Boy, am I in trouble! (not really, but sort of)

I don't know how it started, but once it did it has all kind of snowballed and it's still going.

I like cats.  Period.  I like them a lot. 

I like domestic cats

I love wild cats, both big...

And small...

I like Siamese cats...

Bengals...

And cats with Tortoiseshell markings...although this one may be considered a calico...without seeing more of her body, it's difficult to tell with utmost certainty...

And cats with unusual markings are just awesome!

I care very much about cats and their welfare.  I'm sure some of you will remember a few weeks back when I blogged about a lady who had two cats she was sure were purebred Siamese and she allowed them to breed.  Well, it's happened again.  On purpose, again.  This time they had 5 kittens and things quickly fell apart after that on the message board.

But that's not what THIS post is about.  THIS post is about me and my problem.  I have a co-worker that I'm friends with.  She is in another department and they're still at the other building so we communicate at work through emails and after work through Facebook and emails.  She has cats.  I have cats, but she HAS CATS.  Like, 9, I think?  She lives in a house and they're well-cared for and she's not a hoarder or anything.  She just really likes cats.  Anyway, in the past few months, she has lost two of her cats very unexpectedly and in recent weeks she has started looking at shelters online for potential new cats to add to her existing Glaring (a group of cats is a Glaring or a Clowder) and she started sending me names to look on the websites of ones she's interested in.  Part of the problem, though, is the distance with which she's willing to travel to get them.  She doesn't like to drive so she's missed out on ones that are further away than she wants to drive.  So I told her I would drive her to whatever shelter the cat is at.  I don't think she took me seriously at first.  After all, why would I do something like that?  Well, that's just the type of person I am.  I think she's finally realizing I'm serious, though, but that's not the point here.  The point is, when she gives me a name to check out, I have to look at the other cats.  You know, to see what is available.  I have 2 cats of my own, as stated earlier.  I am very happy with my two cats.  But...I still look.  And look.  And look.  Whenever my co-worker gives me a name, I look at what shelter location it's at then look to see if one of the ones I'm interested at is at the same one or I will look for one at the same location.  I can't help myself.  Even when I'm petting Temecula, I tell myself I don't need another cat and that I should focus on making the lives of my 2 existing ones the best that I can.  But then I look at the picture of Del Torro.   He's the Bengal shown above.  I've never seen a Bengal at a shelter and his adoption fee is low.  A couple of shelters have Siamese cats, which are my "heart cat breed".  That's kind of like a Heart Horse, but with a breed rather than a specific animal.  And they all have tortoiseshells.  When I lose a kitty, I don't tend to replicate the color with my next one.  I've had 3 Domestic Shorthair cats with grey tabby markings, but none of them have been the same.  CC had more of a brown tint.  Chevy was grey and black.  Abbie is grey and black, but has a lot of white, too.  TW was all white and Temecula is white with black splotches.  Royal was a ginger tabby so unless I find one someday that is orange and white or "red" and white, it's unlikely I would get another one like that.  The only exception to my rule is tortoiseshell cats.  I could have a whole clowder of them and they'd all look different.  I had a tortie when I was younger.  She was with us for close to 21 years.  There's one shelter that has one and her name is the same as mine!  She's named Brenda, too.  And my work friend likes a couple of cats at that shelter.  My brother has fond memories of our tortoiseshell so I doubt I'd have a hard time bringing her home and springing her on him.  Besides, he's usually in his room and it'd likely be awhile before he even noticed her.   My mom likes Siamese, too, and would "understand" when if I brought one home.

I guess if I took my work friend to a shelter, I could stay out in the waiting area so I wouldn't be tempted to adopt anything, but I think that would be difficult to do so I'm not sure what I'll do.  I just wanted "voice" my situation.  It helps getting it out there.  Just like it helped to gripe to my work friend about the lady who has let her cats breed again.  <sigh> 

I think it's the heat.  Yeah.  It must be the heat.

A HUGE victory for the Wild Ones...

We heard that our presence is requested at the State Capitol Please see the following Media Advisory:

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and supporters will Celebrate with Horses & Flags at State Capitol celebrating the bill to protect the Salt River Wild Horses

Phoenix, AZ (May 10, 2016) …. Dozens of Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) members and supporters, including riders on horseback waving flags , will be on 17th avenue in front of the State Capitol in celebration of HB 2340, the bill to protect the Salt River wild horses. The street will be closed to regular traffic.

The advocates will gather in anticipation of a 10:30 am press conference with Rep. Kelly Townsend, the sponsor of the bill, and Simone Netherlands, president of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, as well as other very important officials. The bill cleared its final hurdle in the legislature with a 53-3 passage in the House last week. 

What: Celebration for Salt River Wild Horses proceeding press conference. 

When: Wednesday, May 11, 2016, 10 a.m. to Noon

Where: 17th Avenue, which will be closed off to all other traffic.
AZ State Capitol, 1700 W. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 

HB 2340 criminalizes the harassment or killing of a Salt River wild horse, clarifies that they are not stray livestock, and establishes a process for implementing a humane management program in cooperation with federal, state and local agencies and a private entity.

The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, with 100 active volunteers on the river, has confidence that all parties will work together to implement an effective and humane management protocol to permanently protect the horses that mean so much to the people of Arizona. 

We did NOT let them become History!

# # # # # # # 

Today I was proud to sign ‪#‎HB2340‬, which will protect Arizona's majestic Salt River horses and their ability to roam free. Thanks to Rep. Kelly Townsend and the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group for championing this effort -- and for the beautiful painting!

The fight isn't completely over, though.  They still need to come to a management process with the forestry service, who also needs to sign off on the bill, but at least the horses are no longer considered 'stray livestock' and it's illegal to harass them.  I hope the bozos I've seen get too close to them see that.

This is such a great day for the Salt River Wild Horses and if I could, I would hug Governor Ducey.  I didn't vote for him, but right now he's my hero.  Thank you, Representative Townsend for sponsoring the bill and Governor Ducey for signing the bill into law.  And a great big thank you to Simone Netherlands and the dozens of SRWHMG volunteers who worked tirelessly to protect our horses.  If I had known this was going to happen today I would have gone down to the Capitol Building to show my support.  I think it's great they shut down the road in front of it for the celebration.

I'm no horse expert...

Certainly not when it comes to colors and genetics, but how can someone say this horse...

is the same breed as this one?

Now, let me start by saying, it's a shame the first horse is missing and I hope he's recovered soon.  Too many horses are disappearing these days and some have been found after it's too late.  I don't want his disappearance to get overshadowed by the fact that I'm questioning how they can say he is an Akhal Teke.  He is built wrong.  Akhal Tekes are known for their slenderness.  Some are just down-right skinny

but that's how the breed is.  I believe the KHP does have one, but I believe he lives on-sight and I get the impression the missing one is from a private farm.  So tell me, people.  Can the missing horse be an Akhal Teke?  Is it just a more stockier example of the breed?  If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say he was a stock horse of some sort.  Or a cross of something.  He just seems to be too square to be an Akhal Teke.  His head is proportionate to the rest of his body.  He has a thick neck.  Two things not characteristic of the AT.    Not to mention Akhal Tekes don't seem to come in Tobiano.    Sabino and Rabicano markings have been seen in some, but not anything flashy like the horse in the flyer.

At any rate, I really hope they find this guy soon.  I'm sure his people are worried about his welfare.

Speaking of welfare...yesterday some wild animals celebrated two victories.  The State Senate past SB2340, which helps protect the Salt River Wild Horses and it now goes to the governor to be signed into law.  This law would help protect the herd and develop a management program to reduce the breeding of them.  Right now they breed whenever they want and however often they want so any time of year you might see a foal or two.  It's not something that will protect them 100% yet, but it's pretty darn close.  Yesterday was also the day the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to grant the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center a Special Use permit that would allow them to continue to give public tours.  A few months ago, a man who moved into the neighborhood in 2012 filed a lawsuit against the facility stating they were operating a zoo illegally and he wanted them to stop giving tours or the county needed to PAVE the dirt road that leads to his house.  ALL of the roads out there are dirt.  He also wanted the facility to get rid of the coyotes and wolves they have because they howled and disturbed his peace and quiet.  He doesn't even live there full time!  Anyway, SWCC is an official part of the Grey Wolf reintroduction program and they have a fairly decent number of wolves on-site that are valuable to the population.  Fortunately, he was just one person against the center AND the other neighbors.  It was actually one of their neighbors that started the petition to get the special use permit.  The center has been there for more than 20 years and should not be forced out because of one person.  But apparently he dropped his lawsuit against the facility and, as I mentioned earlier, the Board of Supervisors voted to give them the permit.  The guy, who is a dentist or doctor or something, now has 15 days to appeal this decision, but he dropped the lawsuit so why would he file an appeal?  Hopefully he saw he was up against  a whole bunch of support for the facility and knew he couldn't win.  I don't know.  But for now, much of Arizona (and beyond since this reached all around the world) is rejoicing that SWCC can continue doing what they do best and that is to rescue injured or orphaned animals, nurse them back to health then release them back into the wild.  HURRAY!

Well, that's it for now.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.

So much cuteness!

It's hard not to go into sugar shock.  Hahahaha.  Recently, I saw a message on a co-worker/friend's Facebook page about a whole mess of Cheetah kittens at Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia.  On March 21st, Milani gave birth to 2 males and a female.  On April 1st (perfect day to have Cheetahs born <grin> ), Vaila gave birth to 7 kittens.  7!!!!  That only happens 1% of the time.  Most litters are around 4 or 5 and even 5 is getting a bit unusual.  Unfortunately, 2 did not survive, but the remaining 5 are thriving.  But they weren't done yet.  On April 2nd, Wiay gave birth to 6 cubs, which only happens 8% of the time.  Only 5 of those survived.     There must be something in that Virginia air, though, that is causing these larger litter.  The National Zoo in Washington DC has a breeding program for Cheetahs and the facility is in Virginia and they've been having larger than average litters, too.

Breeding Cheetahs in captivity is a difficult task.  In the wild, it's the females who decide which males they are going to mate with and they can be fairly picky with who they want to spend some quality time with.   Only about 18% of cheetahs in captivity breed successfully.  When I worked as a volunteer at the Phoenix Zoo in the early 90s, they were trying to get theirs to breed, but were unsuccessful so they had a program called Cheetah Watch where basically you'd sit on the hill overlooking their exhibit and watch them and take notes on their behavior and such.  It was a popular program so I never got a chance to participate.  Eventually, though, their Cheetahs did produce some babies.  So anyway, because the females decide who they're going to mate with, zoos have to have a number of males for her to choose from and most facilities don't have the room to do that.  At the time, the Phoenix Zoo had two adjoining exhibit spaces where they kept them.  The female was in one yard and the males were in the other.  There are 3 facilities that have had huge successes in breeding them, but they have a separate location from the main zoo for their breeding program and the public is not allowed there, which is a real shame, but I guess I can understand the reasoning behind it.  Cheetahs are shy and somewhat timid animals and by having too many people around it stresses them out and it might affect the breeding program.

So, anyway, the Metro Richmond Zoo has some webcams set up in the dens of their female Cheetahs and I had forgotten about it until I saw it on my friend's Facebook wall so I had to check it out, of course.  Man, what a time sucker!  hahaha.  I could watch them all day because they're so cute!  And, well, I really like Cheetahs and even if there weren't any babies I'd still watch it.  But I'd like to share some screen captures I got.  Just so you can share in the cuteness.

First we have Milani and her 3...

And then we have Vaila's litter.  I don't know where in the den area this is and I don't know where Vaila is, but her kittens area all dog-piled together.

So cute!    I just checked the cam again and there was Vaila and her kittens are more spread out

The Phoenix Zoo currently has 3 male Cheetahs that are brothers.  In the wild, the females are solitary unless they have babies, but the males form groups called Coalitions.  Usually they're brothers, but occasionally they will accept a non-related male into their group.  Unfortunately, these ones are not part of any breeding program, which is a bummer.  Our last two, also brothers, weren't in the program either.  There's one other facility in Arizona, Wildlife World Zoo, which is in West Phoenix, also has an unrelated male and female pair that they imported from a facility in South Africa.  Since they're housed together, only time will tell if they end up producing any babies.  WWZ doesn't participate in the Species Survival Program, but they don't do anything to prevent breeding.  Those 2 have been at the zoo for a couple of years now, I think, and I have yet to go out and see them.  I just don't really like that place.  It's dirty and they don't enforce the No Smoking law so you see people walking around with cigarettes.  One of these days, though, I'll go see them.

Well, we have officially had our first triple digit temperature.  Yesterday the official high at Sky Harbor Airport was 101.  Yikes!  It's "only" supposed to reach 98 today, but something tells me it's going to be above that.  It's too soon!  It's supposed to cool down for a couple of days this weekend, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Until next time...

A good day for a trail ride...or maybe not...

Because I couldn't motivate myself to make lunch for work today, I had to go out to get something that is more nutritious, even if it's only slightly so, than what's available in the snack machines here at work.  Having decided on McDonald's, I went through the drive-thru and as I came out the other side, it had occurred to me that it'd been awhile since I'd driven through my "horse neighborhood".  I was in no big hurry to get back to work and I was "right there" so why not?  It's a gorgeous day today.  Not to hot.  A nice breeze.  Oh wait.  Scratch that.  It wasn't breezy, it was actually quite windy.  It was still nice out, though, and soon enough I'd have to go back to the office where the thermostat is kept too low and we get froze.  Appreciated during the hot summer months, but not so much in the winter.  Most of the time when I visit this neighborhood, I don't see anyone out on horseback, which is a shame.  They have some trails that go between houses...

They even have a community equestrian park with a decent sized arena complete with low jumps and a nice big field

Surprisingly, I've only seen the park used 1 1/2 times in the 2 or so years since I found out about this place.  Now, I say a 1/2 time because I didn't actually see her using it because she was on her way to the hospital after having a fall.  I saw and heard (through my scanner) the aftermath.  The police investigating the fall since it happened on city property and an officer going to her house to notify anyone who might be home of what happened.  I don't know how seriously she was hurt, but hopefully not too bad.  I also heard on my scanner them requesting the assistance of the mounted unit to come down with their trailer and help with the horse.  They then canceled that because a neighbor came over to get the horse.  Now, before you question or wonder, no, I don't go driving around in my car, chasing calls I hear on my scanner.  I was already in the area and curiosity got the better of me.  Two things that always jump out at me when I'm listening to my scanner:  anything to do with a horse and when a specific Tempe fire truck gets called out.  My neighborhood only has one station so whenever I hear Engine 275, I listen to make sure they aren't going to my house.  And the one time they have?  I didn't hear it.  hahaha.  I didn't have my scanner on at work that day.  Which is probably good because I would've been freaking out.  My brother thought he was having a stroke.  He was eventually diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, but at the time, half his face was frozen and he was worried so he called for a ride to the hospital because he didn't want to drive. 

ANYWAY...so I drove around a bit more, taking random photos.  This house, I was hoping to get a shot of the horses, but the owner was out in the corral, doing something with what appeared to be jump standards so I took a picture of the trail sign instead

I HAVE seen someone from this house going to the park to use the arena, which is really close, but I don't know that she actually lives there because there was an extra trailer in the driveway and the 2 horses that I've seen there before were still in their yard so it may have been a friend who asked if they could come over and park on their property.

And then there's this trailer...

Every time I am in the area, it's there.  It's never gone.  Granted, I'm not there 7 days a week, only during lunch time, which is probably why I never see anyone at the park, but since it's hooked up to the truck, does that mean whoever owns/drives the truck takes the trailer wherever they go?  Also, I have never seen anyone using the trails.  A lot of these houses that have horse property and actually still have horses, why are they never out riding when I'm around?  That's why I'm there...in hopes of seeing horses somewhere other than their corrals...that and looking at the nice houses.  Not all of them are nice, but there are some great ones that I enjoy looking at.  Oh well.

I figure one of the reasons for there not being anyone out on such a nice day is because of the wind.  Wind causes things to move and we all know how horses react when things start moving unexpectedly. 

The only drawback to my little drives is my lunch being cold by the time I get back to my desk, but today, with the weather being as nice as it was (I had both front windows down), it was worth it.

On Friday Breyer sent an email for a contest to win a Ram model.

His name is Rodney and they only made 40 of them so it was a micro-run.  Since I'm an Aries and I like Bighorn Sheep, I entered all three days for him, but unfortunately I didn't win one.  Oh well.  I'll survive, I suppose.  hahahaha.  It seems like the only time I win these contests is when I am entering for someone else.

Well, I guess I'd better get back to work.  Yay.  At least it's more than half over.

Shannondell...

What do you know...I'm still here.  Hahaha.  I just haven't had much to say lately so rather than blog more about healthcare and health problems, I didn't blog about anything.  I will say, since I blogged about it specifically before, that I'm nearing the end of a horrendous journey through the medical mine field.  Apparently Aetna thought it would be a good idea to have me off work without pay for 2 weeks and take all of my Paid Time Off.  I only just discovered this on Tuesday when I checked my bank balance online and saw it was significantly below what it should have been.  Unfortunately, I won't get the missing money until next payday, which is next week, and I was supposed to have the days reversed to get them back into my time off, but instead I ended up in the negative two additional days.  I'll give them a couple of days to see if they straighten that out and then I'll call again.  The money is more important than the days off anyway, but both are mine so I should have both.

Anyway, so today Breyer released an image of the 2nd Premier Club model...kind of odd since we haven't even gotten our FIRST model yet and last year (the first year I was in the club) they posted a hint, not the entire thing.  Initially I was going to offer it to someone who said they wanted both, but I think I may keep him because he looks pretty neat.  And last year I only kept one of the 3 models and that was only because I couldn't find someone to buy that one.  hahaha.

So, the new model is a new sculpt of a Clydesdale by a famous artist in the hobby and you have to choose which version you want.  There's the typical plaited version so common with the breed, especially when in shows or whatever

Very nice model.  The shading is beautifully done and the dapples look nice, too.  And then there's the "free-flowing" version

That's the version I picked.  I don't know why, I just like him better with the free-flowing mane and tail.  The order form didn't use a drop-down menu for picking which one you wanted, you just typed it into the box, but when you hit "submit", an image of the plaited version came up so there's concern about that (not just me, but other collectors had the same issue) so I sent an email to Breyer to ask about that.  He won't be available until August, but I guess they need to know how many of each to make so they're requesting that we reserve our pick now.  I hope the actual model looks as good as the prototype, but that can be a crapshoot.

Yesterday I had the day off and had intended to go to the zoo, but then my knee decided it wasn't having any of that so I went off looking for wild horses and I found a couple of bands.  As I was driving down to Butcher Jones (just about everyone in the free country knows they hang out there so no point in keeping it secret), I saw some coming up from the wash so I "met" them by the beach.  They went in for some water then moved on down to the OHV trail.  It was kind of weird because suddenly there was a lot of movement and then some clouds of dust and they came running back.  At least, I thought it was them coming back, but I quickly realized it was a different band.  The first group must've startled the second one as they came out for water.  Well, later on that afternoon I went back to Butcher Jones and saw that BOTH bands were hanging out together in the water.  They weren't really mingling, but they were both there together

The two on the right (grey and bay) and some of the others are part of the grey's band which includes my favorite mare Sapphire with her adorable weanling Diamond.  The band stallion is Shadowfax.  I don't know the names of the others, unfortunately, and I wouldn't swear to having ever seen them before.  I'll have to look at my other pictures from Butcher Jones.  If I've seen them before, it was before the foal was born.  I had my big camera and I took a bunch of pictures, but I haven't downloaded them, yet.  I'm hoping this one picture I took turned out as good as it looked to me.  A stallion from "Band 2" was standing on the beach and was looking up towards my camera and all you could see behind him was the water and mountains.  I need to get those pictures uploaded soon.  I was going to do it today, but lacked the motivation.  hahaha.

Well, I guess that's it for now.  Our temperatures are starting to get into the 90s now and we've had to run the air conditioner a couple of times.  Nothing major, just for an hour or two when the house temperature reached 86 or 87.  86 degrees is our "magic number" for when it's time to turn it on, but I've been known to turn it on at 85 when it's been particularly warm.  It won't be long, though, before it'll have to be on all the time.  Until next time!

Being broken really sucks...

**Warning** The first part of this is a rant about my knee issues, but then there's more fun stuff after that. :)

Not broke, although that sucks too, but brokEN. As in mind or body or even spirit, I guess. But in this situation, I'm talking body. For the past couple of months I have been dealing with some kind of injury to my left leg. It started at work when I got up from my desk one day to go to the printer and felt sharp pain in my knee. Holy moly did it hurt! But being the type of person that I am, I ignored it and hoped it would go away. The pain, that is, not my knee. hahaha. But it didn't go away. In fact, the pain gradually got worse. I went to an Urgent Care facility, but my blood pressure was real high and so all the PA cared about was me going to the ER to have it looked into. I don't have high blood pressure so I blew it off and went home. And still the pain continued. So I went to a different Urgent Care place and while my BP was still elevated, they weren't all fire and brimstone like the first place and ordered x-rays and gave me a prescription for Vicodin as well as a shot for pain...which did absolutely nothing for the pain. In the meantime, the pain had gone from the knee to a more traveling kind. In the morning it would start in my shin and by mid-morning it would be in my knee. By the end of the day it was in my hip and thigh area. It was terrible and I was taking more and more pain meds to alleviate it, which caused my BP to go up. Well, around about the time I went to the 2nd urgent care place, I started to get sick and that's how I ended up in the ER that day. I had been on my way to work, but I couldn't breathe because I was so congested and I couldn't walk because my knee hurt so much so I stopped at the ER in hopes of getting a breathing treatment or something. My BP was really high so they wouldn't let me go home. I have since seen a new Primary Care Doctor, who ordered x-rays of my knee and now I'm waiting to hear the results. I have access to my medical records online, but the x-rays haven't shown up yet and I'm beginning to think they're not going to. Next week I have a follow-up appointment so I may not know until then, which sucks.

And now we get to the point of this blog post. During this time, the annual Arabian show came to town. I took a day off from work so I could go, but I ended up having to "cancel" (I wasn't going with anyone) because it was a bad knee day. This past Saturday there was a Dressage festival in town. Yay! An opportunity to photograph a horse that wasn't Arabian or stock-type. But guess what? My knee hurt. Oh, and by now I'd progressed to using a cane to help me walk and when I go to the grocery store I use an electric scooter. Because of my weight I've never been super duper active or athletic, but certainly a lot more than what I've been reduced to now! The doctor suggested a pain medicine "schedule"...take certain drugs at certain times of the day...so as to stay ahead of the pain rather than wait for it to hit. I've been using it off and on and it does help some, but not always. Sometimes it just depends on how active I am during the day at work. When I have to move around a lot (getting up and down from my desk), the pain meds wear off quicker. At least the traveling pain has stopped and it's now just mostly in my knee and hip/thigh area, but I'm just so ready for this pain to be gone, you know? I had to miss an important meeting thing at work yesterday that we're all required to attend, but there would've been no way I could've walked from my work area to the conference room where it was, even with the help of a cane. So I went to my supervisor and explained to him the issue and he said I could reschedule it or look into doing a webinar, if that's available. He didn't seem too concerned about my not being able to attend, which is good.

So, this past Friday was my birthday. The big 46. Woohoo! hahahah. I took a couple of days off from work. On Friday I just hung out at home. We cooked a Ribeye Roast, which was totally nummy. I am easy to please. One day a year I require Prime Rib and that is on my birthday. Usually we go get something from Outback Steakhouse, but this past Christmas we'd made a real nice roast in the over for a fraction of the cost of the 3 of us eating out so that's what we did. We actually made 2 roasts because my brother wanted to use some of the left-overs for tacos and I wanted to make sure we had regular left-overs. Other than that, the day was nothing special. On Saturday was laundry and Sunday was our weekly grocery shopping. Monday, though, Monday was my day and I spent it out looking for wild horses. And boy howdy did I find some, including a rare treat. I finally saw my little mare Scarlett again for the first time in more than a year. The last time I saw her she was with Marty and Orion, but then she was pilched by another band stallion, who impregnated her, but somehow Orion got her back and now they have a cute little family of three. I don't know where Marty is, but I imagine he's running with another bachelor herd. I feel kind of bad for him since Scarlett was originally "his" and now his second in command has her. Oh well. That's how it works with wild horses. Anyway, I was driving along the road to the recreation site I used to see the Bachelor 4 + 1 all the time and I looked to my left and almost slammed on my breaks. I was so excited to see them. I'm a little bummed that Scarlett didn't seem to recognize me or wasn't curious about me like she has been in the past, but that's probably a good thing. It keeps her safer. Needless to say, I took a bunch of pictures. Most of them are on my big camera, but I took a couple with my cell phone.

Scarlett is the grey in the back and her colt, whom I'm calling Khasper for now, is in the foreground.  I'm surprised he still has so much of his winter coat considering how warm it's been.

After leaving there I went out of the area to do some other things, but then came back for another drive-through.  All of the horses that had been there before were now gone, which was a bummer.  I'd hoped to see Scarlett again, but I'm glad I saw her Monday.

They are doing road work on Bush Highway as well as resurfacing it so in one part, there's only one lane of traffic going through so you have to sit there and wait for your turn.  What a pain in the arse that is, but sometimes it's a little interesting.  Like them allowing a few cars to pass to our right at the Saguaro Lake turn-off. 

The box on my dashboard is my scanner.  Because the area is kind of canyon-ish, I don't always pick up transmissions in this area, but there was a cell phone tower at the marina so I got the best cell phone reception.  hahaha.  After the fiasco with the dead battery a few weeks ago I've thought about going to a regular carrier (I have Cricket right now) in hopes that I would get better reception at the recreation sites, but I don't know if I would or not.  It's not like I can get a phone then take it out to where I go and see if there's reception then bring it back if it's not good enough.  So I'm hesitant to change providers. 

A horse trailer passed to the left

The last time I was out here a trailer passed by and a horse had his head stuck out the window.  I was so mad to see that.  People can be real stupid.  Do they not realize something could injure his eye?  There wasn't even a fly mask on to help protect his eyes.  Aaaaargh.  Idiot.

So then I went back to Butcher Jones (I'd been there earlier in the morning) and as soon as I got closer to the beach area, I saw some horses near the water so I pulled over to the loading area and started snapping away.  Then, as I was leaving, some of them had moved to the inner part of the site so I had to stop and take more pictures

Again, most of my pictures were taken with my good camera and these are just cell phone shots.  A couple of the foals kept playing around, but then Diamond decided he'd had enough and stuck by Mom, but the other foal kept racing around.  I was worried he'd get hit by a car, but he stayed within the dirt area.  He kept kicking up his heals and having  a grand ol time.  It was cute to watch.

Well, on Friday my unit moves across the street so our work area is full of big, yellow totes to pack our desks into.  I haven't even started yet.  hahaha.  I might put a few things in today, though.  We'll see.

I guess that's it for now.