The first of the year.

Spring must really be here if the horny toads are coming out.

Found this little fellow on our first stop of the afternoon's tour.

Yeah, I had to stop and catch him.

This was a tour where I was supposedly one of the expert tour guides. Our local sage grouse group wanted to look at an area where sage grouse were doing well, and an area where leks had disappeared. And I have that, not twenty-five miles from town.

So, we went to what I called sage grouse heaven. A couple of leks on my desert route, including the one with a count of 190 males earlier this spring.

Found another, larger horny toad on the second stop.

Caught that one, too.

And I found an old branding iron.

Which the local rancher could not identify. Clearly an "S" brand that had been run over and flattened, and not that old, either by the steel and welds. But unusually short handled, and nobody in the area has or has ever had an "S" in their brand.

I started thinking "Rustlers?", but kept my mouth shut. Surely those days are gone?

Anyway, we managed to get done almost on schedule, which allowed me to make the other important engagement of the evening.

Revenge of the Sith.

Thanks to sons who got in line early (Not that early. Forty-five minutes before showtime and they're still among the first 30 in the theater.), one of which paid for our tickets, and the other who saved our seats, the wife and I ended up in the middle of the second row (right behind youngest son who was in the front).

Good seats to have.

Good flick. Predictable, of course, but good just the same. Perhaps Ian MacGregor could have been a little less monotone in some of his lines, but other than that, I was happy.

Special effects and battle scenes were of course state of the art. I kept wondering what the world would have thought if they had seen this 28 years ago. The original was stunning enough back then, just imagine this...

Speaking of the original. Overheard the young man behind us complaining to his friend about all the kids in the front of the theater, and bragging:

"I was a Star Wars fan before most of these kids were born."

And the wife muttering under her breath, "I saw the original in its original theater release..."

Yeah, guy. As Star Wars fans go, you're still an amateur.

Only one gripe, and it may be fairly major. We'll see after a few more viewings. But on first look, I just didn't buy it. The reasons Lucas laid out for Anakin switching to the "Dark Side" just weren't believable, too easily glossed over.

But maybe it's just me. The guy next to youngest son in the middle of the front row did jump halfway out of his seat and shout "Yes!" with hands cupped around his mouth when Anakin was first dubbed "Darth Vader," so he obviously bought into the storyline.