After I posted photo of Sky Fire Roses last week, I had been hoping to post an actual sunset photo with those gorgeous colors. Well, last evening the weather cooperated with me and presented this brilliant sunset. I took this image of the sky from our courtyard looking west. Click on the image to enlarge.
We took an after-dinner walk down the road this afternoon as we usually do when we finish eating. I noticed the moon rising over the desert mountains in the distance and our local hills in the foreground. Having left the camera in the house, we finished walking the dogs and went back down the road for me to get this nice shot of the moonrise.
Later in the evening when we walked the dogs just before total darkness outside, the waxing gibbous moon was so bright, we could see our moonshadows on the driveway. Click on the image to enlarge.
The second spring seems to have come to an end since the lows are now in the mid-forties and the highs rarely get above 70. Fall is upon us, I’m afraid.
The porch thermometer was at 48° after nine this morning when we took the dogs for their first morning walk. With the little breeze blowing, it felt more like 38°.
The forecast is for warmer on the weekend when we will be attending our annual Bluegrass Days festival up at the rodeo grounds. More on that later. Meanwhile, enjoy the image of a nice cool afternoon in our corner of the desert. Click on the image to enlarge.
When we walk the dogs for their daily trip up the road, we pass a neighbor’s property which is still unimproved/unmaintained natural desert, complete with creosote, mesquite, cat’s paw and a host of native cacti. There is this one little shrub that we have been passing and not paying much mind to it. Recently, seed pods resembling blowfish have appeared. Out of curiosity, I went to our desert guide to see if I could find a match. I found Sacred Datura to be a match for what we were seeing.
I looked up sacred datura on Wikipedia and found that the binomial name was Datura Wrightii which is a hallucinogenic herb used by some native American tribes.
Datura wrightii or sacred datura is the name of a poisonous perennial plant and ornamental flower of southwestern North America. It is sometimes used as a hallucinogen. D. wrightii is classified as a deliriant and an anticholinergic.
It is a vigorous herbaceous perennial that grows 30 cm to 1.5 m tall and wide. The leaves are broad and rounded at the base, tapering to a point, often with wavy margins. The flowers are the most striking feature, being sweetly fragrant white trumpets up to 20 cm (7.9 in) long, often tinted purple, especially at the margin. Five narrow points are spaced symmetrically around the rim. It can bloom from April to October. In clear weather, flowers open at nearly full dark and wither a few hours after sunrise the following morning; in cloudy weather, they may open earlier and last longer.
The seeds are borne in a spiny, globular capsule 3 to 4 cm in diameter, which opens when fully ripe.
D. wrightii is found in northern Mexico and the adjoining U. S. states, as far north as southern Utah, in open land with well-drained soils. It is also commonly planted as an ornamental, especially in xeriscapes.
The name commemorates the botanist Charles Wright.
Given that it is used in xeriscapes, we might try and obtain some of the seeds to cultivate new plants we can use for the rock and cactus garden.
The end of the showers associated with the cold front that passed through here last evening produced this nice desert rainbow seen above our little cottage and the big saguaro as the sun began to set. Today, the cold air mass left in the wake of the front held our high temperature to about 61 degrees. A far cry from what it was a scant 30 days ago with daytime temperatures over 90 degrees. Oh, well, we just put on the long pants and sweaters and we’re OK. Click on the image to enlarge.
Over the past few days, the weather has played a role in the changing of seasons here. I’m not ready to call it Fall just yet, but we have had a pretty wet week thus far. The forecast has it warming up again toward the rest of the week, so I’ll assume we’re going to get into “Second Spring” for a few weeks before the really cooler weather settles into the desert.
Bob and I were out and about several times today; we had an early MD appointment, a post office PO box check, shopping at two different stores for last-minute specials that expire tonight and, finally, to pick up my pair of glasses that the O.D. office repaired. That was late this afternoon when the rainfall had moved east of town and the sun came out to form this beautiful arcing rainbow. Click on the image to enlarge.
Damsel called me to the great room late this afternoon to show me the herd of Javelina (Collared Peccary) that had wandered onto the neighbor’s driveway across the road. As we looked through the window, I called the neighbor to advise him of the presence of the herd. He and the family were not at home at the time and he told me that his dogs were secure inside the house.
This herd has grown in size from when we first moved here, from about five to seven at that time to over a rough count of eleven today. Javelina herds stake out their own territory and seldom compete with other herds for the 5500 acres of desert where they claim domain and forage therein.
Residents in semi-rural areas just have to cope with the beasts, since they are considered a game animal here. Even so, a defensive gun use is not out of the question if they become aggressive, which they might, if startled or accompanied by offspring. Damsel and I both pack when not sleeping, just in case of trouble. either the four or two legged kind.
