DAY TRIP!

Last Sunday, June 14, we took a day trip to St. David, Arizona. Bob had read on the birding site he watches that a White Tailed Kite had been seen in that area. We didn't see it, but when we got home he read (on the same bird site) that it had been seen in Madera Canyon -- right in our own backyard so to speak. We didn't see the Kite, but we had a great day. St. David is about 70 miles from Green Valley. It is a green little oasis tucked in the center of nothing! We visited the St. David Monastery.

At the monastery they have a 2 mile bird walk. It was a nice walk and we saw a Thick-billed Kingbird (I didn't get a picture-it was too far away) which was a new life list bird for both of us.

While looking around the grounds of the Monastery, we came upon this headstone. It's hard to see the first name, but it's Robert. This gave Bob heart palpitations, and we decided we best be leaving so we headed for Tombstone, Arizona.

When we arrived at Tombstone where we were just in time for a parade and people dressed in period costume walking up and down the streets.

And we met this scary guy!

After Tombstone, we headed to Sierra Vista. We had been to a Bed and Breakfast near Sierra Vista where you can just go into the backyard and watch the birds, and they have Hummingbird feeders set up all over. They get quite a few Hummingbirds there that aren't normally seen in our backyard. Bob loves to go and just sit in chairs they have placed all around and look at birds. He calls it "Executive Birding".

While we were there we saw a Roadrunner and he could see his reflection in the window and kept jumping feet first at the window. I got the following picture of him just as he decided he wasn't getting anywhere and was leaving.

We had a great day, saw lots of birds, and did something to write for the Blog!

ARIZONIANS FOR A YEAR!

Can you believe we have been residents here for a year today (June 11)! It seems like only yesterday we were hurrying to get everything packed and loaded to move down here. I guess the old adage, "time flies when your having fun," really is true. We had heard from a number of locals that if you can stand June you can stand the summer! Well we made it through last June. It was warm -- well maybe HOT -- so we decided to stay inside and paint the house. When we bought the house it was mostly vanilla. As you can see from the following pictures it is no longer.

When we finished painting, we decided to redo the patio -- well, we decided to hire someone to redo the patio. The pictures below are how it looked before.

And after:

We have made some great friends down here. And had a "bunch" of fun along the way.

And we have been able to see our "old" friends too!

We are looking forward to another monsoon, lots more birding, October when all our friends come back, when friends and family visit, and to a second great year in Arizona.

After