Author: boolie

Drum Major

A male gilded flicker looks straight ahead while perched atop a cell tower disguised as a saguaro in the Troon neighborhood of Scottsdale, Arizona in April 2020

Gilded flickers make their homes in saguaros but not metal ones. Nevertheless a cell tower disguised as a cactus is a good place to let the world know what an amazing drummer you are! From sunrise yesterday on a walk in the neighborhood, since I still have to go to work most days I decided to stay off the trails to minimize risk of virus exposure.

So, So Early

A white-winged dove perches on unripened fruit atop a saguaro at dawn on the Latigo Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona in June 2019

By late June it isn’t just the air that’s hot as even the ground radiates heat back at you before the sun is even up. That sunrise comes frightfully early but the desert is amazing as it wakes so for me deciding whether to get up or sleep in on my days off becomes a delicate act of balancing mental and physical exhaustion. The white-winged doves had been hiding from me last June but suddenly exploded into view one weekend when one seemed to adorn every saguaro. I met this adult in the blue light of dawn, the sun not yet peeking over the eastern mountains. Although the fruits upon which it perched were not yet ripe, the fresh pulp on its beak and forehead suggested that it had already breakfasted at nearby saguaros. My watch read 5:28 am, I had arrived at the park around 4:55 am, up before 4:30 am. Somewhere in Virginia my 20-year old self just had a heart attack hearing this, would someone check on him please? Only wait until after 1 pm and knock softly, just in case he’s still sleeping.

Current Mood

Out cat Trixie sleeps deeply ensconsed in a plush cat bed with one leg jutting out in December 2019

Boo and Sam and Trixie and I curled up on the couch to watch an old Doctor Who we hadn’t seen before where the main villain is a cactus (seriously!). I woke hours later still ensconced in cats but my Saturday had gone missing. If anyone’s seen it let me know, I was hoping to spend the day together.

Defenders of the Landslide

A rock formation I call the Guariand and an old saguaro stand above the Marcus Landslide Trail at sunrise in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona in November 2019

Two of the giant protectors of the Marcus Landslide Trail watch over me at sunrise, in the distance on the hill on the left the rock I call The Guardian, closer to me on the right an old if less ancient saguaro. I love this trail but haven’t been in a while, while I’d like to rectify that I’ve been too tired for any early hikes the past couple of weeks.

Swelter-in-Place

Our cat Scout sleeps on the desk in front of her cat bed on a hot summer afternoon in our house in Portland, Oregon on August 27, 2011. Original: _MG_3405.CR2

While Portland had mild summers there were always days when it got plenty hot and since the house didn’t have air conditioning, my office on the main floor got plenty hot too. So hot that Scout would even get out of her beloved cat bed and sleep beside it on the cooler desk surface. She was so devoted to me that she would rather swelter-in-place than retreat to the cooler basement without me so I’d sometimes go below as much for her benefit as mine. We did eventually get AC but sadly only at the end of our time there, not nearly soon enough for Scout’s benefit as she died from cancer seven years ago. Today would have been her nineteenth birthday.

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 24-105mm f/4 L
🗓️: August 27, 2011