This is one of the flowers growing on the Crassula Falcata succulent adjacent to our front porch, Every year this interesting plant grows flower stalks that produce an array of tiny red flowers. When the little flowers open up, they have yellow stamens which give the flowers an orange appearance when seen from a distance.

According to Desert Tropicals, this plant does not tolerate direct sunlight in hot Phoenix summers, so we’ll try and grow one in a shady spot on the patio at the new Wickenburg house. Our back patio should be shady all day.

I wanted to post a picture of this flower today to see if Sig94 will tell me he’s got one of these growing out of his other leg. Click on the image to enlarge

Over the past couple of weeks, Damsel and I have been joking about the little Jack antenna ball on the SUV. We would be on an errand to facilitate our move to Arizona and we would look up at the antenna ball’s silly smile and one of us would say “Jack likes Arizona.” It got to be a standing joke whenever we would stop to take a photo or to check on the progress of our new house. We have been chuckling at the silly clown so often that has become a cliché.

Image: Jack’s not smiling anymore (courtesy Damsel).

We pulled into Ehrenberg, AZ, a small riverside community on the banks of the Colorado River, where you can see California on the other side. Damsel told me that Jack wasn’t smiling anymore. The irony of going back into California and Jack losing the silly grin gave us a good laugh. I guess Jack doesn’t like California all that much.

Yes, she is named after Cabela’s, the famous hunting, firearms and outdoor outfitter chain.

Last week, we went to the Humane Society of Wickenburg to look at the adoptable dogs. The pet keeper asked us what sort of dog we were looking for. Since we were looking for a short haired dog, we asked if they had anything like a miniature pinscher. Much to our surprise, they had exactly that!

Image - Cabela - click on the thumbnail to enlarge

We went out to the kennel area to meet this dog and immediately fell in love with her. Unfortunately, we couldn’t adopt her that day since she had been spayed the day before and was still recovering. They also said that they couldn’t put a hold on her until they were sure that she and Bear would get along with each other.

We went to the Humane Society this morning. Determined to get there before anyone else, we tried to get there by the time they opened. We were a few minutes early, but some of the staff were already there and let us in early. After Cabela’s introduction to us and then to Bear, it was a matter of filling out a bunch of papers and paying the adoption fee.

She is a purebred miniature pinscher (no AKC papers), about two years old, has a red and tan coat, hazel eyes and is smart, very playful and loving. We are extremely pleased with our adoption.

We have been waiting since May for this day. The permits and arrangements are in place and at last the builder is preparing the lot for the foundation. I posted about the groundbreaking on the other site, but I wanted to publish this photo that Damsel took of our contractor finishing the trench for the garage foundation. Click on the image to enlarge.

We were at a rest stop today among Interstate 10 when this handsome road runner darted across the dog area. I guess it should be labeled “dog and road runner area.” The species in this picture is called Geococcyx. I think they look like prehistoric birds, but here he is. Click on the image to enlarge.

On our way back towards California, we took a side trip to Alamo Lake, an Arizona State Park. It’s a project of the US Army Corps of Engineers and a reservoir for the City of Los Angeles, who, by the way, is boycotting Arizona except for water and electricity and anything else those disingenuous idiots need.

At any rate, the lake is a beautiful, although out of the way, recreational facility for boaters, campers, picnickers and anglers - plenty of catfish, trout and other desert varieties. I also saw plenty of quail running about. Click on the wide-angle image to enlarge.

A Red Bird of Paradise (Pride of Barbados) blooms in front of an ocotillo and a palo verde. This nice landscape is in front of the vet where our dog is receiving day care today as we go about business in our new town. Click on the image to enlarge.

Our hotel is directly adjacent to a ranch where they have cattle that graze on pastures. Last evening, they had industrial size rain birds irrigating the south pasture. We watched as two of the streams crossed and produced an intense rainbow segment. Play this 40 second video and enjoy!

After a day of grueling errands and chores in the desert, a dip in the cement pond out back is sure great for Damsel’s tired feet. Click the image to enlarge.

We passed several colorful “Red Bird of Paradise” bushes planted along I-10 near Yucaipa. There will be lots of these when we get to Wickenburg, Arizona today.

I apologize for posting two cartoons in a row, but this Ramírez rendering seemed to me to be apropos to the intolerable situation in Arizona . . .

Last week, Judge Susan Bolton, the judge hearing the Arizona Immigration Law case, said this:

“Why can’t Arizona be as inhospitable as they wish to people who have entered or remained in the United States?” U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton asked in a pointed exchange with Deputy Solicitor General Edwin S. Kneedler.

“How is there a preemption issue?” the judge asked. “I understand there may be other issues, but you’re arguing preemption. Where is the preemption if everybody who is arrested for some crime has their immigration status checked?”

Yet in a ruling today she noted this:

[T]he United States has demonstrated that it is likely to succeed on its claim that the mandatory immigration verification upon arrest requirement contained in Section 2(B) of S.B. 1070 is preempted by federal law. This requirement, as stated above, is likely to burden legally-present aliens, in contravention of the Supreme Court’s directive in Hines that aliens not be subject to “the possibility of inquisitorial practices and police surveillance.” 312 U.S. at 74. Further, the number of requests that will emanate from Arizona as a result of determining the status of every arrestee is likely to impermissibly burden federal resources and redirect federal agencies away from the priorities they have established.

That last part (highlighted) is a crock. Everyone knows that the Feds are NOT doing their job. How is doing the job going to overload them?

The judge, a Clinton appointee, is using judicial fiat to reinvent the law. Moreover, she invokes a 1941 SCOTUS ruling - Hines -which is an entirely unrelated decision regarding immigration. I wonder what (or who) caused her to reverse what she was saying just last week?

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer promised to appeal the decision in the Ninth Circuit court (which will probably agree and rule for the injunction) and to the Supreme Court if necessary. Governor Brewer said “It’s just a “bump in the road.” and “This is far from over.”