it's usually where I catch the glimpses of my roadrunners, and today, two quails came by for a late afternoon sand bath. I honestly thought the larger of the two was nesting. She (assuming it was a girl) went to town digging a hole in the sand beneath a small tree that's right outside my window and then proceeded to fling the sand and dust up and over herself in what can only be described as a little quail frenzy. Then she got up and moved to a new spot (same routine) and left the first hole to her smaller quail companion so he could have his way with the soft, cool spot she'd created. I'm guessing, just for him. They hung around for awhile, lounging in their holes, flinging sand, cooing, prancing around the tree. When the large one fluttered up to the top of a fence post I knew, that she knew, I was watching them. She was showing off. And she sat there for several minutes, posing, while I took her photo.

If only I could get my roadrunners to cooperate like this!