Isn't She Just A Dear?

It's another beautiful day in the neighborhood!  The train was running a little late this morning at 5:19, not that it mattered really, because I was up at 4:45.  I like the mornings.  It's light at 4:30, cool and quiet like a desert should be.

So I've stalled long enough.  Isn't she just a dear?  A gorgeous little doe came to my water station.  I looked out the window for bunnies and was shocked to see her standing in the bushes.  I grabbed my camera and froze in the window so she wouldn't get scared.  Pretty wary, this little girl.

She sipped a little water, although there wasn't much left.  Between the quail, roadrunners and bunnies, that little dish full doesn't last long.  Today I'll try to come up with something a little bigger.  She started nibbling on the palo verde trees.  Palo verde means green stick or wood, named because it's branches are all green.  Those branches perform photosynthesis ... your useless information for the day, however pretty interesting.

I stood and watched for about 30 minutes.  Who would have thought there were deer in the desert?  Especially during the hot summer months?  Actually I'm at about 3300 feet in elevation, but still, it's HOT here.  Funny, it's about the same temperature as my house in California.

Miss Jessie spotted her right away, since the house is on a hill above the water station.  She watched intently, but didn't bark.  I can't say as much for Cooper, which in the end was probably what scared her away.  Okay, really it was me who slowly opened the door to go outside.  She bolted.  RATS!!

I'm hoping she wasn't too scared and that she comes back.  Just to be sure water is available, which I think is one reason she's here, I refilled the big bucket and set the drip system to turn on at 5:00 in the evening, refilling the bowl.  Today I'll hit Walmart to see if I can come up with a better container as well as a block of seed for the quail.   Deer in my back yard ... I'm in heaven!!

With another long list of "needs", I braved the traffic to Target.  Not my favorite store due to their prices ... I never get out of there for under $100 ... but I discovered them to NOT be busy at all.  It instantly became my number one store.  Walmart here isn't bad, but the closest one is small with not a lot of product ... mostly food.

I even cooked my first meal in my new house.  Sort of anyway ... it's hard to make anything when you have so little in the cupboard.  About half a pound of hamburger tried to become meatloaf.  It helps if you start with better meat.  I threw in every spice I had, along with some grated onion.  I invited Miss Patty to dinner, but she was otherwise occupied.  That was a good thing.  Believe me, it looks better than it was.  At least my record here is still intact ... no burials.  Too bad I forgot to get "leftover" containers.  I've added those to my new list of pruning shears and pizza.

I did notice something rather weird about my gas stove.  I've never had a gas oven with overhead microwave before.  Maybe someone can help me.  When I turned the oven off, I noticed hot air (and I mean LOTS of hot air) coming from under the control panel ... almost like the heat was being exhausted into the room.  Is that really how it works?  I think it raised the temperature of the house three degrees.  Is it not vented to the outside??  If so, I guess I won't be doing any baking in the summertime!!  I see another Breville oven in my future!!

I've been keeping an eye out the window, jumping up every so often to see who is at the water station.    Here it is 6:00 and all I've seen are birds taking a bath.   Apparently desert creatures like to sleep in!!  By the way, I slept great for yet another night.  Maybe it's the nice soft bed or maybe it's not having neighbors playing loud music.  Whatever, I'm liking it!!