Jaws of a Tiger

Boulder was sleeping on a pile of bras in the closet. She woke up briefly to yawn and stretch before returning to her nap.

Desert Dwellers

I visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Tempe.
This is an old man cactus. The hair is soft and provides extra shade for it.
This is a mutated cactus which also happens to look like a brain.
Vibrant succulents.
Whiptail lizard.
Amazing agave.
Notice how the needles all protrude from small circular sections. They are called aereoles, and only cacti have them.
This ground squirrel was digging out his home.
This is a crested saguaro. The scientific name for a saguaros is quite fitting - carnegiea gigantea.
Mourning dove on a century agave.
Desert spiny lizard. He was huge!
You know how I love cholla nests.
Engelmann's Prickly Pear.
Another rare crested saguaro. Saguaros and many other cacti have pleats, like an acordion, in order to easily expand and store water for long periods of time. A large saguaro can hold up to a thousand gallons of water!




Cardinal.

Proper Motivation

Tahoe has been surprising me lately with his bravery. He is much less reluctant to hop into the backseat of the car now. I just have to say "up", and give his butt a little nudge, and he jumps in. He's more willing to get in the car on the way back to our house than when we initially leave. I think he is tired after the park, so he is happy to sit down and relax. Yesterday, I was feeding the ducks at the park, and Tahoe got so excited he actually dog paddled for a few seconds after them instead of just running along the shoreline. Today, the dog park was closed due to monsoon flooding, but there were some dogs running around in the rain-made lake nearby. Tahoe wanted to play too and ended up sprinting through the 6-8 inch high water with them. He was completely soaked when we left.

Dogs

Tahoe enjoyed the peanut butter in his Kong.



The Frankerator tried not to drool.

Kailua

Josh's aunt Liz took this picture the day after we got engaged. The ring was too big, so I wore it on this hand.

Cowboy

Josh brought over Cowboy. He and Tahoe like to play, chase each other, and fight over toys. Cowboy refrained from peeing on the potted plants this time.

This is our best attempt at sitting still.

Two of a Kind

Jerome

We stayed at the Grand Hotel on Mingus Mountain. It was built in the 1920's, and used to be the hospital for the miners.














Much of the building was original, including this Otis elevator. The doors had to be opened manually. I think the wallpaper is original too because there were lots of scrape marks on the walls where a gurney would hit it.















We hoped to see some ghosts, but no luck. There have been sightings of Claude Harvey and a ghost cat. The hotel restaurant is called The Asylum in reference to the crazy ward.














It offered a great view of the Mogollian Rim and Sedona.

Micio's Visit

Micio and Traci came over for a couple hours. He did not like being transported in his pet carrier at all.
Boulder jumped up on the cabinets in order to fully ignore the intruder.
Micio showed Tahoe who was boss.
Then, he tried to engage Greta in a little cat fight. Little does Micio know that he doesn't posess claws.

I just wanted a fork

Perhaps I should call an exterminator.

Chirp

Baby Starlings often fall out of their nests in the tree in my backyard. They usually spend a week hopping around the yard, then fly away.











Their mother squaks when I go outside. Sometimes she dive bombs Tahoe, but he knows he is not supposed to go near them.

Hiking in Hawaii

The yellow hibiscus is Hawaii's state flower.
The bamboo stalk was smooth, but the purple line on the top was soft and sticky.

Notice the palm trees reflected in the water.
White anthurium.
This is where Josh proposed to me. I couldn't have been more surprised. He carried the ring up there in his Camelbak.

The Wedding

This is Kailua Beach where the wedding took place. It is a popular spot for kiteboarders.
Jenny, Josh and Buffy.
It was on the lawn of Jeni's house. These are her two boxers, Boomer and Lani. Aren't they cute?
Everyone wore flip-flops.
Lynn and David kissing under the trellis we made with palm fronds, plumeria flowers, and ginger flowers.

Afterwards, we had dinner at the yacht club.

Swimming with Dolphins

Here are some more pictures of the spinning dolphins.
Josh took the underwater pictures of mating dolphins.

Sailing the Pacific

Ray took us out on his sailboat - The Troubadour. Before we knew it, Ray had all of us doing jobs we felt totally unqualified to do. He would shout out all of these sailing commands while casually sipping his rum and coke. Josh and I both took turns steering the boat. We managed not to hit anything.
Josh's sister, Jenny, and uncle Wally are rigging some rope and raising the sail.

The light green water indicates a sand bar where the ocean is only about three feet deep.