Arizona Desert Wildlife

At the beginning of one of our morning walks the air smelled like skunk. The smell seemed to dissapate, as we continued on, so I forgot about it.

A Rock Walk. ;-)

A walk with Rock is always an adventure. πŸ™‚

Rock loves his walks. He has a lot of energy and a curious Retriever nose, disguised in a Chihuahua body. So he sniffed and I looked. He enjoyed the smells while I rejoiced in the sights of the desert with trees a.k.a. Prescott, Arizona.

We have had fun exploring and I like Rock’s curiosity and sense of adventure. We were walking on a path lined with trees. Over to the left I heard a noise and saw something move. I actually thought it was a trash bag blowing in the wind for some reason. It wasn’t. Haha! Nor was it a skunk. It was a Javelina also known as a Peccary or Skunk Pig, hence the odor I smelled earlier.

There were actually two of them. Rock saw them too and surprisingly didn’t bark. In fact I found it interesting and was surprised he wasn’t more reactive. However, I could tell he was mainly trying to figure out what in the heck these things were! He huffed a few times, stared at them and changed positions, but didn’t agress towards them. I’m sure what helped is that they were calm and although they looked at us for a moment, they went right back to foraging for food. They weren’t interested or concerned about us.

A Peccary at night, courtesy of MorgueFile.com. I love you Morgue File photographers!!!

A Peccary at night, courtesy of MorgueFile.com. I love you Morgue File photographers!!!

Someone had told me about there existence in Arizona, so I had heard about them before. I forgot about them until that moment though. I had been told that they can be aggressive and mean, so I was watching them with caution, waiting to see if they would charge us, but again they were not threatened by us being there. I love seeing animals in their natural habitat. It makes me so happy! After several moments of this live Natural Geographic documentary, Rock wanted to leave. So we did. I would have liked to have snapped photos, but my phone battery was out of juice. I have included two photos in this post that I was able to download from MorgueFile.com. ItΒ is an awesome website with a great selection of beautiful stock photos available for FREE, with some restrictions. I have been using them for years. Photos may have varying use criteria, so be sure and read and abide by their guidlines. Here’s a link to MorgueFile.com.

Here is a cute photo of a Javelina. Also known as a Peccary or Skunk Pig.

Here is a cute photo of a resting Javelina. Also known as a Peccary or Skunk Pig. Photo is courtesy of MorgueFile.com.

I was over the top excited to see these two Javelinas and wanted to learn more about them. I was able to thanks to Google! Here’s a Wikipedia article about these wild pig like creatures if you would like to learn more. Plus another photo!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peccary

While I am mainly known for working with people and there pets, I have helped people with wild animals in and out of captivity, as well as farm animals. I also provide services for people without animals. Any being, living or that has passed on. I am a spiritual communicator and reader of souls. Want more information? Call me at 619-797-0705.

 

Happy Hiking

Rock sleeping in. :)

Rock was a bit of a sleepyhead yesterday morning. I love that he likes to sleep in. I do too, when I am able to. πŸ™‚

Today I feel happy and energized. Yesterday was blissful and peaceful. Rock was a bit of a sleepyhead, so we took our time getting started yesterday morning. It was a relaxing way to begin our day.

After we both were awake, we each had some water and a little something to eat before heading to check out a recommended hiking trail. And wow! Was it ever beautiful! I felt so joyful, enthusiastic and in touch with the earth and nature!

We can get so busy. It is easy to forget how much taking time out for ourselves can be rejuvenating and actually give us more energy. The more we replenish ourselves and our own well of energy, the more we have to give to others. Giving to ourselves does not take away from others. It diminishes depletion and deprivation within ourselves and creates more abundance so that we have more to share; more to give. Don’t believe me? Try it! You may be pleasantly surprised! πŸ™‚

Hiking trail in Prescott, Arizona surrounded by trees.

The trail that led to relaxation, rejuvenation and many internal, as well as external observations. It truly was a walking meditation with long term healing results, along with joyous memories.

During our replenishing nature hike, we drank in the beauty of the Prescott, Arizona landscape. Trees as far as the eye could see, mountains, birds singing and a cool breeze that would sometimes change to a temporary gust of energetic twirling wind. It would make a whistling sound that made it seem like the trees were speaking to us. At times it felt a bit eerie, but mostly it was a gentle, yet powerful healing experience.

Rock wanted to turn back before I did, so I carried him for awhile, so he could rest his legs and have an upper level view of the world. After a little while, I agreed that it was time to turn back. When I set him down, Rock took off running seeming to be in a great hurry to get out of there. Instead of remaining on the trail, he decide to scale a huge boulder with great zeal! He wanted to keep going up higher, but there wasn’t sufficient footing for my larger than Chihuahua paw sized feet, so I had to put an end to the ascent. Sorry Rock! And sorry to the rock Rock was climbing for putting an end to the fun it was providing and the obvious appreciation it was receiving from Chi-ROCK.

Unfortunately, during his adventure, my Rock got pricked by a small cactus that was growing in a crevice of mother nature’s rock. Luckily I found no cactus needles or prickly hairs embedded in Rock’s mouth where he had apparently tried to kiss the cactus. Following several lip licks and self provided mouth massage movements, Rock appeared fine, as if nothing had happened and we continued our descent down the large rock formation. I was attempting to take a photo of Rock on his rock, but taking care of his potential injury took presadence, so you will have to use your imagination for this particular visual. πŸ™‚ Luckily, Rock was okay and there were no lasting effects or reoccuring signs that he had had his first face to face run in with a cactus.

As of today there still have been no signs of residual effects, so all is well, thank goodness! We didn’t hike in the mountains today, but took what has become a daily walk in one of the pretty local parks. We actually take several walks everyday, but the park walk was our longest one today.