combo post: camping-critters-cali.

And here begins another blog in the sphere. This, as stated in the title, is a combo blog of some events that have taken place over the last few weeks. Below is Bear Canyon Lake in the Apache Sitgreaves NF. Unfortunately this park will be closed by the time you read this-GD bullshit!
This is our happy dog's smile:)

You'd think i got her high but she just loves camping so much, she always looks like this.

This is our built up camping karma. Gale force winds came upon us Sat. after only being there 20 hours so our camping trip was cut short:( we spent all day gathering wood to have a phenomenal fire on our last night:( camping karma......check

Double click to see the panoramic image of the ASNF. This was taken on the Mogollon rim.

Switching modes to work critters; this scorpion showed up on the OP with me one morning and just scurried by. in all the years that i lived in Phoenix previously i never saw one and this one scared the shit outta me. i literally hollered out 'holy shit' as he went by. he was huge and moved wayyyyyy faster than i imagined!

Winner of critter of the year!!!! the elusive Gila Monster. these guys are critically listed and they spend like 90% of their lives underground. he was just walking along one of the buildings on base-sooooo awesome!!!

He had to be about a foot and a half long and ~6 inches wide-gorgeous!!

these guys are adorable too when they run they hold their black and white striped tail curled up behind them-zebra tailed lizard.

Bilis, with a big smile in the PRevia on our way to Cali. She just loves road trips, a new adventure every time!

This is Justin's backyard basically. he lives in the high desert, at the foothills of the mountains in Yukaipa, CA. this is the stream that Bilis tried to cross-mind you, she does not like water but because dad was sooo convincing she tried and the current knocked her down and dragged her atleast 6 ft before she was up and back by the side.

Back bay-Newport, CA. black Phoebe

Some succulent in the back bay that was just beautifully in bloom.

Justin took us to Huntington (dog) beach. again, not a water dog, she was super afraid of the ocean and didnt even acknowledge the million other dogs around her. she just wanted away from the water. she was the only dog on a leash. all the other dogs were having a blast with their owners; playing frisbee, fetch, swimming, etc. our dog looked miserable as we dragged her down the beach-we looked & were looked at like abusive parents:(

..see how she is keeping a very close eye on that wave of water....

i actually had a real cute picture of B here all wet and smiling to be outta the water and on the sand but in the process of trying to delete all the MF open space b/n pics i erased it:(

You will have to click on the above picture to read both very hateful bumper sticker/decals. we stopped by a doghnut shop in the morning before we headed back to Phoenix from Yucaipa and this is what we ran into. i cannot believe one could have this much hate towards others but apparently their are people out there that are very angry about alot stuff that has gone on over this passed year. this was definately our cue to get the fuck out!

Baltimore and more!

Sooo Sorry it took me so long to post on the site. It has been quite a grind here and when I finally get some time off, I just want to sleep it away. If I can't just sleep it away, I end up doing more work around the house or for my job. But none-the-less, I'm back on the blog :-)

I forgot my camera in Baltimore, so I had to use my phone's camera, not the best quality. I was up in Md. in early April and the day started out nice.










That is Russ on the far left, Marigot on the far right, Taj in the, well you know him. At the other guy is Russ and Marigot's GM at their bar. On the right is a pic of Marigot and Taj a little later on in the night. I guess it is a foreshadowing picture.

But then there was a storm warning, that the sky was going to fall. We were scrambling to get my car out of the over-priced garage when a wall of wind came barreling down the avenue at us. It hit Taj like a freight train and his Virginia Tech hat went flying into the street. As we watched the hat hurtle down the street it looked like it would easily make the hundred yards to the harbor and then float away. But alas, it got stuck under a car tire, the rest of the story is told in pictures.


The End (of the hat story). The night continued, a storm came and went, and we bar-hopped the rest of the way home.













On the left is the Abbey, it is the bar that Russ and Marigot own together. It is a beautiful two story bar that my phone could not apparently take any good pictures of inside. Anyway, I tried one of their "voted best in Baltimore" burgers and it was awesome. We soon made our way over to No Way Jose, literally twenty feet away from The Abbey. I love it.











Gotta have some pics of the Inner Harbor. To the left is a ship that I grew up seeing in the harbor, I think I have even been on it. I think it is the USS Constellation if I am not mistaken. It looks like a pirate ship and I hear piracy is on the rise. I'm just saying we should be careful. On the right is the Baltimore Aquarium. That pointy part of the building is an atrium for birds, thought you'd like that one Auntie Amanda.

And I found some pictures I forgot about on my phone. They are reminiscent of past times, some of which I remember...













Some I do not.
Mad love guys, so sorry I had not posted in a while. It definitely feels good to do it. And I leave for PDX on the 10th of June, so I will have tons of pics for ya, and a hangover or two.

Take Care MoFo's
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Family visit

Mike came out for a visit a couple weeks ago and we all, including Bilis, made our way up to Prescott so that Grandpa Mike could meet his new grandson, Bryson. We camped out a couple nights with Mike and Bilis and had a nice visit.

Auntie Manda taking over Bryson duties-i feed, i burp..i do not change diapers..not yet atleast:)

Awww, Grandpa Mike and baby Bryson

The Shepard Boys; Paul, Mike, Shyama and Bryson

western bluebird...what you didn't think i was only post baby pictures?

acorn woodpecker

stink bug in position waiting for Bilis to return

Trying to take a family photo

White spar campground, Prescott, AZ

Our tired camping dog. She loved sleeping in the tent with us..better than the kennel!

such a lady

Just hanging out at the campsite

We had a nice visit and it is always a plus to get out of the heat. Prescott is on average 10-15 degrees cooler than Phoenix. Paul and Kohl are momving into their first apartment over Memorial day weekend and we are planning on going back up in June after they are settled. It's always nice to get out of town:)

take care and blog MF's!

Another morning of work...

I wouldn't call this just another morning...strange things happen in the desert....i just have a bunch of photos that i have taken at work. Some are on the range, airfield, at the pond. i have tried to mix up wildlife with sunrises and bombing shit so noone gets bored:)

Well, it is of course a bombing range...

...and an air force auxillary field.

I think i can, i think i can.....:)

I LOVE this bug/spider thing i came across in the desert. he looks like he is from the future. I will call him future bug! Hey, off subject-have you seen the movie The Fourth Kind-super trippy you should totally watch it! Heads up-DO NOT, i repeat DO NOT watch the movie BAd Leutenant w/ nik cage.

Adaptation is soooo COOL!

Ahh, the saguaros are in bloom...and everyone knows about it!

These are our desert iguanas. they are everywhere, warming up on the range roads in the morning-driving through them is like running the gauntlet. they are also found our dog walks around the neighborhood.

This guy almost wound up in my pocket and taken home to add to our collection of pets! He was soooo f-n cute wandering around slowly first thing in the morning. i would feel nothing but guilt taking him out of the massive desert he lives and putting him in a glass box-but he'd still be cute and i could look at EVERYDAY!!!

.....he was so cute i found earrings to match him:)

This is an american avocet in breeding plumage-really pretty water birds.

A crescent moon with some cholla on the foremountain makes a great sunrise.

This is when i stopped taking pictures of him--i didnt even realize that he was really lunging at me until i downloaded the pics:p (sorry- a little out of order).

This is the view from an observation point that i had not visited, not bad:) (to get the full effect you should double click on it since it is a panoramic).

this is a Sonoran gopher snake-it was atleast 2.5 inches thick and like 3 feet long. Luckily he was only on the road to try and warm up. i gently moved him-yes i am a snake saver!

this is a collared male Sonoran pronghorn. the problem with these guys is that they are pen bred and raised. in the pen they are fed by a FWS white truck that pulls up and people come out and feed them. we have recognized that the collared males have grown accustomed to this and this is why when we encounter them-like the picture above-they don't go running away at 60mph like the wild animals do.

I hope this finds everyone doing well. i am taking Bilis on a girl's camping trip next weekend and looking forward to showing her how much fun girl's can have..she is totally daddy's girl.

NOW POST MF's!!!