The neighbor's cat reminds me of Sylvester.

I got my shots today, which included: Hepetitis B  Vaccine, Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine, Pneumococcal Polyvalent Vaccine, Diptheris, Tetnus, Acellular Pertussis and Polio Vaccine. Both arms are sore and I'm having cold-like symptoms, which are probably a slight reaction to the vaccines. In two months I'll get another round of vaccines.

Geese flying to the Rio Grande at dusk.

What I thought had potential to be a spectacular sunset, ended up a decent dusk.

Prepared for battle, backs to the sun 
The phalanx stood before me
Hundreds of tall, thin wooden warriors
Against sharp spikes and fingers that scratched
I mounted my attack, into a blinding sun

One by one, wooden warriors fell
One-hundred, two-hundred, three-hundred, more
I cut them down and laid them low
They fought until they hit the ground
They scratched, they poked, they cut

Sweat mixed with blood stung my wounds
Red drops fell on wooden warriors
I piled one on top of another
I felled the last one standing
Victorious, I turned and walked away

I had to cut down the elm trees and wild plums so I could have access to the irrigation ditch. An annual battle I fight against these fast growing trees.

Dos X

X

Planes alive

Easter Bunny out at sunrise

Started to hop off when I got too close

And quickly got into full bunny run

Sleepy Orange butterfly and lizard running by

Common Buckeye butterfly

I couldn't find this tiny butterfly to identify it. It's probably a Hairstreak butterfly of some type.

Flycatcher alone on a branch

Surprise! A large bullfrog pops his head out of the water the instance the flycatcher takes off

Hmmm! Looks like a little hanky-panky going on down there!

The shady side of Susan's east wall turned out to be a hot spot for a lizard hook-up this morning. I drove Susan to an early morning eye appointment. After we got back from her appointment, we sat out on her back porch and visited, watched the birds, and enjoyed coffee and Susan's delicious banana bread. I looked across the yard and saw two Southwestern Fence Lizards scurry halfway down the wall, just above the woodpile, where they began messing around, as it were. I snuck up on them and got photos while they were preoccupied. Afterward, they just hung out on top of the wall and let me click away — they seemed quite satisfied and happy with themselves. 

Well I never...

When Bruce and I were in the parking area under Civic Plaza photographing the supports, Bruce suggested we go through the Galería on our way out. That seemed like a good idea. I haven't been in the Galería in years even though I pass by it at least once a week walking around downtown. I never go into the Galería because I have no need to — apparently, nobody else has much need to go into the Galería either, because it's basically empty. Most of the spaces are vacant, and I only saw a couple of people in the area while I was photographing it. The fountain is dry, the escalators are off, blocked by planters, and they create an "X" blocking an easy exit to the ground floor above — in order get out of the Galería, we had to either go back through the garage the way we came in, or find our way to the end with the gym and exit at the kiosk on Second Street.

Running on empty, the architectural shapes are interesting, and photogenic with no one in them. Coming in from the parking area under Civic Plaza, passing through the long tunnel becomes dreamlike as you enter into a silent, empty space that should be filled with the sounds of people getting on with their business, shopping, enjoying a meal, sitting at tables and visiting over coffee in the commons, riding up and down the escalators on their way in and out of the Galería, a place that should be teaming with energy and life. But you stand alone, in silence, in a perfectly preserved place, like there's not a living soul around, except you. 

Slippery slider sunning itself.

While I was out walking on the bank of the clearwater ditch, I spied at a distance what looked like it could be a turtle sunning itself. I snuck up on it and got one shot of it sunning before it dove into the water and swam under the moss. Almost as quickly as it slipped away, it resurfaced to check me out and see if I was really a threat. Even though I stood perfectly still, it probably heard the shutter on my camera, because it ducked back underwater and buried itself in the mud on the bottom of the ditch.  I continued on my walk, and then stopped on my way back and looked for the slider. I discovered it had moved under a bit of mud near a log that had one end stuck in the mud and the other end exposed at the surface. I stood and watched for some time, and it finally poked its head out, swam under the log and peeked out from the other side. I thought it might crawl up on the log, but it either noticed the sound of my shutter or the sound of people walking and talking rather loudly on the irrigation ditch, and it dove underwater and disappeared on the other side of the log.

Checking me out after slipping into the water and coming back up from under the moss.

Burying itself in the mud.

Trying to look like a rock under a clump of mud.

Looking around to see if the coast or ditch bank is clear.

Making its move.

slipping under the log.

Checking out the scenery before slipping back into the water and disappearing behind the log.

The fountain is behind the "Hard Hats Required..." sign.

How do you go about preparing to tear out a leaky old fountain so the city can replace it with a children's play area, bleachers and a large screen TV?  First you fence off the area you are going to demolish. Second you erect a forest of supports on the two parking levels under the area that is fenced off on the plaza so the heavy equipment your crew will be using to tear down the fountain doesn't crash through the ceilings of the two parking levels and end up 20 feet under the plaza.

Half of the fountain shows on the right side of the photo.

Fence and supports

A sweeping view of the supports behind the fence with the Construction Supervisor's desk and chair in the center.

More supports

We lost Diné this morning to old age. We got her in the summer of 1999 after we got back from living in Spain for three and half years. Tristan had gone up the Four Corners area with her grandparents to help work of houses on the Navajo Reservation. Diné was a kitten running around the on the the houses that was acting like a really sweet, floppy kitten, and since she was pretty much feral, the owners of the house told Tristan, Jim and Ann to take her home. Tristan asked how to say "floppy" in Navajo, which was "nachao" (probably not spelled right), and "floppy people" would be "Diné nachao", so Diné's full name was originally Diné Nachao.

As it turned out, the reason Diné was sweet and floppy was because she was very sick, and her first year was really touch and go, but once she fully recovered and gained all her strength, she was no longer floppy and turned into a very sweet little terror of a kitty. Diné was our only cat for a year before we got Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the summer of 2000. Nick adopted us in 2002, we adopted Mama Manx and Stretch in 2004, and Lane gave us Puck in 2007. After losing Nick, Stretch, Puck and Mama Manx, we added Spunk, Najar and Sasha in the past 3 years, and most recently Silver, Loki and Marble. But even in the past month Diné was becoming more frail, she was still top cat and was respected by all the other cats, even the rowdy kittens.

Diné loved life, she loved us and we loved her. Everyone who met Diné would comment on how beautiful she was and how unique her markings were. She loved being with Tristan and Laurie, and she liked to be involved in whatever they were doing, but especially gardening, taking naps and sleeping with us. Diné was remarkably strong until this past week where she seemed to get a cold, and got weak very quickly. We've had her in kind of a kitty hospice for the past few days, where Laurie would take a damp washcloth and clean and groom Diné, talk to her, bring her food and Diné really appreciated it. Yesterday, Diné got where she couldn't walk, but she was alert in the morning, so we moved her to the places she liked to go. As she declined in the afternoon, we thought we had lost her a few times, but then she would rally, become alert, and eat and drink a little before going back into a state of drowsiness.

She laid on my lap for a long time last night, and she slept with us all night, but then she died early in the morning soon after we got up. She seemed to hang on to life as long as she could, because she didn't want to miss out on any love, fun or whatever we were up to. Lane and Suzette came out this evening and we gave Diné a nice burial. We will really miss Diné.

My first digital photo of Diné in 2003

Diné's paws

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Diné, Mama Max, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Stretch and Nick in 2005

2013

Trying out ear warmers in 2010

In the garden

Pensive

Catzilla

With Tristan, 2007

With Rosencrantz, April 6, 2017

Diné's grave, covered in flowers

Since the old guy is standing on the median with cars passing by, is he using RepeNT as a "transitive" verb in an attempt to cause us to feel sorrow and regret for driving our cars instead of riding donkeys, especially on Palm Sunday? Or is he using RepeNT as an "intransitive" verb commanding us to turn away from our sinful ways of driving our cars, and to follow amended forms of our lives by riding donkeys?  Or could he be using RepeNT as a form of "re-pent" wanting us to give up the freedom of driving our cars, become confined to our homes, repressed by public transit or ride donkeys?

Tulips on fire

Icy white tulip

Lady Banks came into full bloom today

Austrian Copper starting to bloom today, also, but it didn't develop into a full bloom like Lady Banks

A double tulip in icy white, pinks and blues looks a little like a rose

Fiery tulip starting to fade

Buzzards flew above my head today
Flew so high they kissed the moon
A hummingbird moth buzzed round my feet today
Curly tongue in mustard weeds

Søren decided to come and and be social. Originally he wanted to sit on my shoulder, but the shirt I was wearing was too slick for him to keep a good hold on, so he decided my Macbook Pro's monitor was a good place to stand while I worked on photos. He happily groomed himself at first, but left his chest feathers messy when he settled down enough to pay attention and pose for the camera, but he didn't want to hold still. Spunk was in good kitty form trying to show Søren how to pose.