The cactus that produced this tiny half-inch flower last year has three new flowers about to open. Since we may not be here to take pictures of them when the flowers open, I’m posting the one from last year. Click on the image to enlarge.
June 2012
Javelina Crossing
I guess that the javelina knew that we posted a crossing sign (see inset). Late yesterday afternoon at around six PM, the dogs started frantically barking. It turned out that they saw a herd of javelina crossing through our back yard. I ran to get my camera and caught this image of the last of them up on the hill. There were two females, four juveniles and this must be the daddy “cactus rat.”
Sunspot AR1504
I made my daily stop at spaceweather.com where they profiled a giant sunspot (AR1504) region that might be capable of producing solar flares. I grabbed the camera and the solar filter and proceeded out to the courtyard to take this photo of the sun. Each spot visible on the solar surface is two or more Earth diameters in width.
Image: Sunspot region AR 1504. Click image to enlarge.
The article talks about a ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic field that harbors energy for strong solar flares. Since the huge sunspot complex is directly facing Earth, there may be atmospheric fireworks resulting in auroras and possible interference or disruption of power grids.
We know that the current solar cycle is quite a bit less intense than the last one, but we might wonder if some of these regions might also contribute to our planet’s climate as they have done in the past.
Gerbera Daisies
I bought three bunches of Gerbera daisies when we went grocery shopping today – yellow, orange and red. They really look nice in the flower vase in the great room. This red one, especially, looks very pretty. Click on the image to enlarge.
Aerial Views of House Progress
These three aerial views in the slideshow above came from the Maricopa County Assessor’s website. I can’t be sure of the dates the images were taken but I can guess based on my knowledge of the construction progress. Click on the slideshow to advance to the next image.
The first image was taken between 2008 and the first half of 2010; it was labeled 2010 on the county website and shows the parcel and the bare pad. The second image was taken in about November of 2010 judging from the building progress; this image was labeled 2011. The third and last image had to have been taken in late 2011, judging from the shrubbery and landscape; it is marked 2012 on the county site.
Unfortunately, the county only maintains images for three years; it would have been interesting to have a view of the parcel prior to the pad excavation.
Last week when we were in the Valley shopping, I bought this little swing for my musical mesquite tree. It’s actually supposed to be a bird feeder, but I like it just for decoration. The birds aren’t out of luck, though, since there are feeders out in the back above the RV drive. Click on the image to enlarge.