The Desert Season Has Come to an End

Well, there it is ... done! Yup, we all survived spending five and a half months together at our winter get away. The dogs survived the three day drive to La Quinta, the new yard, the new house rules, and figuring out the new creatures found at dog level. I survived not working, and Sandy survived having me and the dogs around ... all the time! All and all, a success I would say.

I had some contract work that allowed me to ease into retirement and kept me occupied the first few months while Sandy was on the links. Rockie enjoyed taking her classes and keeping the yard free of vermin, Ben excelled at his usual work of guarding his bed, and Sandy managed to achieve her best golf score ever, 85, two weeks ago.

There were many things we enjoyed through the five months and I won't bore you with too many details. I will say that we thoroughly enjoyed the many activities in our community and the many good friends and neighbours we have met. Of course, we got lots of cycling done, but looking back, we think we could have done more. Sandy's brother, John, visited us for about 10 days in late November and she enjoyed touring him around the area. My sister, Patti, visited in February and I figure the highlight of that trip was was our camel ride at the Living Desert zoo.

As we are now officially in springtime, the plants in our yard are putting on a nice show of blossoms, as are a number of the cacti in the area.  The cold blooded creatures are coming out of hibernation, which is making things exciting for people and dogs. Saturday and Sunday we took in some of the season ending activities in our neighborhood, culminating in a beautiful show of fireworks. Yup, these are all the signs that it is time to pack up our home in the warm sun and start making our way north to get our Edmonton house all set for spring and summer.

Rather than a long story, here are more photos than usual. They cover from Christmas through the season ending fireworks on Sunday.

Christmas Morning

Heading out on our Christmas morning ride

Snow in the mountains, this is a "white Christmas" for the Coachella Valley

Sandy makes Rockie work for her water

Prickly pear cactus

Yucca blooming

Ocotillo with its firey blossoms.

Little lizard warming up in the early morning sun

King snake

Rockie checking out a toad on our evening walk

Double hibiscus in our yard

One of our regular hibiscus

Long stemmed roses in our yard

Red with white roses

Benny getting serious about his dinner

Rocki's grad photo!

With my sister, Patti, on our camel ride 

Four baby wart hogs at the Living Desert zoo

Two of the cheetahs at the zoo

Sunday brunch and drag queen show in Palm Springs

At the Oceanside pier

Sun over the palms on a morning ride.

Best helmet hair ever!

Season ending fireworks in our neighborhood.