Stormy Sheebie

Friends and Kitties!

Sheebie here.

One of the things I love best about desert weather is monsoon season.  Because your line of sight goes all the way to the horizon (or the mountains, whichever comes first) the opportunity to watch thunderstorms is just awesome.  I snapped a few photos at work a couple of weeks ago on two different nights.  They're phone photos so not the best quality, but I think you'll get the idea...

This first shot was taken from the roof of the ozone building at the plant directly adjacent to Lake Mead.  The storm that's off in the distance is about 50 miles (80 km) away, over the Spring Mountains.

This one was taken the next night from the plant in Henderson.  The rain has completely obscured The Strip and the Spring Mountains beyond, about 35 miles away.  We had a real gully washer that evening at my house, over a third of an inch in thirty minutes...the water was roaring down the streets and according to Scott, the cats were under the beds!

The rain rarely lasts long though; it moved out in time for sunset.

Gorgeous, right?

Happy Saturday and Caturday!

XX  Sheebie  XX

Nurse Rupert to the Rescue

Kitties!

Nurse Rupert here.

As you can see, I took good care of my* Mommy when she was feeling queasy.  She says "thank-you" for all your purrs...she has pesky adhees, addledhesuns, um, sticky bits in her innards that occasionally seize up and make her colon put on crankypants.  It doesn't happen often, thank Cod, but when it does I'm right there to stick my Soothing Bum in Mommy's face to help her feel better.

Well, to be purrfectly honest, I stick my Bum in her face all the time, but when Mommy is feeling poorly I make sure my hindquarters ooze some Extra-Soothing mojo.  (You kitties know what I mean.)

So, as long as I wasn't being flung to the floor during a frantic human litterbox room run I stuck to my post--successfully--by Caturday Mommy was well enough to go back to work.

Where she saw this one gorgeous cloud!

We had four days of gloom and 0.2" of rain last week, so it was so nice to see the last of them, floating away.

Happy Sunday!

  XX  Rupert (and his Soothing Bum)  XX

*MINE.  All mine.

Sheeb E. and Wile E.

Friends and Kitties!

Sheebie here.

It's been a jackpot summer at work so far for wildlife...snakes, snake skins, the dive-bombing Territorial Raven Family (more about them in another post), and last night, a coyote in the parking lot.

The plant out at the lake is smack dab in the middle of the desert and it very much belongs to the animals.  It's not uncommon to see--or more often, hear--packs of coyotes at dawn and dusk.  They're very smart, and a local band has become very habituated to seeing humans around.  Naturally, they get fed, too; we're not supposed to feed them but you know how well people like to follow stupid rules...we see an animal, it should be cared for.  

Especially this lame female.  See her back right leg?  It's twisted, poor thing.  She's braver than most, probably because begging is her particular survival method.

It works, too!  She got three burrito-sized tortillas and a chicken breast from me--I hope that was a good enough haul for the night--and if not, there's always the next shift change.

Happy Sunday, and have a Great Week!

XX  Sheebie  XX

Sheebie on Foot

Friends and Kitties!

Sheebie here.

I hiked up an itty-bitty mountain on Friday.

The weather was delightful--low 60's and no wind.  And SUN, of course.

There are lots of ATV and horse trails up in the mountains to explore and I don't know why it's taken me 12 years to figure this out...sometimes I am a real moron.  I've discovered that Google Earth is a great tool to determine where I want to go!

Excuse my dirty shoes--I have a pair of hiking boots on order, a necessity for going four-wheelin' around here--when I get home my socks are full of icky grit.  

I spotted a pumice rock on the path.  I've mentioned in the past that our area used to be very active geologically--there's an old cinder cone just a few miles from my house--and we occasionally get the odd tremor when Mother Earth shifts her bones.

The mountain(ette) I hiked up divides my subdivision in two. 

The water reservoir is at the top to supply steady system pressure.

The left side of the mountain faces West and the Strip, the right side looks East out over my house and beyond to Lake Mead.

The top of the mountain has been improved and is for sale, and I'd love to build up here--the views are magnificent.  Too bad it's not free... 

At least I can come up here and look around all I want for the cost of a walk.

Our house is at the tip of the subdivision.

You can just see Lake Mead in the upper left, and that's Lake Las Vegas (Where BlogPaws will be in May!) to the right.

There were some fabulous rock formations in a small canyon that I passed through; I'm going to bring a "real" camera next time I hike up there and try to get some panoramic shots to show the true scale.

I sure hope you don't mind seeing all my trampy photos!  I just think it's so beautiful here and worth sharing.  

Happy Sunday!

XX  Sheebie  XX