Cloudy Days

We had some decent rain on Tuesday. One of those long, easy showers we're used to seeing in the winter here in the desert.

We heard more rain was on the way for late Wednesday and all day Thursday. But the sky was clear in the morning and only a few clouds by mid-afternoon.

By sunset there wasn't anything that looked like rain yet.

Still no rain when we went home for the night, but the weather radars were showing a little of what was in store.  It started raining early Thursday and only stopped for a bit mid-day Friday.  Cells and pockets of heavy rainfall, strong winds in the afternoon, and in the late afternoon Thursday there was a tornado watch! That certainly doesn't happen often out here.  Friday's rain was back to a gentler one. In fact, it is still coming down as I'm typing this.  A long winter rain is just what was needed out here after a long drought - something like 10 years of below average rainfall.  Lots of snow in the high country and rain in the lower part of the state should refill the resevoirs quite nicely.

AZ Mills Mall

We had lunch today at the Rain Forest Cafe in the Arizona Mills Mall.

Anna didn't care for the noise when the 'storm' started. She crawled up on Gail and promptly fell asleep through lunch.

The entire restaurant is set up as though it were in the jungle.

Large fish tanks had some interesting fish.

And the one good shot of the day (the one that didn't get away?)

Then we walked around the mall and Jake & Anna rode the carousel.

One of the better shots when Jake wasn't hamming it up too badly.

Nebraska - the Family

Here's Gail holding Elijah.

Here's Julia looking at me like, "Who are you and why are you taking pictures of me?"

Anna & Julia got along pretty well. Neither could be bothered to slow down for long to get a picture, let alone one of the two together.

Shannon holding Elijah.

The Splonskowski family (Julia giving a kiss to Elijah)

Elijah's smile. Gail captured a bigger smile, I think. Maybe she will have that on her blog...

Anna outside by the sidewalk checking out the snow.

Shay all spiffed up and looking sharp at the wedding!

David & Anne before the wedding.

Mr. & Mrs. Gronseth

The happy couple with Mom Gronseth

Gail & Anna at the airport. Both held up pretty well through all the excitement and neither one napped on the plane ride home. (I expected one or both to nod off).

Nebraska - the Snow

Wandering into the cold (people laughed when I said it felt cold at 27 (F)) and snow was nice - partly because of the novelty of it, and partly because the beauty of it and mostly because I could leave it behind. I had to take some pictures, but we didn't drive around looking for scenic or picturesque shots.  So basically wherever we stopped (and sometimes from the car) I took some pictures.

A light mist or fog settled in and temperatures were just right to form hoarfrost on just about everything outside.

Pretty neat to see close up, but pretty neat to see the trees and branches white with it too.

Looking down the street at Shannon & Dave's house.

An evening shot from Anne's brother Bill's place.

Just down the street from David & Anne's house the next day. Much warmer but still a bit foggy.

Gail became an expert marksman inside Bass Pro Shop and decided to try her hand at a moving target.  Fortunately for me, my cat-like reflexes kept me from harm.

Scorpion

I was moving some big rocks today and under one was a scorpion and a gecko together.  I went to get my camera and the gecko disappeared into a hole.  The scorpion was much better at letting me get some good shots.

From the thickness of the tail and the pincers, I know right off this is not the bark scorpion.  Not that I would be so concerned if it were; I just like to know what things are.  The stripes on the tail help tell me that it is a  Stripe-tailed Scorpion.  It still has venom - just as all spiders have venom and some are more potent than others, all scorpions have venom - but it is not as strong (to people) as the bark scorpion.

This guy was most cooperative in letting me get really close. Hiding under the curved part of the tail is the stinger.

Up close you can see all the tiny hairs that act as sensors.  I'm not sure if they help in determining sounds or scents or a combination of the two....They have sensors on the underside for feeling vibrations along the ground.  As they hunt insects (mostly) those sensors must be pretty sensitive.

Gingerbread House

We nearly forgot to do our gingerbread house this Christmas break.

Kind of simple, but that isn't always a bad thing...What is amazing is that it hasn't been devoured yet!

Zoolights

Finally took time to visit the Zoolights as a family on New Year's Eve. Jake headed straight for the 'Dancing Trees' - so named because the lights 'dance' to a Christmas medley with a strong Manheim Steamroller base.

The lights vary from red to blue to green or all of them together with white as well. It is always a big draw for the Zoo.

But there were so many other nice lights:

This Red White & Blue trio

This 'candy-coated' tree

These canopied trees

This 'firecracker' tree

And this mesuite tree with the blue moon rising above it.

I like the trees being lit up so much more than the animal shaped outlines lit up.  There were some new ones of those, too, but for the first time in a number of years they seemed to have gone back to lighting up more trees.