Silki

We adopted two kittens. Chantilly the white one in the previous post and her sister, Silki, a calico. Chantilly loves to be held and petted but Silki is very, very shy and is still reluctant to be petted or held. Hopefully time and lots of TLC will change that.

Chantilly

Photo of the half Siamese kitten we adopted a couple of months ago. She is mostly white but has stripes on her face and tail. We named her Chantilly

Kitten Photos

More photos of the 2 new kittens we adopted last week.

New Kitties

Most people we know might think it nuts but we adopted 2 kittens this week. The Siamese was our first choice but we decided we couldn't leave her calico sister behind so took both of them. The Siamese came with the name Chantilly and the calico with the name Silk. Can't decide if we are keeping those names or not. They are so sweet but are very shy. Think they were about half wild when they arrived at the New Mexico Humane Society which is one of the nicest shelters I have been to. Both girls had to be spayed before we could bring them home and both will be indoor kitties. Right now I am keeping them in a bedroom by their selves until they get over their surgeries, and adjust.

Althea

Althea or Rose of Sharon is a flowering shrub that is very popular around here. It takes more water than the native plants do but less than a lot of other shrubs do - like the lilac. My mom had 4 very old and beautiful althea in her yard in Silver City, NM. They were there when she moved to the house on D St in 1970. We had no idea how old they might have been at that time but from the size of them it was considerable. They were still there when we sold the house after her death in 2007. As far as I know they are still there. They didn't take much water and were like small trees with their trunks being a good foot in diameter.
     When I moved to Rio Rancho I took a handful of seed off of some of her althea and planted them in the first house we lived in and they grew and flourished and bloomed their beautiful purple-ish-pink blossoms. When I moved to the house I am in now I did the same thing by taking seed from the ones at the other house as they were two big to move. This photo is of the one I have now. Grown from seed in the past 11 and a half years. 

A Green Desert

Drove out across the desert today to have some down time and let Tuffee our Border Collie go for a run. I was amazed. In the spring the desert was dry and brown and looked as if someone had used a blow torch to just touch the tips of the plants. The drought was killing everything including the cactus. Now the rains have finally come back after about 10 years or so and everything is green again. There were flowers blooming that I could never remember seeing before. I counted 1 red flower, 2 blue flowers, 2 purple flowers, and about 5 or 6 different yellow and white kinds of blooms. Here are some of them. I tried to do distant shots and then close ups of the different kinds.

More Summer Flowers

I took some more flower photos in my yard the other day. Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoy taking the photos. The last photo is of the bulls skull with morning glories growing up around it.