Ranger Robb

We've been enjoying the Labor Day weekend here in Phoenix as it was intended. Eating crappy food and relaxing. We got the supplies on Saturday. The supplies include hot dogs, soda, chips & dip, baked beans, and ice cream. I should point out that we only get turkey dogs, chips & dip, baked beans, and special drinks twice a year. That's it. Twice. Memorial Day and Labor Day. I told Jeremiah all day yesterday that I felt wrong for getting so excited about processed meat. Seriously excited.

Apparently my stomach didn't think the food was as great as I did. I don't think a stomach that is used to fruits and veggies can handle chip dip. Or potato chips, for that matter. Anyway...

SOME people are actually working today, and I'm pretty sure my dad is one of those SOME. My parents are both retired (as are Jeremiah's) but my dad went out and got a job working at the state park. He gets to wear a uniform and everything. Khaki, of course. Park rangers wear khaki. They call him Ranger Robb, which is fun to say. Try it.

We brought my dad dinner once while I was there and he took me on a picture tour of the park. I should mention that I've gone to this park for as long as I can remember. I grew up here.  I should also mention that I got some suweet shots with my SLR, but Jeremiah pointed out that people can lift my shots right off the blog and claim them as their own...so you only get to see the okay pictures and not the great ones. Because I don't know who you are. 'Cause you don't leave comments. Just sayin'.

Anyway, here's my dad, leading the tour...

"So if you look to your right, you'll notice..."

 

"Emily Brooke, get your ASS away from the nest!"

I saw this gigantic nest. Kind of freaked me out. I'm not entirely sure if it was still being used, but seeing as how I have a horrible tendency to be allergic to all things stingy or bitey, I decided to not stick around.

"Why are you stepping on that?"

I just liked the leaves. It's actually a weed, but I got in trouble a little bit when I smooshed one.

"And if you'll look up...Emily? LOOK UP! I'm trying to show you something!"

Swan feather. So pretty. My mom has pictures of the swan's feathers actually being used in nests by birds, but when we opened the house, there was a mouse that had taken over and jumped out at my dad. He may or may not have jumped back and screamed a little. Or maybe that was me. I have pictures of it, but again...

"Take the picture FAST. I think I heard the mouse coming back for me."

The next house had BABIES in it. I took two very quick pictures and left because babies need their mom and food, and I wasn't either of those things.

Ranger Robb reporting for duty!

Lastly, here's Ranger Robb driving the green thing. Freaking lucky duck, that looks like fun. He also gets a WALKIE TALKIE. I might have stolen borrowed his walkie talkie to talkie in a phoney baloney call. And I might have gotten the walkie talkie taken away from me. Oh, and a truck. He gets to drive a big manly truck around the park. Of course, he has to clean old-fashioned, hole-in-the-ground toilets, so maybe not so lucky.

So what are YOU doing for your long weekend?
This is the part where you hit the little comment button and tell me what you're doing this weekend.

Road Trippin' It to Tucson

Tucson flew by. Seriously, it was a quick week. I made a movie (!) and won a classroom of laptops for a month - one for each student. So it was a good week.
On Thursday a friend/coworker and I went for a walk on one of the resort's trails. I spotted the above bird on the way back and I'm pretty sure it is either a female cardinal or a pyrrhuloxia. Say that three times fast. Or even once. Typing it was even troublesome.
View from the path. Gorgeous, non? So much prettier than the mountains in PHX.
Then there was this pretty bird. BRIGHT yellowish-orange. He was either some type of oriole, not a midwestern variety, or he was some type of warbler. But I don't think warbler, because he was livin' large, you know? If you know, feel free to comment. Or lurk. Go ahead.
Hawk on the pole. Bird on a wire.
The maze.
The resort was nice, it was the second time the conference was held there. The rooms are all in little clusters - all outside. A little like rich people camping.
More views.

And that was my trip to Tucson. Not the city so much as a resort visit, but fun all the same.

Love Birds

So Jeremiah got me these bird salt/pepper shakers for Christmas. It was sort of like this when we walked out of the store. Me: "Tell me right now if you aren't going to get those for me. I want them and I will go back in the store RIGHT NOW if you aren't going to come back for them." Boyfriend: "Just get in the car." I took that to mean that he would get them for me and he did! Want to see my shakers?

Don't you love them? I've always been a little chickadee and I've always liked to watch the birds, but lately I've been bringing them into my house, so when I was at Salvation Army on Saturday and saw this...

I thought, oh.my.gosh. and picked it up immediately. It was a dollar. One dollar. It matches my shakers perfectly. I don't have anything else to say. I'm just in love with my little white birds.

Somewhere over the rainbow, finches (and flickers) fly

The hummingbird above is called an Anna's Hummingbird. It has a bit of purple on the throat that is just barely visible in the picture but is beautiful up close. Below is a picture that Jeremiah took (right in our front yard!) after a rainstorm.

Finches! They eat out of my finch feeder and the hummingbird feeder!
My most beautiful woodpecker/flicker. He sits right on the fence that borders the patio and noisily waits to get his food.