I guess I have to post :)

Spring is coming to the high plains here in New Mexico. As I did my morning exercises and watched out the window a small rail lizard scurried out from under our overturned garden cart and practiced its mating dance. Either that it was also doing morning exercises in the form of push-ups. Makes me envious, I never have been able to do them, and certainly not that fast.

Meanwhile a pair of humming birds were fighting over the sugar water left in the feeder at the end of the porch where a pair of birds are building their nest. In another week or so we will be having to fill the feeders several times a week to keep the hummers happy, but we really enjoy watching them. I have counted as many as 20 of the little guys around one feeder, and they have no manners at all. Talk about having to protect your tail :).

Sad to say it is also a bad season for the bull snakes that we have around. The days are warm but the nights still cool, and they tend to crawl onto the blacktop roads to get warm at nights. The desire for heat is often fatal. We like having them around, they keep the smaller varmints down, and also seem to chase more dangerous snakes away. There are rattle snakes in the area, but seem to be around our place. I have a friend that has lived with a 6 foot diamond back on his property for quite a number years. They have a live and let live policy that seems to work pretty well, although he tells me it cost him a fortune when his dog violated the rules. The snake won that fight, and the dog now respects its right to hunt mice whenever it wants to. And the vet is considerably richer.

I need to go out and check the apple trees and see how they are doing. The Spanish are said to have planted the first apple trees around here back in the 1600's. History goes back a long way way here on the Land Grants. We have two trees hiding back in the woods that we are told come from that original stock, one yellow, one red. The apples are small, but I think that they are the sweetest that I have ever eaten. Last year the frost got them, and we do have to share them with the bear that wonders through from time to time. He also seems to like the choke cherries that grow on one tree back in the woods.

Not sure what wandered through last night, but whatever it or they were, the dog was sure upset. Nothing showed up in the flashlight, and when we called the dog in he was ever so proud of himself for having defended us so well. My best guess is either the bear checking the apples, or a couple of coyotes hoping we had left the cats out for the night.

I hated to do it, but did have to shoot a coyote a couple of months ago. He was part of a pack of four that were right beside our house trying to take down our dog. He put up a pretty good fight, but the second time they came around was a bit too much. This group did not look like the standard scraggly coyote that you usually see. Their fur was long and almost golden in color, beautiful animals and obviously well fed. Probably explains why so many local cats and small dogs have disappeared over the winter. The wife and I haven't seen them around since, but we know they are somewhere around.

Patches of green are showing among the gold of last years tall grass, and if you look close there are small purple flowers hugging the ground, the dog is looking for shade to lie in rather then the sunny spot. It all says that spring is here again.