We are indeed blessed that we can witness the majesty of our beautiful desert environment on a daily basis. This gorgeous sunset marked the end of yet another wonderful day of retirement in our dream home. Click on the image to enlarge.
Environment
Desert Spiny Lizard
I flushed this Desert Spiny Lizard the other morning when loading some aluminum cans into the truck. The lizard didn’t scurry under a rock right away, so I was able to get this shot of it still on the rocks where the bags with cans had been.
We have seen it several times since hiding near the compost where it (presumably) eats insects attracted to the heap. Cabela tries to give chase to the lizard when going out for a walk, but we don’t let her get close.
First Day Of Summer
Welcome to summer! I’m posting this beautiful Gerbera daisy because it reminds me of the sun, which will be up for almost fourteen and a half hours today. Click on the image to enlarge.
Walking The Dogs
Damsel and I take the dogs for a little walk after their breakfast. Today, she went ahead while I was recycling some kitchen scraps. I took this picture of them as they were coming back down the road just west of the house. The hot weather is here, and the pups are anxious to get back inside where it’s cooler as you can see from the leash tension. Click on the image to see the wider-angle view.
Triple Digits
It is a nice day today. The temperature got up to over 106° this afternoon. We are running the A/C (for the dogs, of course). Click on the image to enlarge.
AR1734 – “Great Horned Sunspot”
I read about this sunspot on SpaceWeather.com today. Seeing the article prompted me to get out the tripod and solar filter out and try to get a picture of my own. In the enlarged version of this image, you can see that I managed to capture the structure of this unusual-looking sunspot (inset). Click on the image to enlarge.
From SpaceWeather.com
Around the world, amateur astronomers are snapping pictures of behemoth sunspot AR1734 as it crosses the solar disk. In Buffalo, New York, photographer Alan Friedman noticed something when he rotated his picture 90 degrees. “Sunspot 1734 has a definite owlish look!” “But who gives a hoot,” he continued, “this grand active region looks fantastic from every perspective.”
The owl could be poised to explode. Sunspot AR1734 has a ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares, almost-certainly Earth-directed because the sunspot is facing our planet. NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of M-flares on May 6th.
Climate Change
This one is for our friends in the Northern plains, Great Lakes and Northeastern areas of the country who still wait for spring . . .
