Nest Building -- It MUST be Spring!

We took a quick trip into the Safeway store in Fountain Hills this afternoon to pick up some TV dinners for Forry for while I was gone for four days. When we came back to Eagles View RV Park, one of the resident Road Runners ran across the road in front of us.

I had my camera with me, so Forry very quickly kicked me out of the car to get some pictures! Just a few feet further on, I saw a second bird --

I had seen one of the birds yesterday when I was out on my walk and I was sure that it had straw or twigs in its mouth. I followed behind the birds and saw one of them fly up into the fork of a big saguaro cactus.

It's nice to have the telephoto lens. I could stay back far enough not to spook them. The nest they are building is about 12 feet off the ground. While I was watching the second bird just hopped up with its load of straw.

The stickers on the cactus don't seem to bother the Roadrunners, but I'm sure they will deter any predators who decide they might want to raid the nest.

I'll have to be sure and take my daily walks by this saguaro. It will be neat if they end up having babies!

I have been watching the weather channels all day, thinking about what I needed to pack for tomorrow's trip to Harrisonburg, Virginia for the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board meeting. I was supposed to fly into Dulles in Washington DC, going by way of Detroit. Then it is a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive to Harrisonburg. My return flight on Saturday was through Atlanta.

I no longer own any snow boots and the heaviest shoes I have are cloth sneakers. The weather forecasts for Atlanta were awful with warnings already for ice shut-down roads. It was snowing again on most of the eastern seaboard. I've spent more time then I care to remember trying to sleep in airports after air traffic has been cancelled and/or shut down. Late this afternoon, I chickened out and cancelled my tickets. I'm just too old to deal with that kind of weather hassle anymore!