Summer is here or is it?

     We are still at the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert. Last month we had a scary episode. Gary got bitten by some kind of spider while cutting out the dead wood of some Juniper trees on our property. Some people told us that it might be a brown recluse and that we should go and see a doctor right away. Well, it is about 60 miles or so to go to the nearest doctor so we decided to wait and see. This happened on a Tuesday and he felt fine even though the bite looked weird. On Friday he got a really bad reaction and was terribly ill for almost 3 days. Again, we didn't go to the doctor but we took care of it ourselves and he is fine again. If you don't get bitten by a spider you will get bitten by no-see-ums (little tiny gnats that bite and make you itch terribly for several days). Some researchers had over 100 bites on their bodies and they weren't even done with their research. They looked terrible.
     Even though it is hot enough in daytime to have the air conditioning running it is often rather cold when we wake up in the early morning hours and need to have the heat on for a short time.
     We are enjoying the birds around here. One thing we noticed is that the ravens want to steal the eggs or young ones of the Kingbirds. The Kingbirds are maybe not even 1/4 of the size of the ravens but boy are they vicious. They are fast and go after the ravens and attack them in mid air -- sometimes 2 or 3 are after one raven. However, sometimes the ravens outsmart them and work in pairs. The Kingbirds have no chance as they are chasing the one raven the other raven is raiding the nest.

Western Kingbird

Raven in flight.

     Last week we took all the hikes in the park here which came to over 8 miles. We were rather tired but are preparing for our Amazon.com job where we have to be able to walk 5 - 10 miles a day (we are told). We did all the hiking in one morning starting out early in the morning and with the longest walks first. This was good as we were tempted to skip the last short walk as we were really getting tired and that particular hike was not paved.

Collared lizard (picture above). We were lucky to see it and have it pose for us as they are not around (especially once it warms up) too much.

Horse and rider that were responsible for getting the food etc. to the researchers in the Painted Desert. There were quite a few researchers from the Smithsonian Institute and from Yale University looking for fossils. They found quite a few and told us some but don't remember the long names. They had to walk in about 7 miles or so to do their research and stayed for several weeks. They did get out to clean up and do laundry once in a while. 

Françoise standing by a piece of Petrified wood. The whole piece was probably 5' in diameter.

     We just got back from Phoenix where we had several appointments (eye doctor, changing oil, going to the Apple store etc.). It was a hectic but nice time and unfortunately we didn't get to see everybody nor did we get to call everybody. Sorry!!! We will catch you next time.
     We are almost done with our time at the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert. If you haven't gone to see this remarkable place you need to do so before all the wood is gone. Tourists steal about 1 ton of wood a month thinking that it is only 1 piece so who is going to miss it not realizing that we have hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. The fine, if you get caught, is pretty steep -- a minimum of $325.00 per piece or pound (whichever applies) and one person was caught with so much wood that he had to pay $2500.00 on the spot. If you can't pay right away they put you in Federal jail in Flagstaff. And you don't get to keep the wood after you pay the fine.
     Will be leaving here on the 4th of July and will post more at that time.