We were fortunate to purchase a piece of the Sonoran Desert when we bought our lot in Wickenburg, AZ. I took this photo of one of several cholla growing on the property. I like the way it looks against the blue Arizona sky. Click on the image to enlarge.

SECDEF Leon Panetta and the administration have announced a dramatic reduction in defense spending. You will have to go back to the Clinton era to see lower levels of defense spending. Ramirez captures the folly of this in his cartoon today . . .

The red amaryllis I posted a few days ago now has all four trumpets open. There is actually a fifth flower developing, but I don’t know if it’s going to amount to much. Bob held the amaryllis against the blue Arizona sky for this photo. Just beautiful, if I do say so myself. Click on the image to enlarge.

Have a good weekend, everybody. And, please enjoy this beautiful Arizona sunset that I photographed this evening from our courtyard.

By now, most of us have seen the photo of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer wagging her finger at the President. The real story behind the incident is Governor Brewer met Air Force One at the airport to welcome the president and extend an invitation to return to Arizona to inspect the US/Mexico border. Rather than deferring an answer or thanking the governor, he griped to her about being characterized in an unflattering manner in Brewer’s new book.

I support Governor Brewer in standing up to the president, who like most socialists, tend to bully others in to thinking their way is better. I just wish she had used the same finger as I do when seeing the president. Now THAT would have been newsworthy.

On the topic of self-centered, let me quote Mark Alexander’s “short” version of the State of Disunion speech . . .

The short version: “I went … I know … My … My … I took office … I’m president … I will work … I intend … I will oppose … I want … I took office … I refused … me … my … my … me … I will sign … I set … I will go … I will not … I promise … I hear … I want … me … My … I want … I am … I spoke … me … I believe … my … I took office … me … I will sign … my … my … my … I will not … I will not walk … I will not cede … I will … I’m directing … my … I will sign … I’ve … my … my … I’ve ordered … I guess … I will not … I will … I will not … I will … my … I told … my presidency …me … my … I get … I don’t … I recognize … I bet … I’ve … me … I will … I ask … I’ve … me … I believe … my … my … I can … I have … I will take … I mean … I intend … I’ve … I’ve … I’ve … I’m a Democrat me … I believe … I began … my … I sat … me for president … me … I look … I’m (Applause.)”

Last March, we had the landscaping crew plant rosemary bushes on the embankment behind the house along the RV drive. They planted approximately sixty one-gallon bushes in diagonal rows of two or three down the slope of the embankment. They set up the irrigation tubes and started the automatic timer for the watering cycle. The photo at the right shows a section of the embankment with the newly-planted rosemary bushes.

Yesterday, Damsel took this picture of the embankment. The two photos were taken looking toward about the same area of the embankment. The top photo was taken in the morning while the bottom photo in the late afternoon. It has been roughly ten months since the rosemary were planted and the progress is obvious. Eventually, we’re hoping that the rosemary will cover the entire embankment to help stabilize the erosion and to make a pleasant backdrop along the RV drive.

Click either image to enlarge.

The first of four flowers on this amaryllis stalk opened last night and this morning. The nice red color has white highlights down the center of each petal. Click on the image to enlarge.

I bought a bouquet of Asian lilies and other flowers this week at the flower concession in Safeway. I also bought a potted plant with these pretty pink tulips. Click on the image to enlarge.

I got curious about the SOPA/PIPA copyright issue, so I did a little research and found this nice explanation on The Patriot Post:

SOPA/PIPA Draw Big Opposition

Members of the House and Senate are looking to put the brakes on new Internet anti-piracy legislation that may do more harm than good. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill in the House, and its Senate companion, the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), were drawn up to prevent the theft of intellectual property over the web by foreign entities. Both bills have strong backing from Hollywood and other media companies, but there is growing concern that they go too far in enforcing their mandate.

The legislation would give the government unchecked power to shut down domestic websites alleged to have committed or even enabled online piracy. The ability to illegally distribute someone else’s content over the web is a genuine problem, but this legislation would change copyright law so as to hold websites accountable for third-party content posted on their sites through comment forums and the like. Think Facebook or YouTube, and you can understand that these bills are a solution worse than the problem.

In the face of widespread Internet backlash — numerous websites “blacked out” Wednesday in protest — several senators did an about-face. So far this week, 16 Republicans and two Democrats, including seven co-sponsors, announced new opposition. Even the Obama administration expressed reservations.

Sounds like it would seriously screw-up most of us who blog or use on-line social networking. I vote NO, but you know the misrepresentatives in Washington will ignore what I say.

This nice saguaro lives about a mile and a half from our house in the shopping center down by Vulture Mine Road. We went grocery shopping today and I snapped this photo as we were heading out of the parking lot. We love this little town. Click on the image to enlarge.