chip sealing, caterpillars, and doves

Today I learned that all the paved parts of my route to Saguaro National Park are going to be chip sealed in the next two weeks, so I'm going to have to wait a while before I can ride out there again. The good news is that it should be outgassed by the time the park opens again in October, so I'll be able to go check out their new road, assuming it's outgassed.

In other outdoor news:

• I picked something close to fifty caterpillars off this one bush that is apparently the only tasty thing in my front yard. So ick, and I hope the bush grows some more leaves soon.
• We may have a single parent in the nest in the vine on the patio. (Either that or a really irresponsible daddy bird.) The nest fends for itself for a couple of hours every day, so this morning when I saw the bird get up and fly off, we nosy humans went and took a paparazzi-type picture, where you hold the camera up over your head and hope for the best:

We may be nosy humans, but we may well be better neighbors than, say, a bobcat.