Desert Boy Plays with a Friend

What's cuter than one little tyke? 

Two! 

Desert Boy played with a little friend down the road. He was born in a baby boom year--we have five kids his age in town. When he gets to school, he will have a big class! I like to see how he plays with the other kids, even though he usually doesn't want to play with the kid but play with the kid's toys. These two almost look like brother and sister and they're a hoot to watch together.

When they get to kindergarten they might have to practice sharing. Desert Boy has taken his cute buddy's ball and wants to eat it. She wants it back. Neither one gets upset though, they still don't really know what to think of each other.

Desert Boy's friend shows off her pacifiers--one in her mouth and one in her hand. It didn't take long for Desert Boy to grab one. He doesn't use them any more, but it must be fun if another kid has one.

As they spend more time together, they start warming up and aren't afraid to touch each other. 

His cute buddy decides to touch some more. Playing is turning out to be pretty fun!

Desert Boy Plays with a Sprinkler

Monday is usually Desert Destination day, but today we're not going far because I'm tired! So what better place to go when you're tired but the backyard.

The heat of the summer keeps us playing in water, and today we get to watch Desert Boy learning about hydraulic properties. Specifically, he's learning that when he sprays water, it gets whatever it's aimed at wet.

He seems fascinated by the water and looks for things to get wet. 

He stands up to get better leverage.

And then he's back down on the ground again. It's tough work moving water around, you know.

Oops, his aim was a little off, and Desert Boy got an unexpected splash. It's warm out, so it feels good despite the surprise.

He's not fazed by getting wet and gets right back into playing with the sprinkler. By the way, if you've never seen this kind of sprinkler, it's really cool. As the water spins around, it propels the tractor forward, so you just lay out the hose where you want the sprinkler to go and it can cover a large area.

He keeps trying to figure out what other things he can do with water.

He begins by making his vroom, vroom noises.

And finally he decides it's time to ride the tractor. The backyard turns out to be a great destination.

Desert Boy Plays in a Puddle

We haven't been experiencing the effects of Hurricane Eduard or the tornadoes of the Midwest, but we did have a nice dowsing monsoon rain this afternoon. After the rain stopped, Desert Boy, Henry, and I headed out for a walk. Before long we found this nice puddle, and I just had to let Desert Boy have some fun.

I have fond memories as a kid going out after storms and unclogging sewers. We don't have any sewers around here, but the water is still a big attraction. At first Desert Boy is content to walk in the puddle.

He starts picking up rocks and throwing them into the water. I figure this might go on for awhile and settle back to enjoy the show.

I sure wish I could squat like that! He throws rocks into the puddle, gets them out, throws them again.

Henry isn't too far away, investigating the smells.

Desert Boy loves to play in the water, and he usually isn't content to stay very dry...

...so before long he's sitting in the puddle. Like the little wave he creates as he plops down? He doesn't make a sound, but a content look appears on his face. Now he can really play. 

He twists and turns in the water. I'm just grateful that he's not trying to blow bubbles. I should mention that this puddle is along the side of the main road through town, so everyone who is going by is going extra slow and giving us strange looks. I'm sure more than one thought, "What is that crazy mom doing, letting her kid play in a mud puddle?"

I like to think that I'm just letting Desert Boy expand his horizons in a supervised activity. I know I can wash the clothes. And this is only his third outfit for the day--he's been going through four outfits a day recently, so it's no big deal.

This is one of Desert Boy's mischievous looks. I wonder what's going through his little head right now.

And here's another one of those looks. In about 15 years he will be sweeping the girls off their feet with looks like these.

Finally Desert Boy goes too far and starts eating the mud in the mud puddle. It's time to leave. But we'll be back after another rainstorm!

Monsoon Weather

It's late summer, and that means in many North American desert areas it's monsoon season. Giant clouds build up over the mountains, get excited, and send down lightning bolts and deafening thunder. Every once in awhile the clouds even release some moisture and we get some rain.

Monsoon weather is found across the globe. We generally have monsoons during July and August, when winds blow moisture from Mexico and Arizona up towards our direction. The winds heat up as they cross the hot land, and when enough moisture is present in the air, the combination creates clouds. These clouds build and build, forming large thunderheads. They are really cool to watch, but they also can make mountain hiking dangerous due to the increased lightning activity.

 
Here are some actual rain drops hitting the windshield! Of course the wipers don't work that well on our desert vehicles, because the hot sun makes the rubber on the windshield wiper blades crack and we use them so infrequently that we forget to replace them.

During one recent monsoon rain shower, I went out in the garden to weed. My garden has been terrific at growing weeds but so-so at growing what I planted. The cloud cover and gentle sprinkles made for a perfect temperature to make my garden look more respectable. Meanwhile, Desert Boy and Henry were playing in the sand and then in a muddy puddle. I figured we had better try to clean up Desert Boy, especially because he was wearing a white onesie and now had a very black behind. So we went to clean up any self-respecting person does: we went to the kiddie pool! Here's a 22 second video of Desert Boy cleaning up in the pool, with a little help from Henry.

Following the dip in the kiddie pool, sure enough, Desert Boy was much cleaner.
He was also sporting some extra curves with his bulging diaper. And that's how we end up when we begin discussing monsoon weather!

Desert Boy Helps Irrigate

The meadow near our house was extremely dry, so the other day my good husband went out to irrigate it. Of course Desert Boy had to tag along to see what was going on. If it involves water, he's there. 

Desert Boy and Henry both seem to be carefully examining the irrigation ditch. It was a new ditch and quite nice, but I'm not sure what it was that caught their attention.

Apparently Desert Boy decided he needed a closer look and climbed over the dirt berm. And if Desert Boy is going in the water, Henry had to go in too. He's a nice loyal dog.

It doesn't take long for Desert Boy to get some mud on his leg. He doesn't fuss about this at all.

Instead, he takes care of the dirt by sitting down for a mud bath. I love my son, he will be a brilliant problem-solver someday.

Henry gets distracted and runs off. So much for being a loyal dog. We'll still keep him though.

When I look back to Desert Boy, I notice he has his back to me and his hands in the dirt. That can only mean one thing. You've guessed it, he's eating dirt again. Holy canoli. This kid is going to end up having a full complement of soil bacteria in his gut. Hopefully that will be good for something someday.

Fortunately he finds a distraction, a large dirt wad that would be fun to roll into the ditch. After all, if he can fill in the nice, new ditch that Daddy just made, he would have accomplished something. 

And success, the big dirt wad is in the ditch, getting eroded away. I scoop it out and we repeat the process. And then Desert Boy starts throwing rocks into the ditch until I haul him off to wash him down with the garden hose. I'm sure Daddy appreciated all the help. 

A Walk in the Desert

Last weekend my husband wanted to go wandering around the desert looking for mines. There are certainly lots of old mines around, and I can just imagine those prospectors in the early days on their mules searching up and down every canyon trying to find the right piece of rock that would make them rich. Some got rich, but most only got rich for a couple days and then they were back to searching for more mineral-laden rock. 

I wasn't too interested in the mines, but because my husband had been so nice accompanying me to the cave and watching Desert Boy the previous weekend, I agreed to go. I had my camera and wandered around the desert looking for interesting things. As you can see in the photo above, wandering is fairly easy, with large gaps between the shadscale and four-winged saltbush. Once in awhile I would find a flower or some scat.

This little hole caught my eye, with the rim of little gravel around it. I think it's an ant hole, but as I didn't see any ants it's possible that some other insect made it.

I saw exactly two cacti in my hour of wandering. Here's one, with particularly long spines.

Desert Boy and Henry also enjoyed wandering around and seeing what they could find. It was rough terrain for Desert Boy to navigate, but I figure his balance should be improving a lot. 

The Hawaiian outfit doesn't quite go with the desert landscape, but obviously he doesn't care. The cloud cover made for cool temperatures and a perfect day to enjoy the subtle beauties of the desert.

Did my husband find a gold mine? I've been sworn to secrecy!

Crossing the Cattle Guard

Cattle guards are very common in the west, and we have to cross two to leave the ranch. In case you're not familiar with cattle guards, they are not people who stand around and guard the cattle (despite what one Washington DC official thought when he said that to help improve the budget they should just get rid of  a bunch of those cattle guards). Rather, they are metal slats that are supposed to intimidate the cattle and sheep from crossing because their feet could slip through the slats. Vehicles can cross easily though. Cattle guards are found where important roads cross fence lines and they are in lieu of a gate that would need to be opened and closed.

One of the cattle guards is at the end of the driveway. It's a bit smaller than standard and has filled in quite a bit, as you can see from the small apricot tree growing between the bars. As a result, it's not much a deterrent to cattle getting into our yard, and I've watched many a cow jump across it. It's kind of a funny sight to watch a cow jump, which is good because I'm usually chasing it out of the yard after it's eaten my tulips and am in need of a laugh. In this photo I can get a laugh from those sexy white legs in the background (don't tell my husband!).

Desert Boy has been getting braver and more agile, so he decided to see if he could get across the cattle guard. He had to balance carefully so that his little feet wouldn't slip through the slats.

Oops, one spill. He doesn't seem fazed though and doesn't even make a peep.

He gets back up and heads towards the water on the other side. Water is always something that attracts him.

Henry decides to get in on the action. Henry may think he's helping, but usually he gets right in Desert Boy's way.

He made it across and now can sit in the water and play!

Or start eating dirt and grin when Mom and Dad tell him to stop. He's still getting his daily dose of dirt despite our best efforts.