Litter Bugs...Ugh! And Monsoon's Blooms

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To the north of the temp house is some vacant acreage that has some dirt paths crisscrossing it.  Bikes, dirt bikes and quads are out there sometimes, as well as horse riders and folks just out for a walk.  Colt and I walk on these trails almost every day.  It's a nice open area where I can let him run around without being on a lease.  He chases after quail, rabbits and lizards and we see the occasional hawk and deer.  I keep a close eye out for rattlesnakes and thankfully haven't seen one yet.
Road to dirt trails - our property is in the foothills of the mountain
On one of our walks
A couple days ago I noticed a tent set up near one of the areas we normally walk through.  We skirted around the area.  Yesterday morning we passed by the area and found a mass of trash left behind.  Clearly the campers have never heard of the concept of leave no trace.  It made me really angry.  I don't understand how people can just leave their trash laying around like that and not feel any remorse or embarrassment about it.  The trash included three empty cases of beer, beer cans, food packaging, cigarette packages, lighters and other junk.
They had no problems carrying it in.  Wish they'd had the integrity and self-respect to carry it out!
Litter Bugs...UGH!  It's pretty simple - throw away your trash.
So, when I got home yesterday evening I grabbed Colt, a trash bag and some gloves and went back out there and cleaned up the trash.
Colt agrees with me - please leave nature the way you found it!
We've had some great monsoon rains this summer.  Rainfall amounts are higher than most averages around southern Arizona.  We had a tremendous downpour this past week that made a slick, muddy mess in our cul-de-sac for about two days.  Plants and flowers had dried up earlier this summer but since the rains have come things have greened up.  Our rose bushes are on their second bloom this year, poppies have re-emerged and more cacti are blooming.
All three rose bushes blooming


We have a peach tree in the front yard that is weighed down with fruit.  The heavy monsoon rains and winds earlier this week snapped one of the branches.  We've pulled off all the fruit from the broken branch and have it ripening in brown paper bags.  Hopefully they'll ripen up okay.  I'm going to have to think of somethings to do with a whole bunch of peaches.  Any ideas?
Huge clusters of fruit on every branch
Relatively small tree - practically weighed down with fruit
Cholla - a cactus you don't want to mess with!
But they have pretty blooms
Barrel Cactus getting ready to bloom
We're enjoying our summer and hoping all of you are too.
Pretty cloud formation near our house yesterday

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