Coyote Crossing

Leaving the desert

We’re going to be leaving the desert at some undetermined but not too-distant point in the future. We’re discussing where to go next. The Bay Area heads the list. We have to make it work, of course, so some of our plans will depend on the results

Lizard behavior, observed

My computer is next to a window on the north side of our building. About five feet away is the flat roof of the building next-door. Beyond that are a few palm trees and some restaurants and banks, and beyond those is a flank of Mount San Jacinto.

Local man declares hiking hiatus over

It’s been in the triple digits every day since I dunno, the 1970s, and by triple digits I mean above 110 more often than not. And so, given my reluctance most days to die of heatstroke, it has been a very long time since I have wandered out the

Dasylirion wheeleri

This isn’t one of my photos. It’s a lovely Creative Commons photo by Dennis Behm. There won’t be many more of mine until I can afford to replace the Canon’s dying battery, which may be some time. Thank you, o stalwart battery. Your lithium ions

Violet-green swallows

Of all the side-blotched lizards I saw on my Sunday hike – and there were hundreds – this was the only fellow that didn’t run out of camera range. He flinched, as they all do, and he did the usual sets of pushups, but then for some reason he

The birds and the bees

I was in Fern Canyon this afternoon, a short stretch of Wentworth Canyon that’s moist enough along one part of the south wall to support a few feet of Adiantum fern. The story is that the place was wetter once and the ferns covered the canyon

Sceloporus orcutti

Bad news kept us up far too late Friday night — nothing personal, just the same bad news everyone knows about — and so I got a much later start today than I would have liked. By the time I finally got myself caffeinated and out the door it was

Carduelis psaltria

Our apartment here is one of six, in an L-shaped building the inside corner of which is filled with a little walled courtyard. Most of the courtyard is in pavers, but there’s a little square garden section with a mature palm and an eight-foot … (continues)

Podcast: Windy Day

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Amphispiza bilineata

Because I shoot video with my iPhone, which has limited resolution and no creditable zoom, I suggest you hit “play” on this video and look at this photo at Wikipedia, which was taken not far away.

If you’re stubborn and want to find the bird in

Podcast: water in the desert

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Video: This morning’s hike

A little bit of blurry video, anyway.

Not shown: a frillion lizards, two species of hummingbirds conducting territorial and mating displays, a red-tailed hawk keering loudly behind my head but remaining unseen, and my lack of sandwich in my pack.

Calypte costae

At about 4:30 this afternoon the hair started standing up on the back of my neck and I went outside. I’d been working all day on a website — work for a friend, but paid work, much appreciated these days — and though I’d promised myself a break

In the new neighborhood

Annette and I took a moment to head a little ways down the road on Monday. This scene is about a five minute drive from the new place.

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After dinner

Yesterday evening the clouds piled up against the San Jacintos and Santa Rosas, edged slightly past the ridgelines heading eastward as the sun sunk behind them. Storm coming, they said.

It was a promise fulfilled, though only to the letter. The

Feeding the bighorn

Something I knew even before moving here was that the local trails have ardent defenders. A recent land exchange, for example, between the BLM and the local Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians had trail user groups up in arms; the land at issue

Palms to Pines

We lit out for the countryside this afternoon, figuring that watching the sun set over the Valley from some vantage point up on the mountain was a good way to mark Valentine’s Day. Smart of us. There’s a road that climbs up San Jacinto from Palm

Another hike

Well, that hike I took a week ago isn’t any easier in the other direction. I went up the Museum Trail this time. I clearly have some work to do in the cardio department. I stopped about eight times to when I got too anoxic and dizzy.

Still a fun

South Lykken

The shadow of Mount San Jacinto falls on Joshua Tree National Park. Photo taken from the north end of the South Lykken Trail.

It’s been an interesting week or so, perspective-wise. First came the obligatory and even trite introspection that comes

Update on the non-dead pets

Both of the boys are safely in the Palm Springs place now, as shown in this completely uneventful video:

Confusing, right? It’s a cat, on the internet, but he’s not doing anything funny and there aren’t subtitles. Weird.

Anyway. Thistle arrived