Wind!

Today and tomorrow are forecasted to be windy days. Today's gusts were 22mph. Our palm tree lost a few more dead fronds. I still haven't cleaned the yard from the fronds still in the back yard from our dust devil last year! By late morning, the trees in the front yard were howling, the shrubs against the window were screeching. I didn't think this would be great power walking weather, but I still did the weekly walk at 5:30pm. Since tomorrow is our fullmoon hike, I decided to push the power walk to today since today's 6:10pm moon rise would be too early for dramatic effect.

Four people showed up today: HollyO, Claire and Regina, a repeat from last Wednesday. Regina just moved here from Long Beach, CA, and is getting used to our higher elevation. Like Claire, she is a devoted Christian looking for like-minded women her age, and I had wanted to introduce Claire to Regina.

Today was the Arizona primary (Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump won) so many people voted instead of walked tonight. Plus, I'm sure, the winds were a factor. But Holly and I are diehard walkers and I haven't missed a weekly power walk yet this year. Holly, Zeke and I were up front, Claire and Regina were behind us, and quickly lost distance between us. I could tell they clicked; they chatted the entire time, then cut back for the 2.5-mile loop. We came across the same family walking their three dogs that we have seen for the last three Wednesdays. One of the dogs is a barky Aussie shepherd who tries to intimidate Zeke, but Zeke walks ahead, head forward, with that determined "Yeah, whatever!" look. He truly is a great leash-walking dog.

Holly and I could barely hear each other with all the wind, and the wind was especially bad as we started out walking westward. Once we were on the Cochise Vista trail, the wind was blocked by the homes, but then it kicked again as we reached Buffalo Soldier Trail, but this time the wind was behind us. The mountain laurel are now in full bloom and scenting the path with their grape soda scent. The pink penstemons are also up along the highway. We had good light for most of today's walk. When we reached SR92 for the last 1.5 miles, the moon had just risen right in front of us. It was barely visible and I had to point it out to Holly.

I saw an injured mourning dove in the middle of the path here. Its feathers were blowing in the wind, but it was ducked down low and stayed there as we got closer. Was it knocked against a tree branch while trying to fly? I found one dead dove in our yard after the last wind storm, right below our flagpole. This dove didn't fly away as we approached. Was a wing injured? Although it fought me at first, I picked it up and cupped it in my hands, and pointed out to Holly that the bird had an injury right below its right eye. It lost a lot of its plume feathers trying to get away, but didn't seem too scared of me. Blood was on its neck but the neck was was fine, and both wings and legs appeared intact. The right eye was closed, but the left eye was fine. I held that bird for the rest of the 2.5 miles we had to go, so taking pictures of the rising moon over the Mule Mountains wasn't easy. I decided to take the bird home to let it rest for at least 24 hours, so its eye can heal and it can calm down. Holly told me I should be named Francis, as in Saint Francis, patron saint of the animals.

As soon as I got home, I took out that box of shredded paper that I had originally kept around to place outside during the winter, as shelter for birds, which I placed inside the dog crate. The bird hopped right in. It was perhaps past its bed time and was exhausted. I gave it a bowl of water and a large bowl of seed, the same kind I feed the wild birds outside. Kevin was already in bed, so he didn't know about our new guest for a few days.

I do enjoy taking care of birds. Watching them is therapeutic. I'd have a pet bird if it weren't for the cats.