Snow on the Mountains & Coyotes in the Yard

It was January a year ago that I last posted to this blog. I keep thinking that I'll update it when I have something really good to show about the house, like when I get the draperies finished, but once I got the fake linen shears up, my drapery sewing progress came to a halt.

This past week we had some weather. You may have noticed it on the news. So I took the time to do some spring cleaning, shelf rearranging and resting. That included getting my laundry/sewing room set up again to attack the draperies and moving THE painting so that we can assemble the bookshelves for the living room in its place. Trout took time to continue to recover from his surgery. It's now Sunday, January 24th and we haven't left the place since my birthday dinner on Tuesday the 19th.

The wind, a gust of which was measured at 94 mph a few miles west of here, didn't do any damage, our rainwater harvesting cisterns are full and the house held tight against the wind and horizontal rain.

The 3rd (or was it the 4th?) storm through here brought cold temperatures and snow to the moutains yesterday morning. The ones we see from our living room are the Quinlans, home to Kitt Peak National Observatory and due west. We also see the Baboquivaris to the southwest. I bundled up and headed out cameras in tow and took pictures from the roof deck on the shop.

I pared the group down to seven, and I hope they don't seem too duplicative. The clouds changed constantly and I couldn't help myself. One of the things I really like about this part of the world is being able to see storms come across the desert. It's something that only happens in places where there aren't a lot of trees in the way.

I'm sure I mentioned before that we both like the distant vistas and intimate courtyards so common here. We haven't created our intimate courtyard yet, but we do have a lovely little place for it. Distant vistas are no problem.

These other mountains we can't easily see from our living room unless we sit in the bancos. Guests can see them from the guest room. They are the Sierrita Mountains and they give the name to the road we tell people to use to get to our place. This picture also shows some of the houses that direction.

We occasionally see coyotes within 100 feet of our house, but rarely are they slow enough for me to grab a camera and get pictures. Yesterday and this morning were exceptions. It appears to be a pack of two couples (they mate for life) and a youngster. Mostly these are coyote butt pictures, but they're beautiful just the same. This area is on our property line with the east neighbors about 50 feet from the front of our house. The riprap is on our side. There was something in a loose pipe that Wiley was trying to get to come out. The coyote could hear Cisco barking, so that's how this great pose came about.

I know you're in there. I'm going to dig at this pipe until you come out so I can eat you. The pipe was loose on the neighbor's side, blown from a stack nearby by the wind.

I know you can't see me behind this palo verde. The pipe is at the coyote's feet.

This is shot through a mesquite tree in the road median just south of our house. The coyote is in the road in the mid-left of the picture. Really, I promise.

Here's one of the pack crossing the road on our side of the median.

This is the one from the pipe pictures standing in the median looking west.

Another one of the pack looks east while in the median.

This one is on our land before getting to the road.

These two are headed for their trail into the wash on the other side of the road.

Wait, what was that? Something to eat? Where is it? East or west?

This one is the last to go into the trail.

The house is cozy and comfortable, but our views are the best part, whether rear or far.