Zaltana Anatolians

wild burros enjoying the "lush" desert





 even when it wasn't very hot today, the burros seemed to enjoy the shade from the yoshua trees
 lots of little yellow flowers on the hillside
 we were hiking through a wash here near Calico Basin, which is on the other side of the big red rock formation seen on the other pictures
I found this beautiful little rock




 Teddy in a deep wash that exposes the ground of the desert

 Teddy in front of a desert plant in the wash

 Look who was sunning herself in my driveway!
It was a chilly 53 degrees this morning. I saw this snake in front of my garage when it had warmed up to 83 degrees. The snake must have been cold because she did not budge, even when I got as close as 3 feet and walking around it while taking pictures.
Garden hose shows that the snake is pretty skinny, about 3 feet long.




 I am really glad I ran into her this morning as I had been concerned that I may have a rattlesnake on the property living under the shed. A few months ago I saw this snake killing a lizzard and dragging it under the shed, but I wasn't able to get close enough to get a good look at the snake. I didn't think it was a rattler, but without getting a good look at it I wasn't sure.

 Not a rattle snake for sure, I took a very close look at the end of the tail. I don't mind having snakes around. Since I saw the other snake that lives under my chicken coop just 2 weeks ago when I almost stepped on her, I know this is a different snake because it has a different pattern. This one I saw catching a good size lizzard. The other snake I have seen catching small birds and a mouse. So they are busy hunters.

 Ayla in the foreground zooming by just turned 8 years old, Leydi  who is the red dog on the right is Leydi who will be 10 years old next month. Here she is playing with her son Teddy, daughter Cici on the left and Ayla, who is not related. They play every morning and every evening, Leydi just loves those games with her kids
 In the above picture Leydi is the one in the middle, Cici to the left. This is how the game goes, Leydi starts it by going up to one of them and bark/growl, that's the signal. Here is the usual Teddy trying to grab her and Cici moving in from the other side, Leydi then does these 360 degree spins to tell everybody to back off. Watching her play one would never guess that she actually has a problem with her back.
 There is Leydi fussing at Teddy, Cici waiting to get a word in
 Here Teddy is trying to get in a nip on Leydi's tail
 here she does her spin, with Cici and Teddy waiting to move in again
 Leydi on the right, not bad for an old girl
 Leydi is the one in the middle, spinning around again as Teddy is looking for his chance to get in another nip
 Leydi is the one in the back here, note that Cici's tail never uncurls completely
 here she is hoping I give her a treat, she looooves to eat. By the way, her full registered name is Ch Huzur's Hasari Leydi.
 standing is uncomfortable for Leydi, so there aren't a lot of pictures of her standing still, I think she looks great for an old girl

still keeps an eye on everything in the neighborhood

Teddy is the only one of my Anatolians who will occasionally run after a toy that I throw.


he doesn't bring it back, so he isn't a retriever after all. If I have treats on me and I can convince him to come to me with the toy, then we can play for a bit, he comes running my way, I grab the toy, we tug a bit, he gets a treat and I toss the toy for him again. Works for me, if I wanted a retriever, I would get a breed of dog that likes to play fetch.
here is is my Mr. Handsome. He is such a sweet boy, he loves nothing more than getting some attention and to hang out with me.

Another hike,



Cici enjoyed the hike a lot