It's cooled off enough for me and Bao to be able to sit outdoors after our morning walk, enjoying the garden.

The whole desert in coming alive. Wrens and finches fight it out with the ubiquitous doves at the bird feeder, while whole quail families peck busily at the ground below and humming birds swoop at the plant with the big, yellow flowers that I thought I'd lost during last winter's frost. When the sun gets higher, there'll be butterflies, too.

Baby rattlesnakes are being born, but I haven't seen any and don't want to. Ditto, mountain lions.

Beyond my concrete wall in the early-morning hours, coyote Mamas and Papas are teaching their pups to hunt. This morning, the yips and screams of their hapless prey woke us up. Javelina, probably. Although one of my neighbors told me that rabbits scream, too.

Coyotes do come inside the property, but not during the daylight hours. Very occasionally, Bao and I will come across a piece of rabbit lying beside the sidewalk. Bao seems to know where they've been and sniffs curiously, looking back at me for reassurance. Needless to say, we never venture down into the wash!

This is truly a beautiful time of year, in Arizona.