There are several bushes scattered around the half-acre lot where our new house stands. I have no idea what these are, but they have some nasty spikes and red-orange berries with tufts of smaller hair-like spikes. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t want one of the dogs to come into contact with anything to do with this bush. There is a close-up of one of the berries in the inset. Does anyone know what this monster bush is? Click on the image to enlarge.

Update: Reader Crotalus informs us that this is opuntia leptocaulis, commonly called Desert Christmas Cactus. Thanks, Crotalus!

Our contractor completed the first milestone on the construction of the courtyard wall. The concrete truck and pumping crew showed up yesterday to pump in the concrete for the footing. The ‘mud’ came the day after the contractor dug the trench with his backhoe and installed the rebar.

The next steps will be delivery of the concrete blocks to the site. The masonry should begin shortly after the blocks get here. The weekend is upon us and we probably won’t see any activity on the courtyard until Monday or possibly after that.

Image: mud pump - click to enlarge.

Tomorrow, however, the agent for the security door company will visit to measure the doors and show samples of screens and finishes. We will likely order the doors tomorrow, barring any unforeseen glitches, and make the first security door milestone.

We have seen many coronal mass ejections from the sun in the past but this is the first video I have seen (that I can remember) where blobs of plasma seem to rain from a prominence. An amateur astronomer captured this video in Ocean Beach, CA.

Speaking of amateurs, NASA is soliciting reports from amateur radio operators to listen for NanoSail-D’s beacon signal at 437.270 MHz to verify that NanoSail-D is operating.

Video via SpaceWeather.com (repackaged in Flash®).

Cabela, our Min-Pin, is fascinated with the colorful little pyrrhuloxia which I renamed a Casandro Cardinal because nobody here could pronounce that other thing. She is actually fascinated with all of the wildlife she sees, but she won’t be able to look out of the front windows after our shutters are installed in a few weeks. There is always the patio sliding glass door in the rear for her amusement. Click on the image to enlarge.

Greg Pollowitz

Regardless of what you think of global warming, the point is that politicians are ignoring inevitable, short-term threats — a flood in California, a hurricane hitting NYC, an earthquake in the Midwest, multiple genocidal dictators in Africa, etc. — while spending an inordinate amount of resources and dialogue on the long-term implications of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Greg wrote this at the bottom of a Planet Gore post about how the Australians may have failed to protect against their recent flooding disasters as a consequence of Aussie Greenbats predicting drought and ignoring the flood potential. The crazy bastards built desalinization plants rather than dams!

Just because the house is complete, doesn’t mean we’re done. We need utensils, tools, furniture and improvements to the house and yard. This is our short list of things that we want to do to the new house. Some are essential and some are optional but we want to do all of them.

1. Courtyard - We spoke to our contractor last week and gave him specifications for a wall and gateway to enclose part of the house to form a courtyard in front and a dog run on the side of the house. We will have an estimate to build the wall this week and will ask that the work be scheduled right away.
2. Landscaping - After the wall is up and the gate has been installed, we are going to start landscaping the yard. This will take some time to accomplish but we are planning to put gravel down on the RV drive through and in the courtyard. Later, we will bring some of Damsel’s cactus from California.
3. Shutters - Today, we ordered shutters for several of the windows. We contacted a vendor in the Phoenix area that offers a southwestern shutter style that will match our Santa Fe style and will look very nice inside and outside of the house. The wood and stain will match the wood of the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms.
4. Furniture - We promised ourselves that most, if not all of the furniture in the new house, would be new. This week, our first priority will be to get a dining room set. Gradually, we will be acquiring furnishings and decorations that are appropriate to the old west and Santa Fe style that we love.
5. Security Door - We probably don’t need this door for security as much as we want the southwestern style and the ability to open the front door and let the air in and keep the bugs out. I contacted a vendor that is willing to travel to Wickenburg to meet with us and to measure the door. He will also install the door when it is complete. The style we select will match the color and style of Damsel’s sconces.
6. Screens - While driving through the neighborhood, I noticed a screenmobile parked about two blocks away. I took down the number and called our neighbor who installs custom screens. He came out to our property and immediately furnished a quote for screens for all the windows.

It’s just a matter of time until we are completely out of the “camping” mode and have a fully furnished home with landscaping and improvements in place. We plan to aggressively tackle this list (and other items as necessary) as rapidly as we can.

The Arizona Cardinals football team is out of the playoffs, but this Arizona Cardinal (the real thing, cardinalis cardinalis) paid us a visit this afternoon. He was perched in a mesquite tree immediately behind our drive-through RV pad.

We have never seen cardinals at our old California home, so this sighting was especially nice for us. What a colorful, handsome fellow! Click on the image to enlarge.

We’re now occupying our new Arizona home. We have been “moved in” since Tuesday morning but since we haven’t furnished the place, we’re still “camping out,” so to speak.

All the appliances are here, the utilities are all turned on and we had our first trash collection on Thursday. We can shower, wash clothes and dishes, store food in the refrigerator and guns in the safe and sleep on our new mattress set (sans bed frame). Most of the furniture we have in California will stay there since I promised Damsel all new furnishings for our new retirement home. That will take time.

In the meantime, we’re eating on a 2×4 folding table (the same one where our laptops sit), we’re sitting on a couple of canvas folding chairs and our entertainment center consists of a 17 inch TV, a little round table, a cooler used as a table and a couple more (patriotic) folding chairs.

Like I said in a previous comment, “Spartan Opulence.” But the euphoria of being in our retirement home lets us look at all of this through rose-colored glasses. It’s a great feeling. We will get where we want to be in a matter of just a few weeks.

I think this is a pyrrhuloxia or cardinalis sinuatis, according to an image I see in my “Birds of Arizona” booklet. I wonder why ornithologists come up with all those gigantic, unpronounceable names for pretty little birds like this one?

The colorful little bird, let’s call it a Casandro Cardinal for now, perched briefly in the creosote by the road before flying down to get some of the wild critter food that I put out this morning. We also saw cottontail, jackrabbits, desert chipmunks, quail and a couple of days ago, we saw a mule deer bounding through the rear of our lot.

Last night, the coyotes serenaded us with howls and barks. Quite a change from the South Bay suburbs. I like it!

Footnote from Cap’n Bob:

This morning, the Site Meter ticked over 400,000 visits. Thanks to everybody for reading us over the years.

I went out on our patio this afternoon and noticed the moon above this pencil cholla (pronounced choy-ah) cactus. I went and got my camera to capture this photo of the half-moon in the blue sky with the cactus in the foreground. Click on the image to enlarge.