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.
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%
Mary and Paul on the Tangle Heart Tree
For the summer schedule, there will be a mix of photos from yesterday and today. By the time I get finished photographing owls at dusk and sunset colors, it’s what used to be my bedtime. If I stay up processing photos taken at dusk and later, it ends up going on midnight by the time I get photos processed and posted. Today’s photos of the owls, sunset, and moon in orange clouds were taken last night. The moon at 44.3% full was taken this afternoon.
How many owlets can you find in the above photo?
Mary and Paul in the Tangle Heart tree under colored clouds and the moon.
Paul
Mama Owl brought Paul a snack of some type and then flew off in search of more.
Mary
Sunset last night.
The moon this afternoon at 44.3% full
Daddy Owl in silhouette at dusk.
Peter, Paul, and Mary were really testing their wings tonight. Peter and Mary were in the Tangle Heart Tree when I walked up to it tonight. Paul was on the ground hopping around about 100 yards south of the Tangle Heart Tree. Mary flew into the bosque and ended up with Paul after he flew back u into the trees. Peter flew into the bosque, back to the Tangle Heart Tree, and then into the bosque again. All three were very active while waiting for Mama and Daddy to bring them food.
Peter
Paul on the Ground
Paul after he flew back into the bosque.
Mary barfed a pellet from the Tangle Heart Tree, and then she flew over to where Paul was.
Peter and Mary in the Tangle Heart Tree.
I finished the roof over the deck this morning. The deck is several degrees cooler than the outside temperature with the new roof. The cats are happy to have the deck back.
Sunset
Dusk
Clouds descending on the moon.
Moon through the cloud cover.
Wide-view of the moon in the clouds.
The moon before it got consumed by the smoke.
Out at 4:00 am dancing with the stars and planets and La Llorona and Chupacraba
Since I got home late tonight, I didn’t do any redneck roofing. Instead, I went out to check on the owls. We had not seen any sign of the owls for the past 3 days. I think part of it was the fire department was running their super noisy airboat up and down the river all weekend watching for fires in the bosque. On Thursday, 30 acres of bosque burned south of Montaño Blvd., about 8 miles south of us. All was quiet tonight. The first bird I encountered looked like a juvenile Western Blue Bird. Then Daddy Owl came swooping through the property and landed on Susan’s tree. I thought he was going to get a squirrel squirreling around up ahead of me, but he didn’t go for it. But then our bunny came running out and he showed interest in the bunny. Laurie bravely stood between Daddy Owl and the bunny as we told Daddy Owl to leave our bunny be. We told him he can get all the squirrels and gophers he wants, but we draw the line when it comes to our bunny.
As we were heading to where the owlets hang out, a Cooper’s Hawk buzzed us and landed on a nearby tree for a few seconds. When I got up to the Tangle Heart Tree, Mama owl was just taking off to go shopping. The owlets were there peeping like crazy wanting Mama and Daddy to bring them food. A few minutes later Mama Owl returned and gave Mary whatever she caught. When I looked at what Mary had in her beak in the photo, it looks like a cicada, but I can’t say for sure. Mama, flew back to Wowlmart, as Shey calls it, but it was getting dark, so we didn’t stick around to see if she or Daddy Owl came back with anything interesting.
Mars and Jupiter
Western Bluebird
Daddy Owl on Susan’s tree eyeing our bunny. He gave up after we told him no.
Cooper’s Hawk
Mama Owl flying off to Wowlmart.
Smokey sunset.
Sliver moon
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
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
I woke up at 4:30 am to see Jupiter and Mars rising side by side.
Mars & Jupiter. Jupiter with moons. Saturn.
Peter, Mama Owl, Paul and Mary
Paul with Mary. Mary
Sunset
How many owls can you find in the above photo?
Mama Owl in the Tangle Heart Tree.
Peter, Paul, and Mary together again in the bosque eleven days after Peter flew the coop.
Peter, Paul, and Mary
There was a 50% chance of rain, but any rain evaporated long before it reached the ground. The wind blew a lot of dust, however.
Off Center & Not Even 