Obligatory Year In Review: CRITTERS!

As you know, April and I are very much into animals. Whether it is at a zoo, scratching up our furniture, or out in the wild, we try to see critters as much as possible.

I was warned about how little wildlife there was out here when we moved. I think that is a big ole lie. You just have to appreciate the fact that there are different types of animals out here and you have to know where to look. Every animal on the planet can't make it out here in the desert ya know.

Since we often head out to Red Rock Canyon I may as well start off with the Wild Burro. This is a great example of an animal that is suited to our landscape, but doesn't get much attention from folks who believe there's nothing to see out here. The fact that these burro are wild and NOT in a zoo makes it all the better. Getting the chance to see them is always a treat.

It would appear that the burro were also happy to see us.

On our first visit to Red Rock (2007) we saw our first Big Horn Sheep. This year, thanks to my job as a tour guide, I learned of a spot in Boulder City where most anytime I wanted I could see 60-100 of the darned things.


There is a city park near the mountains where the Big Horn love to come and hang out. Quite literally they come down from the hills and hang out in the park. It is not uncommon to see kids playing on the playground equipment and just a few feet away will be several of these majestic wild animals. Very cool!

They're only around in big numbers during the warmer months and they head back up the mountains when the temperature drops. I finally had a chance to bring April late in the summer and that was a big thrill for both of us.


On our trip to Bryce Canyon we saw a Uinta Ground Squirrel, a cute little bugger common to Utah specifically. Very adorable. We'd hoped to see some Prairie Dogs that are found at Bryce but they were not around. However, what WAS around was something that is supposed to be a bit rare in the section of Bryce where we were.

BEHOLD! The Pronghorn Antelope!

Yeah, baby! That's the stuff! We'd heard they could be seen "occasionally" there, depending upon a variety of conditions. We figured we'd have no hope of catching something like this. Then we nearly hit one with our car. Soon after that we saw a couple more...and then about 20 more! We had a good day for spotting the critters.

Almost everywhere we went over the year brought us some sort of lizard. We really enjoyed stumbling upon the Southern Desert Horned Lizard though. how could you not enjoy finding this cute guy, right?

Our own little zoo here in Las Vegas provided some great fun. Sure we could have seen the new Komodo Dragon at the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef or the baby Dolphins & baby White Tigers at the Mirage. We love our little zoo and are members there, dammit! We take pride in our local efforts to make the town more fun!

At our zoo, which is the only place in North America you can see a Barbary Ape, we were treated to something we'd never seen before, the Fossa. Fossa are critters that must have been the inspiration for the "Jeep" character in the Popeye cartoons. Very crazy looking, bouncy cat-like things. Hard to describe and harder to photograph sometimes. Our zoo has two of these buggers from the San Diego Zoo and they are awesome. However they are not quite as awesome as...

BABY FOSSA!

These guys are amazing and thanks to a special little tour given to us by a gal at the zoo, we got about as close to them as you could without having Fossa all up in ya'! We got to see them long before they were "officially" on display at the zoo and we couldn't be happier about that.

The zoo has recently gotten a Siberian Lynx and the first Bornean Binturong in Nevada. It is a great little zoo, even though it is not as "pretty" or "fancy" as some snobby locals would like.

Speaking of zoos there was a great nature preserve/desert garden/zoo-kinda place in Palm Desert, right next door to Palm Springs, CA.

The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens was a wonderful way to finish off our trip to Palm Springs. I hope to go back there as there are some great trails following the scenic canyon that we didn't get to see.

There were loads of beautiful animals and plants to walk through and see.

Aside from many a desert creature there were cactus gardens, a butterfly exhibit, and all sorts of beautiful things to photograph.





April also snapped a damn near perfect photo of a Hummingbird. Hard enough to photograph when they're flying. Try to get those bastards to stand still for a spell!

So you can see we had a most successful year with regard to our love for nature and the critters that inhabit it. All told though, we have more than enough animal love around this house. Of course I am speaking of Phil. Phil is all the animal we need. After all...

SOMEBODY has to keep our favorite chairs warm!

I'm Online For Now

We arrived safely in the greater Las Vegas area about 4 days after we left the greater Chicago area. Along the way we were nearly killed about 4 times. We nearly went off the road avoiding some huge jack rabbits. We almost smashed into a pick-up truck thanks to the most awful and stupid traffic circles ("roundabouts" to some) which happened to be at the exit and entrance of the interstate in Colorado. We also narrowly avoided being knocked off the face of the Earth by a runaway pick-up truck and travel trailer. Lots of fun on the road.

We did end up taking a little detour to see the unbridled glory that is...Prairie Dog Town!

When we get the photos and video all together I'm quite sure that I will share with the crowd for now.

In all the house is wonderful. Maybe one of these days we'll get all our stuff. We're waiting on the little boost from our bank in the form of a credit card to arrive in the mail so we can actually pay the moving company to bring back our stuff. Once that happens, this lovely and spacious home, which is all clean and pretty, can be dirtied up a plenty.

My birthday was loads of fun. I've never been the one in this family who was fortunate enough to have a birthday in Vegas. Sadly, with all the moving stuff going on I had really forgotten to make any plans or even acknowledge that I was having a birthday.

Today we received our cable box and cable modem so I can make a few scant appearances online. I'm leaving on the 6th and will be stuck with limited access again for a spell, but for now...some blogging goodness.

Many thanks to everyone who sent some disaster/moving cash, well-wishes, and birthday greetings. You're all the best!

I forgot to mention, Part Two of my podcast return has been up and running for awhile. Perhaps there will be a new episode sooner than you think. Until then...get caught up!