Shopping Day on the Mountain

I windhover, therefore I am, a Kestrel

Becca and I hit the west side of Tortugas Mountain early this morning so that we could get in a decently long hike before I had to go grocery shopping later in the morning.  I like to shop fairly early--get in and out before the crowds arrive.  I detest crowds, especially those comprised of people who leave their shopping carts parked sideways in the aisles while they go into a trance reading the list of ingredients on the side of a can of French-cut green beans.  I'm back to doing all my food shopping at Albertsons now.  I used to do most of it at Target, but Target's new checkout policy is to have an employee standing around who's job it is to funnel you into the Self-Checkout aisle.  I'll be damned if I'm going to buy $100 worth of groceries and then check myself out so Target can lay off the worker who normally would have checked me out.  So there.

American Kestrel

The path of least resistance

Sunny in the upper foothills

View of Tortugas's flank and the Organ Mountains from the high foothills

No country for old men

Pinacate Beetle

Bishop Cap on the horizon

Scouting the territory

Ocotillo flower

Found a few more late bloomers

Action shot or . . .

. . . still shot?

One of Becca's favorite things to do in the outback

Sun through an Ocotillo

Sign of autumn:  yellowing Ocotillo leaves

Yellowing leaves

Meh

Closeup look at an Ocotillo flower

Republican and Democrat