somewhere in tempe, a man in a fedora hat walks his yellow lab...

...they wait in the cross walk, watching for a break in traffic that would allow them to move safely across. the light changes; the man and his dog cross the intersection. they continue down college street past green lawns. a man riding a bicycle passes the man walking his dog; the cyclist arrives at the light and unclips from his pedals; waiting for the light to change. 

foreclosure tortoise

How is it that something like the mortgage foreclosure crisis could impact desert tortoises?

Unfortunately, desert tortoises, dogs, and many other varieties of pets have been impacted by the housing slump as people walk away from their homes and their animals, leaving them stranded in back yards. I don't really understand that; to me, leaving a pet behind is not an option. 

gotta love having a tortoise in the yard

                                   One thing I really like about life in Tempe is that the climate is just right for a desert tortoise. Sonoran desert tortoise are native to Arizona - this guy is adopted, born in captivity - not from the wild. Unfortunately a lot of tortoises get taken from their desert homes - either because well meaning people find them lumbering along and think they need help, or because they are such fabulous creatures that when found people just can't resist taking them home. The result - lots of tortoises available to be adopted. Once in captivity it's not appropriate to take them back to the wild, since they can spread diseases to wild tortoises. They're great pets though. This guy is all business. My other tortoise, Charles Barkley (named before we realized it's a female), is like a dog - she follows us around the yard and loves to have her shell scratched. 

A note about my inconsistent posting this month - since August is a tough month to get out and take photos (hot AND humid!), I am giving myself a bit of a break. Photos will be sporadic for the rest of the month then effective September 1 I will post every single day again. That will also give me an opportunity to get some practice with my new camera (canon 40d, yippee!) and make the switch from pc to a mac. Big changes, looking forward to it!

Meet "the Dude"

The Dude, a year old bearded dragon, sits on the front counter of the Mill Avenue store called "Those Were the Days". The store, full of antiques and used books, is closing after 35 years. It's very sad, it was the last of the older stores on Mill. It's tough to watch things change, but they do. According to the dude's owner, the shop owners want to retire and move on from managing their store. They own their building so it wasn't high rents that pushed them out, just a desire to move on. I'm happy I got to meet the dude and his owner, one of the things I like most about this blog project, striking up conversations with people and lizards to get the Tempe Daily scoop.