A Jack Kind of Day

Today is sunny & beautiful. It is the kind of day that needs a little boy, some water, and a dog. Here is the little boy: Here is the dog:
And here is the water. Today is definitely a Jack Kind of Day. C'mon!

Today is a good day for pool time. See Jack in the water spouts! Hurry, Jack ~ catch the water in your cup.
Catch the water and pour it out again. You can do it!
Which water spout to choose? They are all beautiful. Jack is very focused. He is a boy thoroughly enjoying his fun, new spouty-pool.
This is an excellent time to have a drink. Look!
Look who is playing with Jack on a Jack Kind of Day! It is Auntie Asia. She is very clever. She is teaching Jack how to put a big, juicy grapefruit inside his cap. Jack is not confused. He knows a good splash weapon when he sees one. Splash, Jack!
Now Jack is confused. He thinks this fly is a bee. Can you see the fly? (It is to the right of Asia's fake henna tattoo she got in Mexico. ¡Qué artistica!) The fly is Jack's friend. He crawls around so gently, so gently on Jack's little arm. When the fly flies away, Jack sweetly says "Bye-bye." Jack is polite.

LOOK! Oh my goodness - what is that? Jack runs to see. He is a curious boy.

It is a big, black carpenter bee! What fun! Wheee! There he goes, Jack!

No, now he is over there...! Jack is a genius. He can track a flying oddity with super-natural honing powers. See Jack's superior attention-locking gaze:
See Jack in point: He has tracked the bee to a hole in a grapefruit tree. Good work, boy!
Speaking of grapefruits ~ Ellie has stolen Jack's water bomb fruit. She will not let him get it. She runs so fast, so fast. She taunts poor Jack by dropping the grapefruit, then racing off with it as soon as he reaches for it. Run, Jack! Run, Ellie!

No worries. Jack has vast and resourceful cognitive skills. His problem-solving frontal lobe suggests a method by which he may easily achieve his purpose...

Jack's game is on top once again.

After a hugely successful picnic lunch, it is a good time for a bath. All clean! Jack is generous. He hugs Grandpa a million times. Maybe a hundred fifty twenty and a half million times.

Oh, Look! A favorite person is home from school. Hello, "Say-chell"! Kisses!

Good-bye, Ellie! Good-bye, Moe! What a fun time. What a fun day! A truly Jack Kind of Day.
Bye-bye, Jack.

Moe & the Mystery of the Back Porch Day

We are going outside. We are going outside to visit the back porch. See Ellie waiting for us to come out! Oh! She has a new little friend.

See Moe. Funny bird! He is a cocky Cockatiel. He can bite like the dickens. Bad bird! He can shriek all day long. Can you say “insanely annoying”?

Cindi let Moe go 3 times. He always came back - so sad, so sad. This time a cat got him, but Ellie the Hero Dog chased away Mean Mr. Naughty Cat. Moe is hurt, but getting better. He is thankful Ellie came to the rescue. Happy, gimpy bird!

Now we have a confused cross-species relationship that cannot be explained. Moe thinks his bff is a dog. This could be a mystery - if I had not just explained it to you.

Moe thinks he is a doghouse bird.

Moe thinks he is an attack bird. This is the target of a Moe-attack...

watch out!

Mostly he is a hungry bird.

See pretty Skittles. Skittles is happy to be rid of her bossy cage-mate. She lives outside on the back porch, too. But she is not free to poop everywhere like Moe.

See the nasty butt. Tanners do not smoke. Is this the mystery? No! Chinese roofers smoke a lot.

See the pretty petunias. We have not killed them yet...but we will. See the stylish Calla Lillies.

Look! How lovely are the Aloe Vera blooms.

This could also be called a Lazarus plant, because you can’t kill it if you tried.

Here is a blossom from the sweet, purple vine Mrs. Li had the Mexicans hack to pieces.
Ha, ha, Mrs. Li! Everyone knows ~ tyranny cannot long endure.

Here is something very interesting. Is this a mystery?
No! It is a grapefruit tree that has been drilled by something else that is always hungry, like Moe.

Hello, big fat carpenter bee! Ellie tries to eat you, but she’s just kidding.

Here is Ellie’s dead monkey. Sad monkey. It is not a mystery who has killed the monkey. Ellie has been trying to tear his squeaker out. This is an innate canine urge called “must get the squeaker to justify my existence”.

Ellie is justified many times over.

Play dead, Ellie. Play dead, Moe.

Play with your toy, Ellie. Play with the hose, Moe.

Maybe Moe would like to gnaw on the bone Ellie has. Yummy bone.

See the vintage ‘50’s metal porch support cemented into the wall years later. It goes up, up, up. There is nothing at the top! Silly previous homeowners.

Goofy things like this give a home “character”. Our house can out-character your house.

Look! You can see Cindi’s beloved chicken house framed inside the support. The turquoise of the chicken house is the same exact color as what’s left of the paint on the support.

This is the mystery of the Back Porch Day.

Cindi and the Big Sky Day

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.