Feeling Grumpy

Mask of Zorro (Loggerhead Shrike [Lanius ludovicianus])

When I was in high school only one guy owned a motorcycle.  Now it seems as if every other high school kid has one.  Every morning now you hear them rocketing up and down University Avenue/Dripping Springs Road across from Centennial High School.  Throw in the constant beat of a bass drum accompanied by the ratta-tat-tat of numerous snares during early marching band practice and you have the recipe for an aggravatingly noisy morning near the Tortugas Mountain Trail system here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert.  Even miles away from the school you can hear this racket.  The sheer act of hiking helped release some of my grumpiness during the trek, and by the time Becca and I got back to the car I was capable of biting only two or three people's heads off.  Glad it didn't come to that, though, because I hate chewing through the gristly neck area.

Same Loggerhead Shrike

Couldn't decided:  this one or one of the next four?

Chinchweed

Becca in Chinchweed

West of Tortugas

A yellow desert floor

Desert Marigold with Chinchweed background

What? (Cactus Wren)