Evening in the Desert

Even though it was hot in the afternoon, it irked me to hide away from the desert when we had so little time to enjoy it. So after I'd had some ice cream, and before everyone's entropy just sank them into the couch cushions, never to be seen again, I got the big lens on the camera, and said "I'm going for a walk. Anyone going to join me?"

Kelly is always such an encourager, and she immediately offered to go with me.

Just outside the door to our suite, there was such a loud buzzing in the locust tree, we had to investigate.

I'd found some discarded exoskeletons earlier in the day, so this time I knew what to look for. And once you know what you're looking for, it does seem easier to find them...

Cicadas.

We walked on, eager to see what we could find out on the golf course. All the golfers had gone home, and the sun was getting ready to set. It was the Golden Hour, and I wanted to see how much I could photograph.

And anyone know what kind of bird builds a nest with a little tunnel entrance? This nest was right about at eye level.

The sun was getting low, so we went back to the suite, and got the kids stirred up to go back to the pool before a late supper.

It didn't take too much encouraging to get them up and going. The sunset pool time had been a lot of fun the previous day.

It was gorgeous walking over to the pool.

And without much ado, it was time for me to say "Skip, go throw your sister. What are you waiting for?"

That never gets old.

When we were done, we headed home for some supper.

Our pet was waiting for us at our front door. He was quite friendly, and climbed right up onto our fingers.

After a quick supper, we went out for a 'night hike', which was really just a walk along a foot-lit path. We saw lots of stars, and bats, and Ken explained the constellations to the kids, and then Kelly suddenly said "Hey! I saw something small scurry under that bush..."

Good spotting, Kelly. That's an endangered California Kangaroo Rat. Look at the length of his tail! He's about the same size as the littlest of our hamsters, but not nearly as tame. It was a great way to end the walk.