Desert Living Life Lessons, Part 2

• Eventually the ants will find the pet food bowl inside the house. Its only a matter of time. Those ants are crafty little buggers. So smart. The other day I walked over to check on the cat food bowl and it was crawling with tiny, tiny ants. They had made it through the door near the bowl and found treasure. Sigh. I cleaned up and moved the bowl to another part of the house and now I will be more diligent. A friend gave me a good tip. If it keeps happening you sit the food bowl inside of a larger bowl with just a small amount of water all around. Clever,  and good to know.
• And of course - after an evening with friends outside on the porch, always remember to bring all the glasses inside. Especially if they contained sambuca! I know this, but I went to bed early before the others and wasn't there to clean up. I woke up in the morning and looked outside to witness the ant party going on all over those glasses and the table. Do ants get drunk? I have to think these ones were.  
• Don't get complacent just because you haven't seen any rattle snakes around for a long time. Because when you aren't paying attention, and least expect it, and are foolishly wearing flip flops, you will almost step on one. That happened to me one evening last week on our building site. We were there with a friend discussing design things and walked out to the car and oops there it was, right by the car. I didn't even see it because I wasn't paying attention. Lesson learned. And I need to read up on what you do if you do get bit.
• If you put vegetable scraps out for the cottontails, they will become very bold and trusting and show up regularly. We have bunny entertainment every evening in our yard. 
• If you use too much water at once - for example we water the landlord's plants and trees frequently - you might drain the water down too low in the well tank and then you are going to have some pretty unsightly brown water for awhile until it refills itself because you will hit dirt and mineral residue at the bottom.