Here's to Birds, Flowers and whatever else that comes to mind....

Afternoon Moon

I can't believe that I'm starting this entire blog over again.  Pretty much had the post wrapped up last night, and "thought" (obviously I shouldn't have thought, grrrr) today was just to be, a matter of  proofreading and some tweaking.  Well, tweaking it isn't, rewriting it is; oh well, isn't that what retirement is all about.  Can't get fired, not doing it for someone else, nor being paid...thank goodness!! With all this practice it should be twice as interesting!

Paul removing tiles

We are in the process of getting our deck re-tiled.  It won't be completed when we leave, but at least we will see it get started.  We've seen work that they have done at other places and it looks impressive, so we feel confident that they will do a respectable job.

Paul was busy last week removing the original porcelain tiles. Had we realized the original tiles were in such good shape, and came up so clean we would not have purchased nearly as many of the contrasting colored tiles for the old tile could have been used. There are approximately 300 of the old tiles and being that they are porcelain they last a lifetime. Maybe when we get back in the Fall we'll think about selling the old tiles.   The other project that we completed was insulating the aluminum roof in the new room we had built last year.  Never expected the room to be so cool in the winter even with a space heater running it was still cool. Certainly hope this resolves this issue.  Do hope it stays up through the summer heat.  Another bonus, quickly realized, it isn't as hot inside the room on warmer days.  Mind you I'm quite positive, during mid-summer it wouldn't make a difference, air conditioning would be the only solution.

Removing termite damage

The deck people arrived at long last. Yeah! When they removed the old cement board it was discovered there was old termite damage in one corner, so this meant running to the lumber store to purchase new plywood.  The good news - was realizing the original plywood is 3/4" thick not the 1/4" as previously thought. It was good to find out the problem was not too thin of ply wood, but the cement board used was of very poor quality i.e. thin, in addition to a very lousy job of tiling, not really sure if that is good news but its better than what we were thinking.


Our last week of clogging was fun filled with lots of eating.  Since being self anointed paparazzi, my thoughts were to take pictures of  all the food that was consumed.  There is always lots of pictures of dancing taken by other ladies.

Picture of the crazed ladies

One day that particularly stands out in my mind is the day we jumped into Westwinds swimming pool after class and lunch with our clothes on. Security had even been called to kick these crazed women out of the pool by a unknowing gentleman, and to think that he didn't even stick around so we could take his picture. hehehe  Little did he know that there was prior approval from Westwind management to do the dirty deed.  I'm sure this will be brought up at the Resort meeting if there is such a thing. Let me tell you the water felt amazing, which made it doubly hard to leave.  Initially when the idea was brought up, must admit that I wasn't entirely sure it was such a great idea, but now in hindsight so glad I did, was totally liberating!  WooHoo!!  A person needs moments like this just to keep life on the lighter side.

Sonya, Wilf and Paul

Two of Paul's sisters and one cousin with their husbands, made it down this way and dropped in for a visit.  It great to see them, they looked well and were definitely enjoying the nice temperatures that Yuma was offering.  On average Yuma has been 10 degree warmer this winter than the norm.  It has been like this since early February.  Did take pictures of everyone when visiting, unfortunately some pictures can't be found.  Not too sure what happened.


While thoroughly appreciating the warmer temperatures for our own
personal reasons, the desert flora is is thriving with the warmer temps.  All the cacti plants are blooming way ahead of schedule.  This year we got to see our one cactus plant in full bloom.

When out walking about there is an abundance of cacti blossoms, the most common colors are the various shades of yellow and pink.  Even though a number of the varieties have yellow blooms, the flowers themselves are different.  The bees and hummingbirds are extremely happy regardless of the color.

Neighbour's Yard

The other day I climbed (that sounds rather challenging, really it wasn't - it was more like lifting my leg) over the neighbour's fence and took pictures of one cactus, even the neighour hasn't seen it in bloom. They have lived there for a few years but always leave before it blooms.  I feel rather privileged to have seen it; not to mention take a picture of the elusive bloom.  It is quite large in comparison to the other cacti blossoms. So must share with her in the Fall. Another cactus in their yard has rather attractive wine color pinkish blooms which is particularly attractive.

Day 1

Day 3

The only cactus in our yard that is blooming, has bright yellow blooms very similar to the above yellow blooms but after a couple of days it changes to a more coral color that is most attractive.  Kind of strange, it looks as though it should be from two different cacti.  Our Oleander hedge is now coming full bloom.  Oleander bushes remind me of honeysuckle bushes, minus the fragrance.  I remember so very long ago when I was 12 years old living in North Bend, Ore, there were honeysuckle bushes in our backyard and their fragrance filled the yard.  It was amazing.

The hummingbirds certainly like them.  I never realized how noisy hummingbirds are until we moved here.  When ever going out the back door you can hear the little birds chattering and making lots of noise. If not trimmed the Oleander pretty much blooms year round, the blooms do appear to be more abundant at this time of year.

Mentioning hummingbirds for the fourth or fifth time, it's very interesting to watch how itchy and scratchy these little critters can be.  They are constantly preening, poking and scratching.

Their long beaks make it very difficult to get to those little itchy spots.  The other day I took a series of pictures showing the little birds in their finest moments.

We did not put feeders out this year, because towards the end of last year after noticing one hummer with a severely twisted beak and his little tongue just hanging off to the side I decided to do a little research on the Internet to find out if it was a birth defect that could have caused such a deformity.  Unfortunately it was a man made defect.

The problem appears to be hummingbirds contract a fungal infection from the feeders that are not cleaned regularly and starvation is the end result.  Unless a person is prepared to empty and clean the feeder a couple times a week this can very well happen.

In another day, we will be making the trek back to Canada.  So the past few days have been making decisions about what is going back and what is staying.  Inevitably we take back stuff and ask ourselves why we brought it back, then almost in the same breath we ask ourselves why we left behind other stuff.  It will be good to get home and see family and friends and get back into the routine of things.  I'm looking forward to quilting the project that I made this as well as doing some quilting for others.

so until next time...."What we 'think' determines what happens to us; so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds." Author Wayne Dryer

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