Spring storm

We are having our first spring storm for the season. It couldn't come early enough. Rain that was forecasted for Friday never got south enough to hit us, but this morning I work up to high winds and overcast skies. We need the rain and the forest will be happy for some relief. A 6am radar photo showed heavy rains over southern California and western Arizona. Yuma was already getting hit.

I was up early again. I putzed around the home, wrote a few overdue reviews. After a visit with the cats in the garage I went back into the kitchen and discovered a young mouse stuck on some insect tape I had placed by the sink to trap flies and roaches. The insects have been out early this year. The mouse had just stepped on the tape, because a few moments earlier it wasn't there. The poor creature was breathing hard as it struggled to free itself. Its head was stuck and it couldn't move.

I never intend to trap mice with these sticky glue strips. I use them for the roaches that come out of the sink this time of year, or for the flies that come in through the back patio. I carried the strip outside, armed with a knife to tear away at the stickiness, and a few rocks for the mouse's stability, and then plucked away to free the thing. I had to hold the knife in such a way to keep the mouse's head from falling back on the sticky strip. Its front right leg looked pulled out of its socket, though, yet the mouse remained still while I cut away around it. Small rocks around the critter kept its head up so that it wouldn't fall back down on the tape. The mouse lost a lot of fur on its right side, but amazingly enough, once its tail was off the tape, it regained some movement, squeaked, and I was able to pull its body off the tape with a butterknife and it was able to scammer off. The front leg looked broken or sprained as the poot thing couldn't run straight up, but run it could and it was soon gone in our front yard. I don't want mice in the house and we do have a good mouse trap in place, but I hate seeing critters struggle and die a slow death.

The winds continued to howl against the southern face of our house. At 10:30am the radar showed the storm now over half the state of Arizona. That was the signal for me to stop reviewing and start taking the dogs out for a walk. Minnie hadn't been walked since Thursday so I piled all five dogs (!) in the van for the short drive to the Oaks. This was my first morning visit there. I'm normally here an hour before sunset when few people are out. Would there be other people there?

My fears were unsubstantiated. The complex was as void then as it is in the late afternoons. There was plenty of trash left in the same general area as where the USBP vehicles hang out. I picked up all the plastic bottles (for recycling) but there is some paper trash still left behind that I'll get next time.

I walked the one-mile road-dirt road path, staying away from Three Canyons Road and traffic. This route is more secluded. While I've come across two dog walkers, a cyclist and a group of skate boarders in the last year while walking in the Oaks, all the encounters were on the pavement. I've never come across anyone walking along the burned-out creek bed.

Sammy kept up the first mile but then rested under an oak and let me know that he had had enough. I walked him back to the van where he rested while the other four dogs and I walked three more circular miles. My chin strap on my boonie hat came in handy today! By the fourth mile, even Minnie was exhausted and panted all the way home.

I've now let Sweetie walk with us at least six times in the past month. She is our wildchild, roaming at her own will and stubbornly obeying my commands. She likes to run off for quite a while before turning around to get back into my line of sight. She has to be worn out with exhaustion before she listens to me, but she also seems to allow me to pick her up by the collar to pull her back into the van, so she is showing some progress with proper pack behavior. But her wild, unpredictable side is still not safe enough for the public. She is only four years old. Will she ever calm down?

I got back to the house at 12:40pm. By 1pm the first raindrops fell and the sweet smell of creosote filled the air, but the rain wasn't as intense as hoped and no rain flooded the area.