the intruder...

I heard the doggie door and knew the dogs were inside... the boys went over to investigate and this is what I found!


He hopped from the doggie door to this location where I snapped his picture...

Then here....
and it was as tho he was making a B-line for the pantry!!

I had to hit the floor a few times to keep him from actually going INTO the pantry... *shudder*

I called a friend to ask what the heck I was supposed to do with this frog in my house. Her daughter called back and suggested that I get a broom and tupperware and send him outside.. I opted against the tupperware due to his size, and opened the door and used the broom to show him the door. I put the cover on the doggie door and I hope he's found his way elsewhere...



*cringe*
and that's the excitement of the evening... I will be looking into things to keep frogs and toads out of my yard tomorrow....
ICK.

leapin' lizards

Well ok, they didn't leap, but GEEZ LOUISE!!!

When I got in my car this afternoon to head down to the district office, i *thought* I saw giant lizards scamper under the bush that I park near... I didn't give it another thought.

I pulled back into *my* spot (cuz yes, it IS my spot) and was listening to the last of the song on the radio when I looked over to the curb to my left and saw the giant lizards walking back and forth on the curb! Check these guys out!!!





He has a beautiful blue patch under his head... I'm going to see if I can figure out what he is. He's definitely not the little gecko's we see running around all over the place out here. I didn't see his pal again - just the one time... this guy was a little less fearful I think. COOL though, huh? And thank goodness for a nice new camera that could get these great shots :) I got my 2 GB memory card today, so now I can go picture crazy!!! :) Weeee! :)

**EDIT:
I think the main guy is a Twin Spotted Spiny Lizard and his pal was a Desert Spiny Lizard.
The colors were a little off from the photos, but the descriptions sound right and they look similar enough... Cool stuff!

my trip to Tucson

while it wasn't a good dog show weekend, I learned a lot about a fellow Cardi folk, and had the pleasure of staying with her at her home in Tucson...(and eating her yummy meals!!)

She has wildlife that comes right up to her property.... meet Mister Peter Cottontail.....

and Peter, with his friend Mr Quail (there were TONS of quail and dove!)
and the two "show dogs" behind the fence.... they were a bit put off with having to be outside more than normal, but they seem to have survived and are no worse for it ;-)
My dogs are SPOILED. Oh wait, this is common knowledge. But damn, it's a good thing they're CUTE! :)

Kota even made an appearance ring side on Sunday, since it was easier to take him and just leave from the fairgrounds... he l-o-v-e-s dog shows... he has the attitude of a show dog.... too bad he doesn't have the body to be a special ;-) shhhh don't tell him i said that! :) It's almost been 4 years since I finished him.... good golly!

And while in Tucson I got some great Skywatch photos too! Can't share them yet tho! They're reserved for Skywatch Fridays! :)

spiders & vacations - Yay to one, not the other!

I'm pretty derned sure that my visitor in my garage was a Wolf Spider. I've also had the pleasure of seeing one in my living room (who then got squashed into my living room carpet) and another in my bedroom (who yes, got squashed into my bedroom carpet). Fortunately they don't appear aggressive, but they're still ICKY all the same. I'll be calling HomeTeam Pest Defense and asking them to come out AGAIN. it's not uncommon that I have them come out between cycles... *sigh* between the crickets and roaches and spiders (oh my!) that I find outside... fortunately for me, (unfortunately for those two icky spiders tho) they don't come in the house much...

The count down is on until Fall Break.... just have to survive Parent Teacher Conferences this week, and I'm home free after Friday until the 13th of October!!! :)

a garage cleaning adventure

A friend of mine moved from a big house to a smaller place and sold a bunch of stuff... In that "stuff", I bought a set of shelves for the garage. My garage had NOTHING when I moved in... my old place had a few shelves built in on the back wall... so when I moved here, everything went on the floor :( I wish I had thought to get pictures of the garage before I started...

Here are the shelves before I started my project... good sized shelving unit, if I do say so myself!



And another shot of the shelving unit... for frame of reference, these shelves are big enough to hold my rolling cart laying upside down...

















Everyone knows that when you clean out the garage, you are bound to find some "visitors". I found THIS guy in my old Eukanuba food container... I've found relatives of his in my house before... NOT so cool. Anyone have any ideas as to what kind of *ick* spider he might be? He's big.... :(





I dumped him out on the rocks and snapped his picture before I squashed him... interesting pattern on his back, I thought... but still not welcome at my place, thanks!








I was almost done when I took this picture... but look at all the space!!! And there's empty space a plenty on those shelves still! Plastic storage bins are stacked up next to it on one side, and the boxes on the other side need to be pitched... my yard equipment is there too (the box you see standing on the ground is my bush trimmer).

I found a TON of things when going through things in the garage.. a whole bag full of collars and leashes and such... Funny. I already had a bag full of those things! How do you acquire so many!? LOL

The other side of the garage, which used to be the "congested" side... now it sticks out no further than the crates. I'm starting a "garage sale" pile, in hopes that I'll get off my duff and have one. Tell me what single girl needs three kitchen tables! LOL









The front wall was lined with stuff too, and now it's empty as well! The empty plastic storage crates are all stacked up and ready to use when/if I have to move again... the treadmill needs maintenance and the bike needs air in it's tires... there are always excuses ;-)








So in my cleaning, I mentioned I found a bag of leashes and collars... I dug through everything and came up with each dogs puppy collars!
Green = Ollie
Blue = Kota
Blue w/ design = Orion
White w/ flowers & purple = Sedona
Black = Chance

Why do I have them? No clue. But I thought it was a fun trip down memory lane! :)

Chance the mighty hunter...

It's so nice this afternoon, I thought I'd sit outside with the dogs for a bit. Well Chance caught his eye on something near the big sage bush in the back and started walking around it, while hunting. Chance is a great hunter, by the way ;-) Well I couldn't see for a while what it was, and then I saw it was a lizard. They must have gone around the bush a good three times before the lizard took off directly for me, Dakota and Sedona who were all sitting on the porch. Kota lays right up against the sliding glass door and that lizard just zoomed right in next to him. Climbed over the top of him (all the while I could see it very slowly registering in Kota's head..."what the....") and ran in between the screen door and the sliding glass door. It wriggled for a bit and then stopped... I moved the screen door in hopes to free it. It took some time, but i was able to get him out...



not sure if he's dead or alive... but I got the pictures to prove it! I figure before I let the dogs out again, I'll check. If he's still there I'll wrap him up and toss him. If he's not, well then good for him :)

fun with wildlife :)

I have always loved the bird feeders outside of Carolyn & Tom's house. I loved how everyone in the PNW knows all about birds! I'm so taken by the birds lately... not sure why. Anyway... I have a few feeders set up, and I was told to put out a hummingbird feeder. I've seen them around, but have never had luck in having a feeder for them. Well this weekend I hit the jackpot. one little guy came up a few times, so I snapped a few shots of him. I thought it was cool :)

some weather to speak of

On my way home from the dog show last weekend... nice and dry... prime land that they are developing on faster than I can say my full name!




Some flowers on my way to work



One of the many birds that devour the bird seed


Views from this morning on my commute...It started storming last night and continued all day




(I liked this one because you could see two seperate pockets of rain)


And views from my commute home




Two views of the four peaks and the Superstition Mountains (left to right)

below is one of the main mountains in the San Tan Mountains that I live near

I thought this cloud formation nearest the ground was really interesting

visitor outside

I stepped out to let the dogs out one last time this evening and saw this visitor on the wall (yes, the very wall where dog photos are taken)... Very cool guy so i snapped a few photos...