Our lovely Ladies Bible Study group met this morning for another great hour in God's word.
Donna (and Carl) Sorenson left this afternoon, headed back to Kansas for the summer. What dear, sweet friends they are. Thanks to LoPo for taking this picture of Donna and I while we were saying our "so longs."
Shortly after, Bible study, Snookie and Bob Quinn arrived. Bob to help Don service our fifth-wheel hitch and Snookie to join me on a photo-taking outing.
Snookie and I started in the Sunscape cactus garden. My first "catch" was this beautiful gambrel quail "rooster" in the big mesquite tree. It's rare that they get above ground level, except during mating season, which is now.
I still don't know what this is.
Do you see the dove? She's sitting on her nest. I hope we get to see baby birds before we leave the Arizona desert valley.
Yucca desmetiana Baker (I think) with new bud.
Snookie taking a picture of a quaint simple birdhouse.
Another fine 'rooster' gambrel quail. Isn't it odd how he stands on one foot. Hope he doesn't have a cactus sticker in his other foot.
Next, it was time to get in the truck and see what we can find. I had in mind to show the city girl, Snookie, some of the Arizona "country."
We found a palm tree farm.
We were both snapping pictures all afternoon. What a fun time we had!
I was pretty excited to find an irrigation pump in action. We thought this was a great picture showing the water going into two ditches on it's way to irrigating the fields.
While we were taking pictures of the irrigation system, I heard a familiar bird call and sure enough, there he was, an Arizona desert valley Kildeer <<click here to hear a kildeer.
Snookie had just asked me if the snow sheep were back this year and I looked to my left and there they were. We had to drive a short distance on a field road, but we got great "snow sheep" pictures.
Snookie said, "I see the water coming out of the pipe, but where does the water come from?" I pointed out the white water pump on the far left that is pumping water out of a well. I also explained to her how the water got from the ditch to the field rows to irrigate the crops.
Our next stop was the Sidewinder Dairy.
I've always wanted a picture of the cows with their heads through the fence, eating the hay. I would have preferred if they had all had their heads down, but some of them looked up at us.
A nice gentleman drove by and told us that this pen was where the sick cows were held. There was one cow that we didn't want to get close to because she really didn't look very healthy alive. Not photo material.
After leaving the dairy and making a few turns, Snookie said, "I have no idea where we are. Where are we going now?" Do you know what this crop is? Wheat. Very pretty wheat.
The wheat is also irrigated from the ditch with the siphon hoses.
While we were stopped, I happened to look down and recognized a new tumbleweed. Even though the extra rain this year brings beautiful desert flowers, it also brings extra tumbleweeds and ground cover, which brings dreaded fire problems when the summer heat arrives.
A few miles down the road, I turned into a big cotton gin yard. Snookie was a little apprehensive that I drove right up to this huge cottonseed shelter. This was a mountain of cottonseed.
Snookie was amazed that no one came out to inquire why we were there. It's really quite obvious, isn't it?
As Snookie examined the cottonseeds, I explained that it's used to make cottonseed oil, cottonseed meal (cow feed) or recycled as seeds for planting a new crop of cotton.
These trucks are used to haul the raw cotton bales from the fields to the gin.
As we were driving away, Snookie said she felt like a spy and we laughed as we wondered how fast we would be apprehended should I gun the truck and fly out of this yard. I didn't.
You really didn't think I would go out on a picture day and not take one of these, did you?
I have been wanting a picture of this fountain at the Pinal County Fairgrounds for two years and I finally stopped and took a few pictures.
This is a larger canal that moves water from Lake Havisu to water treatment plants in the valley area.
I almost through Snookie into the windshield when I suddenly stopped as this little guy caught my eye on the side of the dirt road.
It was about 3:30 pm when I took the above picture and we decided it was time to get Snookie back to Quail Run. It was a tearful parting as Snookie and Bob will be headed to their summer destination, Delaware, in a few days and we probably will not see them again before they leave. We had such a good time talking and laughing and taking pictures today. Thanks, buddy, you are the best!!
She's going to be a little upset when she sees that I got a picture she didn't get today. As I turned onto the road to our park, this vulture flew up, circled away from the road kill he was interested in and then lit a few yards away from the road. I could not get my camera turned on and focused fast enough. He was huge and UGLY, but as Turkey Buzzards go, he's quite handsome. I was thrilled to get this picture of old TB.
When I got back to the Q, Don and I rode the golf cart over to Thelma and Jim's to tell the good-bye. They will be flying out at 9:30 in the morning, going home to Michigan. It was a tearful parting as we will not be back to this park next fall. We prayed with them after visiting for a few minutes and left. It was just so hard to leave them. We love them so.
This prickly pear beauty is at Don and Dee Tuttle's site.
I haven't posted a sunset picture in awhile, so here is today's sunset.
Well, it's been a great day... an emotional day, but a great day. Time is passing quickly and before we know it, we will be leaving Arizona, too. But between now and then, we will watch many of our wonderful friends drive away. We want to stay in touch with everyone of them.
This was a day the Lord made and we rejoiced in it.
