Poor Stretch is in the kitty hospital tonight. After the smoke rolled in three weeks ago, we noticed Stretch started to go downhill. He has kidney problems, but he had been doing really well for the last three years. I took him to vet this afternoon and his BUN and creatinine levels were really high. Stretch was drinking lots of water so he wasn’t dehydrated, but his kidneys still are not functioning very well.  The vet is giving him extra fluids and meds to try and get his kidneys functioning well again.

Laurie wanted a photo of the moon, so I included what I saw snapped through my latest lens recently. It’s amazing what you can see on the moon with a good lens!

The lady bag larvae caught my eye because there are two that are still in full larvae stage and one turning into a lady bug.

One of our Mermaids bloomed, and the speaker at the Men’s breakfast this morning holds out the first American Flag. He was interesting, but we have issues with some of his takes on the history of the American revolution.

 

 

 

 

 

Guildenstern gets this look about him that reminds me of Godzilla. He was rolling around in the mulch tonight then he gave me his Guildzilla look when I pointed my camera at him. The other kitties were doing the same thing.

More roses are blooming, but as normal with our first blooms, some of them are beat up and thrippy; however, there are a few rose bushes that are putting out nice blooms, such as Betty Boop and Falstaff.

This spider waits at the entrance of its web tunnel for insects to get it its web and then it pounces on the victim with lightning speed. It also retreated into its tunnel at lightning speed when I stuck my camera in its face. I made several attempts before it decided I was not a threat and held its ground.

The smoke from the fires in Arizona has blown into the Albuquerque area; it’s thick around our house. My sinuses were getting better — so much for that!

I finally found a lady bug that was holding still enough to get a clear shot of, and a tiny bee was working it’s way through the Ballerina rose.

In a galaxy of roses with Canada in the name, the morning sun highlights its buds. A backlit hibiscus takes in some rays early in the morning as the sun peeks through the clouds.

I had my PET scan this morning. I’ll see my doctor next Tuesday to get the results. The PET scan was routine — I got the radioactive sugar shot, was put in isolation for 45 minutes while the radiation got distributed through my system, then in the scanner for 30 minutes.

It was 34º F on the deck at 7:00 am which means it got down to around 30º F in the garden (the garden thermometer quit working so I couldn’t check the temp im the garden). More roses are blooming, although timidly. Pillow Fight had some of the best blooms we’ve gotten so far. Pink Cascade has the most interesting center of all our roses.

While walking around the garden looking for photo ops, I came across the dreaded rose viper lying on the wall, hiding behind a rose bush ready to attack anything that got within its reach.

Critters root around in the mulch every night, and I assumed it was either raccoons or skunks or both. I went out at 4:30 am Sunday morning to put down the gate and let the water in, and came across a large critter waddling toward the ditch. It was a very large porcupine — so large and fat that I think it was a pregnant female.  Ever since I stepped on a skunk in the dark a few years ago, I don’t go out in the yard at night without a flashlight. Now I have even more reason not to walk around in the dark without a flashlight.

When I went out to shut off the water there was a damselfly covered with mud on the edge of the gate.  It couldn’t fly and a spider was going for it. I picked it up and carefully  rubbed some of the mud off it’s wings. It flew a little, decided it was still too had to fly, flew back and landed on my finger. I rubbed a little more dirt off its wings, then photographed it while it worked on getting the mud off it’s head. It took another test flight, flew back to my finger and I again worked on rubbing mud off its wings, while it scraped it off its head. We finally removed enough mud that it flew off toward the rising sun.

A tiny preying mantis got on my arm. It was so small I could hardly see it, and I might have squished if I hadn’t noticed it. I coaxed it onto a rose bush and it posed nicely, although it was so small I had a terrible time focusing on it. Then a fly landed next to my plate and started rubbing its front legs together like it wanted my food. The photo ended up looking more like it was praying, So I called it a praying fly.

We were sitting on the deck while I was writing this blog, but the temperature was dropping fast and drove us back inside. Hot, windy then cold — totally silly weather.

It’s gotten very late, so tonight I’m writing a quick rundown of the day with photos of our anniversary dinner preparation.

After irrigating first thing this morning, cleaning house, installing firmware updates on my cameras, and herding cats, I gave myself a kitty bath (licked my arms, put on deodorant and changed into some reasonably clean clothes), then Laurie and I ventured out to the nursery and bought a hibiscus and a color bowl for anniversary presents.

Dinner included the Vietnamese beef dish, stir-fried vegetables with black sesame seeds, brown rice and sparkling wine. Family came over for dessert. We all sat out on the deck and had a wonderful evening.