See the big clouds? See big, blue sky? See Arizona sky on a Big Sky Day!
Today is Big Sky Day. Please come! You walk with Ellie and Cindi. You look. You see Spring things. You feel breeze and smell flowers. Pretty day!
Big Sky Day is good day for 2 happy hawks in lazy (& blurry) air duet over our
neighborhood. Duet is two. Two hawks having fun!Humble Tanner house framed by soaring clouds. See the new roofing materials
placed about on top of our rotting roof. See that after David informed Mrs. Li it is not proper technique to just slap new stuff on without first stripping off the old roof - Chinese roofer who speak no English did NOT show up early this morning to begin roofing. We can guess argument in Cantonese last night; "You no pay me enough money!" "You roof right way! You no get more money - I say 'new roof', you do!"
Mockingbirds are sassy and loud from now until about the first of June. We let our pet mockingbird Hannibal go free last year; like 'Free Willy', but different. Free Hannibal~ fly! Listen: this mockingbird is singing his heart out. Pretty Bird.See the mini-Old McDonald's farm on the corner of Ocotillo & 14th.
Hello, goats one and two! These goats are happy to see us. So happy. Yeah.
See Hennie-Penny on steroids! This is THE biggest chicken in the whole, wide world. It stands close to a yard tall, no kidding. (She started to come when I called to her ~ and I was afraid...) Can you say ginormous? I didn't think so.See how Big Sky Days are good for lying around if you want to. Here is
someone who wants to do just that whether it's a Big Sky Day or not. I mean, I don't know for sure, but something tells me my assumption is fair. Hello, piggy!The promise of an approaching storm makes the day chilly and Spring colors bright. See the native wildflowers. Hello, flowers!
Wow! Citrus blossoms are opening; the air is thick with their sicky-sweet scent. See people everywhere sniffle and snuff and hack with allergies.
See the apple tree in bloom. Hello, apple tree!
See the very large and very spooky eye-sore property on the corner of Ocotillo & 16th Street. A giant hawk usually sits at the top of the dead pepper tree (trunk visible here) next
to the house.Oooooh! Watch out, spooky house.
See the wicked Jujubi thorns. Nasty Jujubi tree. Bad.
See why it is never appropriate to landscape in desert landscaping; these dandelions may look sweet off-set by the crushed rock -
but they are manipulative, salacious little interlopers. Can you say 'salacious'? See homeowner curse once he decides to finally come outside and try to clean up his "care-free" yard. Ha ha! Silly homeowner.
See the interesting ficus tree. The winter freeze killed the outer branches, which are now nicely accentuated by new, green growth.
See Squaw Peak framed by wildflowers. A big ground squirrel spooked out from under this bush. Ellie's mad dash to catch it almost killed me. Bad squirrel.
See Ellie in "point". Ellie is a smart dog. She is thinking two cocky good for nothing bite your backside when you're not looking geese at Granada Park are going to be a nice snack.
If I wasn't worried about a city imposed fine or do-gooder animal rights types witnessing the slaughter, I might have let her enjoy the fruits of her well-honed doggie instincts. She already knows roof rats are delicious . . .
See Camelback Mountain with The Praying Monk in front. He looks like he is praying. Can you see him? Do you say your prayers?
Wow! See this prickly pear cactus getting ready to bloom like crazy in the next week or two.
How exciting! Ellie, are you excited? Good dog.
See crazy real estate market take crappy little 2 bedroom apartments and turn them into crappy little 2 bedroom "patiohomes" just because they say so.Foolish developers; new paint and plants do not convince everyone!
New name so silly; everyone knows the posh Biltmore is on the OTHER side of the canal and not here, next to crappy chain-link/barbed wire lined properties with NO TRESPASSING or BEWARE OF DOG signs every 12 feet.
See the baby binky in the street. Poor binky! Sad binky. Sad little boy without his binky. Make question: why mommie no notice? Bad mommie.
Binky is pretty blue; just like the Big Sky Day.
The End.
12 comments:
Thanks for taking me for a walk Cindi :) That little house is FREAKY especially how they park behind a chain-linked fence.
Wow, I feel like I just had a hike! Should count for something toward calorie burn... I think I see Mrs. Li's work all the time out here. Let her know that a second set of shingles seals in any wood rot making the next roof DRAMATICALLY more expensive (I noticed rot all around the house a year ago...) and a second layer makes it much, much hotter inside the house, making the air conditioner work harder and wear out, maybe this summer. A new AC unit will have to be a 13 SEER and DRAMATICALLY more expensive. Have her call me! Feel house smarter? Also, I always wondered where Jujubees came from! Such a great treat from such a thorny tree! At the movies I like to put in a whole mouthful and melt them together into one ginormous (your word) jujubote which lasts a long time. Oh, and Darby O'Gill WAS great, though the banshee scared both myself and my brother. We had night terrors for weeks... Is the sky really big?
W/our Chinese landlady it appears to be a cultural thing: less money = more good. She lives 4 houses away; her own house is riddled with really dangerous, ridiculous stuff (exposed wires, water damage,indoor vermin, etc.).
Everyone in the neighborhood knows them & their properties. Someone here was harassing Mr. Li (when he was still around)by calling the City repeatedly. We got cited twice for "dead tree branches" in the BACK yard, right next door the entire dead tree by the street attracted no such notice. She never calls a real plumber, it's her son-in-law or the Mexican guy with a machete; so basically leaks are never corrected.
We had 2 dinosaur air conditioning/heating units that meant calling her every couple weeks & either freezing or melting for 2 more weeks. She had some rag-tag guy come at the end of the day & patch stuff by flashlight. When we were in Seattle, a real company came (a white guy & name on the truck!)and installed 2 NEW units & thermostats. We can't figure it out. Who is advising her about protecting her investment, and - will she continue to listen?
I, too, feel like I've had a nice neighborhood walk tonight. Thank you. I can't think of anyplace I'd be able to photograph pigs or chickens or squirrels near my house. Maybe I need to look closer to find cool things to appreciate and enjoy over here. I love that I can see Squaw Peak from here. I like to pretend that if I can see a mountain, then I'm not actually in the middle of an extremely large city.
I find that oftentimes homeowners are penny wise and pound foolish. Whether it is a home inspection or a home energy efficiency audit, large, necessary, one-time upgrades are foregone for small, band-aid, hollow, feel-good "fixes" that solve little and prolong the real problem. There may be an object lesson in there somewhere! Let's see, come to think of it, it seems I see that often in my Church interviews too... hmmm, you say that monk on the mountain is praying? Have him send one up for... aw, never mind, I suppose I can do that too.
So much for speculation: New roof go over old roof like giant egg roll! Chinese roofer come, he do! More work today!
no fair! i miss my arizona sky!! and sadly we don't have darby o'gill and the little people... it is on my list to buy, so instead we watched godfather III on tv... it works, the opening scene is st. patrick's day little italy style
Well, new roof, bummer! I think the Chinese word for bummer is buma...
Nice Entry, Cindi! I enjoyed the walk while I was at work! Thank you! Nice photos!
I just read your comments over on Shannon's blog. Your are so funny. Can you make a career out of writing book and chapter titles? Hmmm,. . . you should write a book on that topic.
Cynthia: I thought they were mad at me for getting into their interview project.
I have more chapter headings, actually...they're just in "reserve". I have a feeling the magical combo of Lezlee & Shannon will generate endless possibilities if they would get busy!Shannon reminds me of a great tween-audience book series: "Dear Dumb Diary". SO funny.
I totally loved ALL your book ideas, I just haven't had time to appropriately respond. Somehow I thought the response should be witty or something and somehow I didn't have the energy for witty this week! But I did LOVE them all. We have a new entry on the Shando blog coming up sometime soon when I can get around to it.
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