A Lazy Afternoon, While Mari Went on an Expedition with Francisco Coronado, to get Supplies at Albertson's

I had just one bottle of Stella Artois, and nothing to do with it, nor to share it with, so I took it out into the back yard to see what it could see.

I am not very good at identifying birds, but I do know a Palo Verde tree when I see something that I think is one.

I do believe that the dove is a White Winged dove, and there is at least a fair chance that the bird to the right is a House Finch, but there is an equally good chance that it is a Duck-footed Polywarb. If it is the latter, it is the first one sighted in Tucson since Francisco Coronado did not come through town, either.

It was a quiet afternoon, while waiting for Mari to return from the grocery without groceries, so the same or another dove, who looks best from the left side, posed again.

Up the hill, to the southeast, an ocotillo cactus signaled that Spring had offered a little rain, and the Summer had brought out the best in it.

I have not a clue what it is, but a prickly white-blossomed thing, whose primary duty is to try to grow across the gate in the back fence, has been spitting blossoms at everyone who has a single-minded opinion of what beauty is.

And up closer, an absurd
conical plastic hat, bought at a garden shop south of St. Paul, Minnesota (the imprecision is due to the fact that I cannot remember the name of Gerten's in Inver Grove Heights), is now put to use over a humming bird feeder.

I trimmed the roses a little too late, so the plant is readjusting itself to the Mad Hacker whose shingles finally quit twitching. It is doing a fine job.

I have not a clue what the purple thing is. It might be a Purple Finch.

It isn't, of course.

Comments

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