Each morning when we sit outside to have coffee on the front porch we are delighted to see a pair of Roadrunners patrolling the property. I’ve seen them before out here in the high desert, but none that would actually want to come so close to us. They wander the property poking around the dirt for a nice big juicy beetle, lizards or even rattlesnakes. Yes, Roadrunners eat rattlesnakes, so needless to say, I’m delighted that they enjoy hanging around our house. Usually each morning one of the them comes up onto the porch and then takes an awkward attempt at flying into our massive bushes…then out pops the other Roadrunner and the two of them walk the property together.
I love sitting out on the porch and seeing all the interesting things that creep, crawl, fly and scurry. Early morning seems to be the best time to watch the hummingbirds fly in and out of the tumbleweeds growing on our property. I don’t know what they like so much about the weeds other than the fact that there is probably early morning dew that they are licking up, but they are just too darling for words. They buzz about browsing the tumbleweeds and bushes and then take off for our neighbor’s flowers. There are doves that hang out in our trees, scorpions that try to come into our house…well, they actually do get in! We caught one of the scorpions in a jar, and the other one actually stung Dom in the foot a few nights ago. Thankfully he isn’t allergic to scorpions, and the reaction he had to the sting was very minor. I gave him Benadryl and put ice on the area and by morning nothing was even there. He likens a scorpion’s sting to getting stung by a bee or wasp. After he was stung and came out of the bathroom, the scorpion followed him out and I smooshed it with my shoe. I’m still not completely sure exactly what kind of scorpion it was that stung him, but thankfully it wasn’t a Bark scorpion. I’m having a hard time identifying the one that we have in the jar too. I think I need a magnifier to see all the little details that make each kind of scorpion different from the next. They are fascinating creatures as long as they stay outside where the Roadrunners can pick them off one at a time.
We haven’t spent much time in the courtyard yet, but Noah was back there yesterday cleaning up the massive loads of
dog crap the previous owners left for us in Simone’s play area, and while he was pulling up weeds and shoveling shit, out popped a New Mexico Spade foot toad. Oh my god! This toad was just the cutest thing ever. He put the toad in a container and brought the little cutie in so Simone could see it, and then we came out to the courtyard and released him. We all got our cameras and started taking pictures of him.
We had this leak in the the external water line that leads up to the swamp cooler, so we set him on the watered down concrete waiting for him to hop away. Armed with my camera, I was able to get a few seconds of this little guy.
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