We’re back in California this evening and plan to stay for a couple of days. On our way in to the coast, we passed the Banning Pass wind turbine farm.

Despite having literally thousands of these expensive (to build AND to run) bat-killers, there seems to be a number of new ones under construction. Damsel took this photo of some of the construction we passed. Click on the image to enlarge.

I wonder if the companies building this enormous (and unsightly) wind farm are somehow capitalized by the same money-wasters responsible for the Solyndra debacle. I wonder how far this is going to go. The turbines already stretch for over twenty miles along both sides of Interstate 10 from Palm Springs to past Whitewater (going west).

Anyone who reads our other blog will know how heartbroken that we lost our giant saguaro cactus to root rot this morning. Add to that the 419+ point loss on the Dow today and the day is off to a rotten start.

After all this heartbreak and aggravation, we got all of our gear and other stuff loaded into the truck at the Arizona house to take to California only to hear stuttering clicks when trying to start the engine; the battery was almost completely dead. We like to get an early start when making the six hour trip and this would add at least another 1.5 hours to the ETA to get Triple-A out to jump us and for a short trip to the automotive shop for a new Interstate Battery.

Of course, on traversing greater California in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, the afternoon stagnant traffic (due to the miserable infrastructure vs. population syndrome) slowed our ETA even more.

The good news is that we’re in the California house (which we deem ‘the albatross’ for now) safe and sound and we will shortly be joined by family members anxious to see us before we head back after a very short visit.

California’s Greenbat politicians think that burning fossil fuel will destroy the planet, so what do they do? Trade off having wind power in favor of destroying many of nature’s flying creatures.

Consider this double standard. California Politicians are balking at the installation of a solar power site in the desert because it endangers tortoises and other wildlife. Their hypocrisy is so thick, it probably pollutes the atmosphere.

From William La Jeunesse of Fox News:

As California attempts to divorce itself from fossil-fueled electricity, it may be trading one environmental sin for another — although you don’t hear state officials admitting it.

Wind power is the fastest growing component in the state’s green energy portfolio, but wildlife advocates say the marriage has an unintended consequence: dead birds, including protected species of eagles, hawks and owls.

[more]

On the morning of our return to Arizona, the cereus cactus in the California garden happened to be in bloom. I took a couple of images of it under the skies of low clouds and fog that prevail on the Southern California Coast this time of year. I can hardly wait until the cuttings of this cactus we brought from the California House start to produce these under the sunny Arizona skies. Click on the image to enlarge.

We were up at Fort MacArthur today to visit with DrJim. While we were there, I walked around with Cabela and took several photos of flowers in bloom. This is a photo of a flower on a prickly pear cactus growing on the hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Beautiful cactus flowers bloom in California too! Click on the image to enlarge.

We are back at the California house this evening. We had a couple of surprises awaiting us in the backyard. Have you ever seen an artichoke flower? Well now you have. Also, please note the bed of California Poppies in the background. Click on the image to enlarge.

When the Governator signed the California ammo microstamping bill, we knew we had to be out of there. Our other focus, of course, was the insane green policies endorsed by this P.O.S.

Ramirez seems to share our latter viewpoint with his latest . . .

We went to the home improvement center today to get a few supplies to take Home. While we were in the garden shop I saw these nice pink columbines blooming. Click on the image to enlarge.

I have several gorgeous amaryllis flowers opening this weekend. This one is brilliant red and white. I have another one that is pure red that will be opening very soon. Click on the image to enlarge.

We’re back at Casa Grande* for Easter weekend. When we arrived yesterday, we were surprised at how well the garden was doing with virtually no attention for over a month. The poppies were going crazy with their bright orange flowers and the artichoke had produced these wonderful flower buds, one of which we’re going to steam early next week and eat it for lunch. Click on the image to enlarge.

* We’re now in to referring to the 2700 square foot two story house in California as Casa Grande (Big House) as opposed to the little Arizona home which we now call Casa Bonita (Pretty House).