No baby birds?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about a new and unwelcome tenant moving in on the patio of the casa (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/04/a-new-and-unwelcome-tenant.html).

While Kim and her girls were staying at the casa, 

...we noticed that there was no longer a parent bird on the nest.

Carl got up on a ladder and found that there were still 3 eggs in the nest.

We are debating whether we should remove the nest, or, if we leave it there, will that dissuade other birds from building there? However, if we leave it there, might it cause staining on the awning? Decisions, decisions...

Meanwhile, we've moved back to the motorhome in preparation for our summer travels, so are staying right next door to the casa. While going back and forth in the front yard of the casa, I suddenly noticed something different on the grass... 

A little baby bird?

Oh, my, yes, a baby bird. We didn't think that it was a dove, but there were no parent birds around (I figured I would get dive-bombed if the parent was around as close as I got to it). I did a google lens lookup and Google identified it as a fledgling house finch. It also said that fledglings are meant to be on the ground and that they are usually still being cared for by their parents, even if they appear abandoned.

We decided to leave it be. We drove over to our park model (house) to pick up some additional items to move to the motorhome, and when we returned, the fledgling was gone. Whether it found somewhere safe or was eaten by a predator, we figured it was okay with us! 

Goodbye for now...

After just a few short days of visiting, it was time for Kim and the girls to head back home...

A couple of last pictures before heading to the airport...

What a nice visit!

Scorpion hunting with the grands

Since Auntie Pamela had told about going scorpion hunting, the granddaughters were keen to try it. Carl and Kim and the girls went to the dog park with the black light...

Looking to see if anything was glowing...

There's one!

This one is interesting because you can see the scorpion on the tree, but then you can see that McKenna is taking a picture and has it zoomed in on her phone, so it looks huge!

Does this count as a science lesson?

Beating the heat with the grands

At the beginning of the week that Kim was here, it was cool and comfortable, but the heat started ratcheting up during the week. 

Since the pool is not open for younger people until after 11am, we decided to enjoy card playing inside in the morning. Carl thought that the girls were looking like they were serious card sharks, so he added some props in the middle of the table to make it look like we were participating in some really serious gaming! If you look closely, in addition to the cash on the table, a couple of credit cards and an AARP card have been pushed in for the bet!

The game we were playing is called "Sevens" -- and there is no betting involved... all of the girls quickly identified strategies that could improve their chances and possibly thwart other players.

Rules for Sevens as we learned it

Once the pool hours for kids opened up, Carl and Kim and the girls headed to the pool...

... they had quite a nice time and pretty much had the pool to themselves.

While there are two pools in our community, only one is available for children (under 18) to use, and the hours that they are allowed to use it are limited.

Mother's Day Video

At our church service here in Mesa, they showed a video "Becoming Your Mom Support Group" -- I thought our blog readers might enjoy it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87NKcROF9Bc

Happy Mothers Day! 

Bocce with Kim and the girls

Carl had a dentist appointment, so Kim and the girls and I decided to try playing bocce. The girls had played before, but not on formal courts -- they were very good at it!

Kim and Lianna won by a wide margin!

 

Daughter Kim visit

Daughter Kim and granddaughters came to visit -- they were scheduled to come for spring break, but flights did not cooperate (and that turned out being the week that Carl found out he had pneumonia and ended up in the hospital, so maybe it was for the best). They had said that they may be able to come after their school was out for the summer, and were able to get flights, so they came the first week of May.

We headed to Usery Mountain Regional Park to go hiking. It was a beautiful cool morning. 

The girls studying information provided on the signboard.

Climbing up on a rock

Near the summit of Vista Trail

We saw these soybean-like pods on the Palo Verde trees...

... it turns out (according to Google) that they are edible and, when green, similar to edamame (aka green soybeans) and a good source of protein.

Granddaughter checking whether the barrel cactus is thorny!

We had had a cold front move through so had a couple of really gorgeous days while they were visiting.