Thursday, January 31/2013

It was another chilly night and this morning is no different.  Even Hogan is in and out quickly.  He spent no time lingering but did take a quick look out into the empty acres beyond the fence just to make sure there were no creatures out and about  - like those dastardly pigs!!

Palm Pond Trail.  

Walking through the gate

The pond.  There were a few ducks  out and about.
Love the reflection on the water.

more reflection

The Hassayampa was running.  This was not nearly as much
as I have seen it run int he past.

Raccoon tracks in the sand

Duck weed on the Hassayampa

As the morning progressed, it did warm up and Kay and I decided to go for a walk today.  We first had to go to Mitch's and help clean out his little truck.  Kay and Mitch had hauled a load of sand out of the Hassayampa River wash a few weeks ago and there was still some left in the box so that needed to be cleaned out.  When Kay and I arrived at Mitch's we found that he had already got most of it out however, being a man, did not clean it out completely so that is what Kay and I did.  He now has a sand free bed in his truck.
With that being done, we headed back to our place where we dropped off Hogan, got my walking backpack and headed over to the Hassayampa River Preserve.  They have awesome walking trails through out the whole preserve and Kay has never been so off we went.  Being that we live so close to the preserve, we walked down the highway to the entrance gate and headed in.  It took us only 15 minutes to walk from the park gate to the admission gate at the preserve so that was awesome.  Once there, I showed Kay some of the wonders of the park.  We were unable to take one of the paths as the bridge had been removed across the river due to the rushing waters since the last rain.  When Kay and I arrived at the bridge, the water was still flowing but had slowed so that in my opinion, the bridge could now be put back to allow foot traffic over the water for access to the trail beyond.  There were tons of raccoon tracks in the sand on the way to the river and I am sure that this place must be a hive of activity at night.  It would be awesome to just sit quietly on one of the many benches and just watch at the midnight shenanigans.
By the time we got back to the park it was time to feed the birds so I got the seed ready and spread it out.  Kay and I then settled into our chairs, refreshments in hand and prepared to watch the show.  It took a while for the birds to come but eventually they did.
John eventually joined us and he noticed that I had cut some fresh potatoes to throw to the javelina when they come.  He picked up the tennis racket and started hitting them over the fence!!  Man, the little pigs are going to have to really look for their treats tonight!!
One javelina did arrive and that was the only one that showed up while we were out there.  He was so busy eating his food that he failed to notice the two rather large coyotes that were lurking in the background.  They were quite brave and certainly did not show much fear that we were sitting there watching them.  I think they were trying to figure out just how they were going to dine on that javelina. They lingered for longer than what I thought they would but eventually wandered off.  Gee, they could have just been sitting, waiting for Mr. Pig to finish eating and wander over towards them.   Once he was done eating he did indeed wander off in the general direction that the coyotes took so Lord only knows what happened later on.
Ray returned home from his day reading water meters in Aguila and Mitch arrived just before he did.  Apparently there is someone he knows that is interested in the empty trailer across from him.  Who knows, maybe we will have another resident in the park soon.
It was soon time to think about supper and John was in the mood for an burger and french fries.  My, that deep fryer has sure come in handy since we bought it.
We then spent a quiet evening relaxing until bedtime.
All in all, it was another good day with Kay and walking to the preserve, getting our exercise and generally keeping out of trouble!!   Life is good!!