Owlets Banking

After totally clear skies all day yesterday, a few clouds gathered at dusk for the painter to paint.

Peter with a moon halo last night.

I walked outside to photograph the moon and got clouds covering the moon. Maybe it will clear up later so I can get the moon.

The owlets were banking on the top of the levee and down on the bank along the clearwater ditch last night. Paul flew up into a tree on the other side of the Clearwater ditch and Mama Owl brought him something to eat and then flew off to go back to Wowlmart as quickly as she flew in. When it was almost dark Mama Owl came back with either a bat or a mouse. She perched close to me just long enough for me to get a photo of her, then she took off at warp speed.

Skies & Roses

Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are among the stars at 3:30 am.

Jupiter with a couple of moons at 3:30 am

Saturn at 3:30 am

Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn at 4:45 am.

Sunset last night

Cloudy conditions this afternoon.

I got home late, so I got the sunset tonight.

The moon was still covered by clouds at dusk.

Hello Hello Hello

My friendly computer screens

For my just-in-time delivery of today’s photos, I have a new office dog, flowers, roses, and the half-moon.

Baby

Spunk behind Petunias, Pillow Fight, and Iceberg

Rio Samba, Mermaid, and Altissimo

Iceberg

Mary and Paul. Mama Owl after she delivered a mouse to Peter.

Mama Owl flew back and forth with food for the owlets three times while we were out with them last night. It was dusk, and she was giving the owlets their meals behind a mess of leaves, so I couldn’t get the exchanges of food, but Peter was proud of his mouse and acted like he had a mouse cigar in his beak for quite a while before he finally ate it.

Sunset last night

Halfmoon at 54.8%

Dragonflies & Roses

Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn starting to line up as they shine through the thin cloudcover.

Sunrise

Dragonflies

Sasha was checking out the temperature. “Hey, Paparazzo! It’s upside down!”

Rio Samba, Abraham Darby, and Altissimo

Moon in the clouds

Crescent moon at 34.4% full

Redneck Roofer

Jupiter is making its way around Mars in the center of the photo. Venus is just rising on the left and Saturn is on the right. There was a nice alignment of stars that are at the top of the photo.

Since our cover over the deck was looking like it would rip anytime in the wind, Laurie suggested that we put a permanent roof on the canopy over the deck for our anniversary. We had thought about it for years but never did it. I ordered the supplies Sunday morning and picked them up Sunday afternoon. I started working on the roof at 7:00 am this morning and ran out of screws and energy at 7:00 pm. The vented part of the roof took a lot longer to build than I had anticipated. All my joints are complaining tonight.

Twelve hours of work with only water breaks.

Our pink Peony is blooming

I spied this beautiful rose hidden in the bush when I was on the ladder.

A spray of our anniversary Petunias

A Ruby Wedding Anniversary

Laurie and I celebrated 40 years of marriage and a total of 42 years together. Both are significant numbers. While I can’t say we’ve been wandering around in the wilderness for the past 40 years, we have spent 40 years together in the high desert. Fortunately, we have carved out a piece of paradise in our desert. For those of you who have not seen the photos from our shotgun wedding, you can see them at https://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2017/5/celebrations-of-life.

Sunrise

Tristan made us a very special dinner for our anniversary, which included a four-layer Zigarat cake. The dragon tail flame illuminated a ghost who joined us for the celebration.

Not a cloud in the sky at sunset

How To, Loki, Flowers

I irrigated on Thursday. A gopher hole created an unwanted lake that was draining water that the plants needed. After 30 minutes of trying to plug the hole where it was flowing out of the ground, which I knew wouldn’t work, I finally found two holes that were the source and plugged them. Not before getting a significant-sized lake. The whole thing reminded me of how the Salton Sea was created.

Loki was practicing his cat tree ballet.

White neon iris

Sunset

RAW Power

I’m trying out a new photo editor called RAW Power. So far it’s pretty good.

Processing a photo of our bunny in RAW Power.

pTerodactyl flying overhead

Buddy working hard

Hummingbird behind

Almost the same devilishly cool temperature inside as outside.

Sunrise looking south

Cresent moon at sunrise

Pretty Peonies