Watching

We had a Pacific storm blow through Arizona yesterday and when the sun came up this morning the sky was still cloudy. Slowly over the next hours the sky cleared and the heavy cloud levels broke up into a beautiful blue sky. I watched as the clouds separated and more and more blue appeared. At this moment, at 10:18am, there are no clouds. Just beautiful blue sky.

I sat in my office and looked about the early morning world. In the arroyo outside my office window, a rabbit hopped up the side then paused. All that I could see was a small white cotton tail sitting there as he decided what he wanted to do next. He blended in with his surroundings so well. On my side of the arroyo is a large Jojoba bush. It is probably twenty feet around and 10 feet high. There is a pair birds that over the past few weeks which have been scouting the bush out and seem to be ready now to build their nest for the winter, the Jojoba bush is full of seeds which are made into Jojoba oil for cosmetics. What a versatile bush.

There is a fence, about eight feet high outside one of my window looking out back of the room to the north. All types of birds come and land there and sing their songs. They can't see me as this particular window has two sets of screens on it it, thus I can look out, but they can't see me. I see doves, Cactus Wrens, Pigeons, Sparrows, Cardinals and some birds I cannot identify, but they all love sitting in the sun outside my window and sing me a song. Such a wonderful stage.

Yesterday, my wife and I drove into town to go to a hardware store to purchase some brackets. On the road leading out from our house stood a lonely coyote; standing proud and unafraid. He watched us as we approached, and when we got up to about twenty feet of him, he galloped off into the desert. At night we are serenaded by groups of coyotes. It sounds as if they are having a keg party and the longer it goes on the more robust the songs become.

This morning around sunlight, I opened the front door to let the dogs out, and there was a large beetle crawling over the threshold of the door and was slowly making his way outside, too. I suppose he had been in the house all night catching his food and was now heading back to his den to sleep his hunt off.

We have a large Ficus tree in the backyard and the best description of it is it is an apartment building for many types birds. Sparrows spend part of the year here in the ficus tree and raise their children. They are an argumentative type. They love to debate issues with each other and can get quite carried away. Then there are the doves in the tree, they are quiet and peaceful neighbors and bother no one.

We have several large Saguaro Cactus in our yard and they are home to cactus wrens. The wrens dig holes into the cactus and build their nests. The holes will remain cool in the summer heat as there is so much water stored in a saguaro. It is funny to watch them as they check each others homes out to see if it is empty, and if so, they will quickly take it over. The holes do not bother the cactus as in response the cactus wrens eat bugs which may harm the cactus. So it is a symbiotic relationship.

One morning while sitting on our front porch and having my cup of coffee, four young coyotes came prancing by, look at me on the porch , seemed to say "Howdy do" and continued on their way. Life gets along well here. Each do their own thing. Live and let live. It is a shame man cannot do the same. Let others live their lives, acknowledge it and let go. Humans have a long way to catch up with the wild animals. Makes you wonder which is really the wild one.

By observing, even the smallest of things you can learn much. It can help make your life more peaceful, less stressed, and more knowledgeable. Life lives all around us, we can enjoy it if we but take the time to observe. Even in what the frontier people of the old west called the "most useless land" they had observed, the Sonora Desert is full of life, funny and charming activities, if one will just observe.