Desert Boy and Santa

Yesterday was the Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas when the three wise men reached baby Jesus with their gifts. So the Christmas season is now officially over, despite the many Christmas decorations I still need to take down and put away. But I couldn't resist posting one more Christmas photo, this one taken by friends who witnessed Desert Boy's first encounter with Santa Claus. Do you think he got what he wanted for Christmas?

Recovering

Hi, Desert Boy and I are back from a trip to see family in the Midwest. It was great fun, but I have to get back to work now and so don't have time to post today. But check back tomorrow!

Desert Boy Goes to the Outlet Mall

We're visiting family, and over the weekend we went to the outlet mall. While the ladies enjoyed shopping, Desert Boy hung out with his Grandpa and Uncles. What did they do for a few hours? Watch the video to see!

Desert Boy Learns to Ice Skate

Our recent cold weather has produced a sheen of ice on many surfaces, including this lake. I let Desert Boy go out and find out what ice is like. He slid around...

...but liked to stay out on the ice.

But he found it's not easy to walk and crashed. He can say the words "ice" and "crash." He got to practice them a lot.

A fall doesn't faze him, he's up and at it again.

Until the next crash. Nevertheless, he didn't want to leave---until his hands got cold. That's another word "cold," usually accompanied by whimpering. We've tried to explain the use of mittens, but he thinks they're just in the way. 

Wild Turkeys

When  I was doing the Christmas Bird Count a few weeks ago, I found some turkeys up one of the canyons. As I mentioned in a previous post, wild turkeys are not native to this area, but were introduced by the state wildlife agency. So whenever I see them, I think of Thanksgiving dinner.

The turkeys must sense this, because once they saw me, they turned around and hurried back into the brush.

I waited for awhile, and sure enough, they came trotting out, crossing the road in front of me.

If you're wondering about the house in the background, yes, it is awesome. It is currently run as a bed and breakfast and is very popular for weddings and family reunions. The landscape around it is fantastic, with steep cliffs, a maze of mountain roads, and views of peaks over 10,000 feet tall.

Okay, back to the turkeys. It's true domesticated turkeys can't fly, but wild ones can--here is proof. They often perch in trees at night to protect themselves from predators, like mountain lions.

They aren't particularly concerned being near other wildlife, though, as they scramble past the mule deer on the left and continue up the canyon.