Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Still and always my HERO...

Yesterday Jay and I were checking on our friends' house, because of a nasty wind storm that came through on Sunday. We found everything to be in pretty tip-top shape at their place, except for a dove nesting proudly on their lounge's head rest. Today I went back and snuck up on the nest and got this photo. It's blurry because I took it with my iPhone and at a distance, then zoomed in so you could see the bird.
When I tried to get closer, she flew out and started whimpering around the yard acting wounded. They do this to distract predators away from their nests and eventual chicks. We have a surplus of dove in our neighborhood and they make their nests in the weirdest locations. This is an AWWWWW shot and I'm praying Wes and Diane won't feel it necessary to disturb this family's home.

Is that amazing or what?  Anyway, back to the real story of the day about "my hero." While J and I were there, we couldn't help but notice the neighbor's Palo Verde tree. Sunday's wind ripped a substantial limb off the beaut mature tree at a winter visitor's house. That means these folks, B and Sue won't be back until November.
While I was feeling bad for the tree, J suggested he get his trusty saw and relieve it of it's broken appendage, so we went on home, picked up the saw, loaded into the pick-up and returned to the site.

This here's my hero. For him, this was a dangerous undertaking as the Palo Verde was buzzing with bees, and he is highly allergic to bee stings. You know, where they sting you and you immediately swell up, can't breathe, etc? We hummed a nice tune and spoke softly to them and thankfully escaped without an angry bee attack. Next he had to chop the limb into smaller pieces to haul and fit the branches into the truck bed. He's so CLEVER. I never would have thought of that! (maybe eventually?)

Almost finished, bear with us here. Loading the truck. I helped...yes I did.

See truck full of tree.

One last shot of what this tree suffered...a great wound. The beautiful thing about desert plants (the Palo Verde is native to this area), is that they are hardy!

Mother Nature pruned this wonderful tree, but it will continue to flourish in spite of its recent catastrophy. What does that make you think of?

Anyway, my point is, this is what our neighborhood is like. We're still in the busines of taking care of each other and helping where we can. It's nice. Last July a huge wind came through. J and I were on an extended trip, and a neighbor found our Palo Verde completely uprooted and restaked it back into place for us. Very nice!We enjoyed our little outing and maybe saved a tree? Does that make us GREEN?
One more photo...I just can't resist! Isn't this beautiful?
 
AWWWWWW...




4 comments:

  1. The tree really wasn't that big a deal, but the dove nest was pretty neet. Their nest building ability leaves something to be desired.

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  2. Nothing like having wonderful neighbors and a loving husband! Blessed indeed!

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  3. "Yay, Dad!" (picture the turtle from "Robin Hood"). I'm not surprised at all that Dad would spend his afternoon helping out a neighbor...

    That is so funny about the dove nest! I'm sure she thought that green chair was the prettiest, most inviting tree she'd ever seen!

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  4. If you come back and take another picture - you will see that she has laid another egg in the nest. Two babies to watch - can't wait. Thanks for being such a good friend and a helpful neighbor. Thank you also for watching Laura Marie for us. It is good to be back. Diane

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