Most of the time, any time, we see one or two or three of these little guys dashing across the road in front of us. They are Gambel's Quail and they would much rather walk than fly, much like turkeys. Their walk is kind of a fast waddle so they are both funny and charmingly pretty to watch. They often fly up to the top of a fence post in the morning to sit in the sun and look around.
When there are several foraging around on the ground they often post a guard or lookout to keep watch for predators.
They all have the cute topknot feather but only the males have the black spot on the breast. All of these pictures were taken within yards of the house where we're staying. We can sit on the back porch morning or evening and watch the quail working around in the brush below.
Speaking of bushes... we have these weeds growing all around the house. They are a type of grass and the locals call them foxtails.
They grow just a few inches high. They shed a pointed seed that looks a lot like a grain of wheat. But it acts more like a porcupine quill. It has tiny barbs that face back from the point and once it sticks into something, it just keeps burrowing in deeper. That's good for plant propagation but pretty nasty when it sticks into your shoe. I pulled six of them out of the fabric on my sneakers the first day. Since then, I've worn leather shoes. They are also very bad for the dogs. If they're not removed in a timely manner, they'll burrow right into the skin and open a site for infection or blowflys. Nasty things.
Our weather here remains idyllic, upper 70's in the day and upper 40's at night. I heard that Phoenix had a nasty storm yesterday but we only saw clouds here. I took the motorhome in to a diesel mechanic yesterday to get the cooling problem fixed. So far, he's found a collapsed radiator hose. I'm hoping that's all it is. I have ordered and received a replacement fabric for the awning which ripped in the wind so I'll be working on that when I get the motorhome back.
Finally catching up on my reading. What a fabulous thing to be able to take a trip like that. I really like the blog thing, I feel like I'm on the road with you, kind reminds me of Charles Kurralt.
ReplyDeleteLove the stories, keep them coming. All good here on the east coast although I'd saythe weather here has been unchacteristically cool for this time of year. No matter, I continue to pu tmiles on the new bike. A couple of weeks ago me and a couple friend from work put 350 on riding up to Damascus, VA and back. 8 hours of riding and I wanted to keep going. Only ran into rain once, that was quite enough since i couldn't see anything in front of me and didn't have waterproof shoes on. Other than that, I'm ready for another trip. Be safe and keep writing!! Miss you guys.
It's been interesting that ever since we crossed the Mississippi, there are apparently no helmet laws.
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