August 30 -- I Re-Condition Part of the Back Deck, and I Try On the Snake Guards

Sunday was a day for the "honey-do's" without the honey...I started the day WAY early as I've still been getting up at around 2am after 3 or 4 hours of sleep. So naturally I went out on the back deck and, using my "lightning photography" setting, got a photo of Cave Creek Canyon and the supermoon at 4:15am --

Then at sunrise, I got Silver Peak with the supermoon just about to set -- 

After an early breakfast, I re-conditioned part of the back deck. As it's the only part of all the decking of the house that doesn't have a roof, it's the most exposed, and the sun hits it early, so I wanted to start with that section. The tenants had started doing the decking, but had stopped after running out of the re-conditioning stain, but they had left a roller to apply it, and a paint tray to pour it in. So I spent an hour doing that one section --and used up a full can (1 gallon). You're supposed to keep it dry for 24 hours, but after only 9 hours it rained, a short but substantial shower. The water puddled instead of sinking into the wood, so I guess it worked...I have a sore left shoulder, so I rested it while watching the hummingbirds at the feeders "duke it out". They're very aggressive and territorial, chasing one another all over the yard. I may have placed the feeders too close to one another as they need for "territory" than that, so perhaps I can work on a setup where they're hanging in the yard as opposed to  lining the edges of the deck. Then later in the morning I decided to try on the "snake guards" that had come from Amazon the day before. I put them on over my hiking boots -- then realized I'd put them on upside down. DOH! With them now right side up, I took the short walk down my "driveway" to the front gate -- and while I can't say they were comfortable and light, they felt and performed better than I expected. Coming back to the house I saw the clouds build up over the Chiricahuas; the house of course is Faranuf -- 

And here I am (self-portrait on a timer) with the snake guards --

Why the are camouflage I don't know -- you want the snake to know that you are THERE, not try to blend in with your surroundings. As I mentioned above, the early cloud buildup led to a brief rain shower, and the rumble of thunder and some lightning flashes; here's Cave Creek Canyon in a mist of rain -- 

Then I heard for Jackie Lewis, the "proprietress" of the George Walker House in Paradise, a small burg about 5 miles from Portal (the same place I'd gone for the hummingbird banding), who invited me to a late afternoon of hummingbird watching, and looking at the particular traits, and markings, of hummingbirds which help in IDing the particular hummingbird. I'll be doing that this afternoon. Foxito the Gray Fox didn't show up for the third straight day, though I saw scat in the bird feeder tray where he usually chows down, and more scat along my driveway. Not sure if its his, but it did have some berries in it, which foxes eat. So now it's Monday at 3:30am, I've been up for an hour already (nothing unusual with me) and another day in paradise is about to unfold...