Showing posts with label desert tortoise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label desert tortoise. Show all posts

Friday, October 26, 2012

Two very different visitors

Very surprised to wake up today and not be the least bit sore. I guess I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought. I definitely need to get my butt in gear on some fitness but walking 9 miles and no sore muscles, I'll take it any day of the week! My babaa' surprised me with something new for my belly for breakfast this morning... a really big Peach. Although it was no Takahashi Fruit Stand Peach, it was still better than that boring oatmeal we have every morning. Thanks babe!




[caption id="attachment_1901" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Peachy Keen[/caption]

I started breaking out too, out of nowhere...not too happy about that, probably just these hormones...oh well. It was such a nice day that we let Nana' out on her tether for the day and of course after hunting for a little bit, she finds the only soft thing in the desert. She's such a funny little spirit!




[caption id="attachment_1902" align="aligncenter" width="300"] What a softy[/caption]

It didn't take her long to find something very interesting though! She kept growling, squeaking, and making noises...I just thought she was trying to get those poor ground squirrels, that like to taunt her. I checked on her a few times looking out into the desert and seeing nothing. The last time I went out to check on what was getting her so excited, I actually got down on her level to see what the hubbub was all about. That's when I yelled to J'..."You have got to come see this, this is freakin' awesome!!" I was ecstatic, you would have thought my head was going to pop off. We were finally getting to witness a Desert Tortoise! He was rad, man!




[caption id="attachment_1903" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Peter the Peace Turtle[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1904" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our lil' buddy[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1905" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Face-off[/caption]

I wanted to let Savannah off of her leash, but I thought she might hurt the little fella' so on her tether she stayed, crying and whining..."but Mom!" I took only about a hundred pics of the lil dude, he was just so cool. I only stopped because I thought I might be stressing him out, so away I went and watched from afar as he walked only about 3 feet to stop and eat some vegetation. I finally came in from the heat and looked back out about 20 minutes later and Mr. Peter the Peace Turtle was gone. He was so cool!



The sun was starting to set on our very "cool" but hot day as I heard a truck approaching. I looked out of the window and saw a Ranger truck turning into our site. This would be the infamous Ranger we've been hearing about, that's been on vacation...alright here we go!



 He got out of his truck and walked up to the van, we had our curtains (on the outside) drawn because of how the sun hits us at this time of the day...so I think he was a little leery of us at first. I put Savannah in her crate and we got out to talk to him. He asked us some questions which we answered pretty truthfully and he ran our I.D.'s. We thought we might get the third degree from him, from everything we had heard, but it turns out he wasn't out for blood! We talked to him about our torsion bar snapping and it seemed like he was more ready to get home than anything. He turned out to be a pretty nice guy actually. He even posed for a picture!




[caption id="attachment_1908" align="aligncenter" width="300"] J' & Ranger Nalen[/caption]

Now that the "visit" is out of the way and he knows our situation, we really don't feel rushed to get out of here so it takes a little bit of pressure off of our situation. That's always a nice feeling. Hopefully the torsion bar will be in, in the next day or two and we will be back on the road like it never happened.


Stay tuned for the next adventure, for wherever we go there shall be a handful of them!


PEACE


 

 

 

Monday, October 15, 2012

Desert Fauna is Dope

"How does your hair feel today?"


"Amazing!"


I'll probably cut some pieces off that are too long and reshape it a bit, but I love it! I love the color. Simple yet Sassy! heehee 


When we went to the store last night, we saw they had Pumpkin Spice creamer. I personally have never tried anything pumpkin in any coffee's or anything, although I LOVE pumpkin pie. I was quite stoked and it turns out...it's delicious.




[caption id="attachment_1532" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Some Spice for my Sugar[/caption]

We had also planned on our homemade Cobb salads, so we were stocked with so many yummy ingredients: Lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, boiled eggs (but we 'forgot' the eggs when we made them), some shredded cheese and J' made homemade breaded chicken...it was delish! It was something refreshing that reminds us of different times...funny how food can do that!




[caption id="attachment_1534" align="aligncenter" width="225"] In the making[/caption]

 It was stupendous! The way J' did the chicken was out of sight...really good!




[caption id="attachment_1535" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Ah![/caption]

After gorging ourselves on salad, we sat and sat and sat. We did stuff but we sat. I had to get up and walk around. Savannah and I headed off down the main road, my foot is starting to feel better and not cramping so much. I thought what a great night for a walk. I started off with Savannah but eventually J' joined us.



As we walked we were talking about all of the things we had seen today and they were much too fast to get pictures...except for one little guy. J' & I both saw a Jack Rabbit today, but while we were alone. Savannah scared, the one I saw, out of her hole and man, was she fast! I didn't know what was going on, looked almost like a small deer! It was super cool!


This is NOT my picture but this is what a Jack Rabbit looks like:



J' also told me on the same walk he was on this morning, that he had seen his first desert lizard, he described it...sounded awesome! He then found a picture of it and showed it to me...okay, I'm jealous! This is what he saw, A Horned Desert Lizard...get a look at this fella!!


(Also NOT my picture)




[caption id="attachment_1538" align="aligncenter" width="212"] Horny lil' fella![/caption]

 We started talking about how cool it would be to see a Desert Tortoise and that's when J' pointed this lil' guy out to me:


(Totally MY picture)




[caption id="attachment_1540" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Tara-ntula[/caption]

When J' went to put his foot next to him, he spit little hairs into his shoe...that's how they protect themselves & warn predators. These Brown Tarantula's can only kill things smaller than them for food. I think it's always good to see things like this where you are camping...but hopefully on walks (where you're not camping). If you don't see it yourself you never fully understand what's out there.



We turned back around a little before we both wanted to, but my leg started to cramp up. Every day there's something new out here to look at, watch or learn about. I hope you're getting a special learning experience as well!



PEACE