Double Storm

We got hit with two monsoon storms yesterday. One mid-morning and one in the late evening. Both started with some blowing dust and strong winds and ended with rain. The evening storm included TONS of lightning.

The morning storm dumped a good bit of much needed rain!

During the evening storm I tried to catch a few photos of the lightning. Boy, it is hard to photograph lightning! This is what I ended up with...

In the bottom photo, I accidentally timed it so the lightning made it look like it was daytime instead of pitch black night. If you look really close you can see one of the patio chairs overturned by the guest house front porch.

In the neighborhood just north of us, there were tons of trees taken down by the storm. Thankfully, we didn't have any damage. We have a had a pretty boring monsoon season this year so we were happy to have two storms (with rain!) in one day. The weather here can get pretty boring... sunny and hot, repeat... so different weather of any kind is welcomed by all of us!

Figs!

Until I moved to Arizona I had never eaten a fig outside of a Fig Newton cookie. When we bought this house it came with a sickly looking fig tree in the backyard. The past few years we have gotten a handful of figs that end up getting eaten by the birds.

It still isn't the healthiest looking tree, but this year it has produced a TON of figs. I'm not really sure why, but my guess is that the chickens have something to do with it. They love to hang out under the tree all day - which means they are dropping "fertilizer" under it. I also put a water dish out for them and in dumping it out and refilling it daily I'm sure the fig tree has gotten more water too.

We have tried the figs and none of us really care for them much. I've been giving them away to anyone who will take them in addition to dropping the really ripe ones on the ground for the chickens to eat.

I spent a little time on Pinterest looking for fig recipes. I ended up making some fig jam/spread figuring that the kids might like the figs if they were mixed with some sugar. It's not bad! A kind neighbor gave me some fresh goat cheese and I have been enjoying a bit of the spread on the goat cheese with a cracker.

Just 4 cups of chopped figs made 32 ounces of the fig spread so we gave away several jars and will give away a few more since we won't eat it all. I might try to make some homemade fig newtons with one jar of the spread since the cookie filling is pretty much the same thing. 

I also learned one other interesting thing about figs. I can eat them, but I have a skin reaction when I touch the tree. The first time I picked the figs, I thought I got bit by a bug. The next time I picked, it felt like I got into poison ivy. I looked it up and, sure enough, there is latex in fig trees and I am mildly allergic to latex! I got smart and started picking with long sleeve and gloves on!

So, if you want some figs or fig spread let me know!

Who's in the pool?

We have fished a lot of creatures out of our pool - a baby bunny, a bird or two, bugs of all kinds (including a scorpion), and gophers. This afternoon we pulled out a frog* for the first time.

We went out to get in the pool and Hayden said there was a frog in the pool. I asked him how big it was and he said it wasn't too big. Well, I guess he hasn't seen many frogs because it was the BIGGEST frog I had ever seen! The body was at least the size of my hand.

He appeared to be enjoying his swim in the pool. When Jerry first moved the net towards him he swam down towards the bottom. We scooped him up in the net and let him go next to the irrigation pipe in the field across the street. We didn't want him hanging around just in case he was one of the poisonous frog/toads we get around here that can make dogs sick.

As much as we enjoyed his visit, I'm happy to say he hasn't been back!


*Although I say frog he/she may have been a toad. 

Fog

Here is something you don't see very often in Arizona… fog! We got two days of rain so the dew point ended up about the same as the temp. Anything past our property line was pretty much invisible!

Rough Week

We had a rough week.

Last Sunday Jerry took the dog for a walk and found a credit card and drivers license on the road. When he got home we googled the name and called the number we found (thankfully, he had a listed number). The man told Jerry his wallet and other items were stolen from his garage Friday night. He had already taken care of the credit card but wanted his license back. He came by to pick them up Sunday evening. He was a very nice guy and told us the whole story. He told the boys to always listen to their wives because he didn't listen to his about keeping his wallet in his unlocked car in the garage. He also told us about a mid-day break in at his neighbor's house which I think scared the kids a bit. Which leads me to...

Wednesday night we went over to church to clean after we finished eating supper. We had run over on Monday night to take inventory so I could order some needed items and everything was as it should be.

Wednesday night as I was walking towards the area where we keep the mop bucket and I saw one of the doors to a room we use for storage was damaged. Honestly, my first reaction was to look up and see if something had happened to the roof that would have caused damage down below. Then I saw the room where we keep all the kitchen supplies had every drawer and cabinet door open and I knew there was a problem.

I called to Jerry and told the kids not to touch anything. We looked around. Sure enough, the back door had been pried open. We have several small rooms we don't use for much so we put regular interior doorknobs with locks on them just to keep the kids out. The thieves used a tire iron to pry open every single door. They could have just popped the locks since no key is required! One door, the door I saw first, had a huge hole where they kicked it in. I bet they were disappointed when they got in that room. It was just a cardboard gingerbread house and a bunch of sucker balloons from our float in the holiday parade.

The door the busted to get in

They busted and pried the rest of the rooms for no good reason as well. There was nothing worth stealing in any of those rooms. Unfortunately, there were some items of value in the main room which they did take: latop, sound equipment, etc.

The door bolted shut - it's not an emergency exit at the moment :)

We called our pastor first and the police second. Jerry ended up staying to give info to the sheriff and help secure the busted door. The kids and I came home. We didn't clean anything, of course. The sheriff was pretty thorough and attempted to get fingerprints and footprints. Whether or not the criminal(s) will ever be caught remains to be seen. The unit next to ours was broken into not too long ago and the sheriff thinks they might be related. Thankfully, the landlord got some video footage of that break in.

A thief leaving the unit next to ours in December

I think there is special place in hell reserved for people who would steal from a church. Thankfully, they were just thieves and not vandals or it could have been much worse. The scary part for us is we live less than a half-mile from church!

So we all went to bed a little unsettled Wednesday night. Thursday morning we woke up to our usual routine. A few of the kids came in to chat with me on my bed. It was cloudy and dark so it felt earlier than it really was. About 7:30 we finally decided we should probably let the dog out so JD volunteered. He went out the door and hollered there was a chicken in the main yard. That happens a good bit so we didn't think much of it. I hollered for Eli who is the normal chicken wrangler and then I looked out towards the coop.

I can't even describe what I felt when I saw feathers and bodies laying all over. I ran in my pajamas and slippers out there and started crying. It appeared all my wonderful, feathered friends were gone or dead. I started counting. I found two injured chickens and then we found another unharmed Barred Rock that had hopped the fence to safety from whatever it was - we're guessing coyotes. I couldn't believe out of 13 chickens I had only 2 whole and 2 badly injured remaining. I put them in the coop and went in to call Jerry.

The kids knew I was upset. They were so sweet about it. Wesley helped everyone get breakfast and they all worked together to clean up. I got dressed and went out to clean up the mess. I kept looking for the 3 missing birds hoping maybe I'd find one hiding. I was overjoyed when I found Loosey hiding in the corner of our mini-chick coop! I gave the standard "cheep cheep" call and she struggled to get to me. I was sad to see she had an injured leg.

I didn't want to keep the injured chickens in with the healthy so I put the little coop back into commission. The door of the little coop is broken so I rigged up a piece of plywood for a door and put the three injured birds in there to recover. I wasn't too hopeful. Loosey surprised me though. She ate and drank the water I put in there and then hopped into a corner to rest. The other two, one Rhode Island Red and one Barred Rock, didn't look good at all.

Of my thirteen gals, I had: 6 dead, 2 missing, 3 injured, and 2 fine. I was and still am in a bit of shock. Chickens aren't like a dogs or cats, you don't live with them and cuddle with them, but you do get to know them a bit. They do have personalities. And they did bring happiness, and eggs, into our lives. We raised them since they were tiny chicks, some of the older ones had been with us for almost 2 years. They aren't able to protect themselves - that was our job and we let them down. All the time and money and effort and sweat of the summer months was wasted in just a few minutes.

We'll never know what really happened, there were no tracks or evidence of any kind, but our best guess is a couple coyotes. It could have been dogs but, surprisingly, we don't see many stray dogs in our neighborhood. And most of the dogs around here live with chickens. Two chickens were gone and I don't think one animal, coyote or dog, would carry off two chickens. It also just seemed more likely that coyotes could get over the fence better than a dog. I would have thought that if it had been dogs they would have still been in there. The bodies were still warm. The sun doesn't rise as early in the winter, plus it was cloudy, so I'm guessing we found them not too long after it happened. Whatever it was it didn't go into the coop. They got the gals after then came out of the coop for the morning.

But, like I said, we'll never know. What to do NOW is the challenge. We knew letting them free range was a risk, but we were doing everything to keep them safe short of keeping them in a run. We had been securing the coop every night. When we went to Wisconsin in May we left the small door open on the coop so the gals wouldn't have to be let in and out every morning. We thought it would make it easy on our chicken sitter. But when we got back it was summer and the sun comes up early and we got lazy and out of the habit. Lesson learned. We will be going back to securing the coop every night because if the girls had been secure in the coop just before dawn we might have avoided this.

We had planned on getting another batch of chicks later this month. We will still do that. It will just be a bigger batch than anticipated. It will be a long time before we have enough eggs to feed us all again. One or two a day just won't cut it, but right now we are thankful we'll at least have that.

Update 1/9/15: The three injured chickens survived the night. Loosey seems to be doing the best of the three. She limps, but can get to the food and water. The RIR seems to be doing pretty good as well. Eating and drinking. As far as I can tell her only injury is to her left eye. It is swollen shut. Loosey and the RIR seemed almost their usual selves when I dropped a few raisins in as a treat this afternoon! The BR is not doing well. I have not seen her eat or drink. She doesn't move much and I don't think she will make it. We will probably make the decision tomorrow to end her suffering, we just wanted to give her a bit of a chance, just in case.

Update 1/10/15: The RIR was well enough today to join the two healthy chickens. Her eye is still swollen, but she was acting normal otherwise. She was able to get into the coop to find food and to roost. Loosey is still hanging in there. She is eating and drinking, she mostly just sits in a nesting box I put in there. I am mainly keeping her in the coop so she rests and doesn't over exert herself. We also saw the injured BR up and eating/drinking today too. So we put off making a decision for now. I actually got two eggs today, so that made me happy!

Update 1/17/15: Things are going better than I hoped. The injured Barred Rock seems to be recovering. I am really glad we gave her time to heal before making any decisions. It does appear she will be blind in one eye, but she seems to be adjusting well. The injured RIR's eye is healing nicely, her eye looks almost back to normal. I think she will make a full recovery. Loosey is doing better too. She is still limping, but I let her out of the little coop to join her friends. She was very vocal about being contained, even when the RIR stayed by the little coop to keep her old friend company. When she tried to roost in the little coop I figured she was probably be feeling well enough to be let out. And, sure enough, she got on the roost in the big coop this evening just fine. Except for her limp, she seems her usual self - pecking at the younger gals who get in her way and coming when called for treats. I am still getting 1 or 2 eggs a day from the non-injured gals. So it appears after the whole ordeal we will end up with a flock of 5. Which is a heck-of-a lot better than the two I thought we were going to have!

Update 1/24/15: Got four eggs today! So two out of the 3 injured birds finally laid again. This made me very happy!

Snowy Mountains

We rang in the new year with a cold snap. We're not complaining, even the worst Arizona winter "weather" isn't real winter weather. Since we moved back it seems once a year the conditions are right and we end up seeing snow on the distant mountains. It is a special, and beautiful, sight here in the desert!

This year we even ended up with a dusting on San Tan Mountain right by our house. I took this photo late in the day. I didn't even notice the snow or I would have been out there with the camera earlier. I hope it wasn't my only chance to catch a photo of snow on San Tan!

Christmas Hike

Uncle Johnny invited everyone to a hike while Roz and Trevor were here. Saturday morning Johnny drove here and then the gang headed to San Tan Mountain Regional Park for a hike. JD, Annabeth, and I stayed home so we didn't slow them down.

Here are a few photos from the hike:

When they were done, they came back and got the rest of us and we headed to In N Out for a post-Christmas hike lunch.

Heiroglyphic Hike

Wesley is in the Forestry and Outdoor Adventure project for 4-H again this year. For the first hike of the year, Wesley and Jerry joined the rest of the group on a hieroglyphic hike in the Superstition Mountains. We had never heard of this trail, but now that we know were it is we'll have to go back again. Jerry said it was a pretty scenic (yet easy) hike. Sounds just about perfect for most of our crew.

They had a great time and saw some interesting things - including real hieroglyphs! Looking at the photos I was surprised at how many more saguaros there are just a few miles from here. Jerry said the natural water hole actually had tadpoles swimming in it.

I sent the camera along. Here are a few of the photos Jerry took:

Rain, Rain DON'T Go Away

Rain is a wonderful thing here in the desert. Today we decided to skip a bit of morning school to have PE in the rain. The rainwater was actually cold. It was really coming down too. Best of all, for the first time since spring it was cooler outside than inside!

So we enjoyed the rain and a rare dark, cloudy day.

The rain was pouring off the roof. No gutters here which is unfortunate because I would love to have a way to catch that water! The pool was quite a bit deeper when it was all said and done; it didn't overflow though.

You can see the water in the grass was getting pretty deep. The neighbors yard looked like they irrigated!

I am glad we didn't have anywhere to go because all the rain caused some flash flooding though out the valley. Just down a few blocks away part of the road we live on washed away. They are saying it may take up to a month or two until it is fixed. We're not complaining though, the rain was worth it!

Weekend Away Part 1: Home Sweet Home Away from Home

Friday, after lunch at Taco Bell we dropped Roz off at the airport and headed out of town. Destination: Williams, AZ for a family reunion. It took us a bit under 4 hours to get there including a stop at McDonalds for a potty break. The reunion was at the KOA Campground. We decided to get a cabin instead of sleeping in the tent. When Jerry made the reservation the lady on the phone told him all 8 of us could squeeze into the one bedroom cabin.

The cabin was small. It had one full size bed and a set of (not quite) twin bunks. Two of the boys were going to sleep with Grandma and Grandpa in their cabin, but they couldn't make it so we had to get a bit creative with sleeping arrangements. Jerry and I took the full bed, of course. We put two boys on the bottom bunk and one on the top. Annabeth slept (and I use the term loosely) in her Pack N Play. And two boys slept in the van on the bench seats. Each night the boys rotated. Wesley was always in the van and since we were there three nights Hayden, Eli, and Justus each took a turn.

Here are a few photos of our home away from home...

The cabin, outdoor kitchen, and dining room.

The views were beautiful. Lots of trees and mountains. The weather was great too. Highs in the mid-80s and lows around 50. We didn't miss having AC at all. We slept with the windows open so we woke up cold each morning. It was great!

The master "bed" (above) and the kids bed (below).

It wasn't exactly cheap, we could have stayed at a hotel for almost the same price, but we were right by all the fun for the reunion. The campground had plenty to offer: pool/hot tub, wifi, hayrides, horseshoes, playground, and even mini-golf. We turned on the lights with a switch and had wifi so it wasn't really roughing it!

If I have one complaint it was the bathroom situation. The first two nights the campground was pretty full and there was always a line for the bathrooms, but then it cleared out for Sunday night and that situation improved.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay and wouldn't mind going back again sometime. They do have a two bedroom cabin with small kitchens and their own private bathrooms. If we go back, we just might have to give one of those a try!

Snow Beautiful

I know my Wisconsin friends will laugh at this but we've had a pretty chilly winter her in AZ. We broke all kinds of low temperature records - mostly while Roz was here to enjoy the "warmer" weather. Looking around our yard you can see most of our bushes and several of our trees did not appreciate those colder temperatures.

This week we had another cold snap but unlike the other one there was a little moisture associated with it and that meant... snow! Some parts of the Phoenix area actually had white stuff on the ground. Unfortunately, we didn't get any at our house. The next day after the clouds cleared a bit I looked out the window and gasped. The boys all came running to see what was going on. We've seen snow on the distant mountains a few times, but never the closer Superstitions. It was so beautiful! I just wish it would have lasted longer.

Backyard Sight Seeing

I have three pictures taken from the backyard. I thought I'd just combine them all in one post. The view from our back patio changes constantly. All summer long we watched as the pool was built. Some days we have a perfectly clear view of the Superstition Mountains, some days we can't see the mountains at all.

The beginning of December (12/4) I took this photo (below) of what amounts to "fall colors" in Arizona. See the orange and yellow leaves peeking about the roof in the distance? It's not much but it made me smile and think of real fall... my favorite season!

Just a few days later (12/16) the leaves were gone and we had already moved onto Arizona "winter". Cooler temps and a little bit of rain meant beautiful snow on the mountain peaks. It doesn't stick around long but it sure is pretty while it's there!

Another thing we see occasionally is hot air balloons. I don't know why I get so excited when I see one! I have always loved them. This one (1/11/13) was a bit closer than most. The boys and I ran out to wave, grabbing Roz on the way, but they were a bit too far away.

Now, if only I could move that utility pole that is in all these pictures and maybe get a camera with a better zoom, I could take some better photos!