A little Update...

It has been a while since I updated the blog, but its been a busy week.
Shortly after we arrived here we noticed that Tigger was limping badly. After giving it a day or two to clear up, it only got worse. We ended up taking him to Banfield Vets that is located in Petsmart. It is a very nice Vet office. I guess each Petsmart has one, or soon will. Anyway, some $300 later the vet removed several Foxtail grass seed from his right front foot. Here is a under electron microscope of it. He had several that were embedded in his foot. Apparently Foxtail is dangerous for dogs!


Soon after that, Karen became ill with what the doctor described as viral stomach flu. Needless to say by the time she got to the doctor she was severely dehydrated, her blood pressure was very low and had to be given I.V. fluids.



Thankfully, both Karen and Tigger are on the mend.


Then comes another big shock. We do not live in Las Vegas! Hell, the Las Vegas "Strip" is not even in Las Vegas! Although my mailing address is in Las Vegas we actually reside in the un-incorporated area of Clark County called Paradise Nevada, whatever that means. Paradise Nevada is also home of the famous "Las Vegas Strip".

In between Tigger's episode and Karen getting sick, we went to the Mojave National Preserve.





Here you can see the Gamble's Quail that were all over the place.
Although not a flightless bird, they very much preferred to try and escape on foot. It was quite funny to see 8-10 of them trying to run from the car as we drove down the Mojave Trail. They really didn't run, it was more of a waddle.





Although kind of difficult to tell, on the right is a Sparrow Hawk that is hanging out looking for food.











This is the Coyote we saw in the Mojave. This picture is actually a better picture of the bush in front of the coyote, than the coyote itself.







On the right is a big 'ole raven flying around very close to the ground. There is a great deal of mythology surrounding these birds, as anyone who has read Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven" knows. It is claimed that ravens are the smartest of the birds.











The trip to the Mojave was a lot of fun. It is only about 1 hour from our house and I'm sure we will be visiting there often.

Yesterday we went to Echo Bay in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Along the way we also stopped at Rattlesnake Canyon in the Recreation Area. We were primarily looking for big horn sheep, but never did spot any. We will try another day.

This is a picture of the mountains as the sun was setting on our way back home from the recreation area.








To the right is a picture of Echo Bay in Nevada.









Bye for now.....