Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Photography

Our First 2017 Cactus Flower

Pink Beavertail Cactus Flower

This flower just opened today on a little Opuntia Basilaris planted out front in the red rocks just above the road and below the garage. This cactus is a transplant from another part of the property behind the house.

There are other flowers opening soon or are already open; the lemon tree has blossoms and my golden barrel cactus has a flower opening soon. The plum tree is sprouting leaves and has many open flowers.

Desert springtime is just a very pleasant time for flower lovers. We plan to show a lot of the flowers as they appear.

21 Mar 2017 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Springtime is Imminent in The Arizona Desert

Cactus Flower Buds Plum Flowers Lemon Flower Buds

We have been fortunate here in the Arizona upper Sonoran Desert region to have had increasing spring-like temperatures over the past two weeks. It seems like we have turned the corner for springtime with high temps in the upper 70’s to low 80’s. The overnight low temperatures are now at or above 60 degrees.

The three images above were taken this afternoon and are (left to right) cereus cactus buds, flowers on our plum tree and flower buds forming on our lemon tree. We also notice flower buds on many of the native cacti and there has been activity in the bird nests that we can see. As was mentioned on the other blog, we have spotted many of the migratory birds back in the area after their winter absence.

We realize that this is a poor time to brag about our wonderful climate since much of the north eastern part of our nation will be in blizzard mode for a couple of days. We pray for the safety and well being of those in that part of the country as they batten down the hatches.

13 Mar 2017 by Arizona Environment Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Throwback Hoodoos

Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon

Damsel took this image of Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon in July of 2008. Seeing it in the archives gave me some serious wanderlust, so Bryce Canyon NP just may be one of our vacation destinations this year after the weather gets a little warmer.

We have several excursions in mind over the next few months, not the least of which is to see our first great granddaughter in April and to go witness the All American Eclipse in August. We anticipate that during the extended eclipse excursion, we will be visiting the only two states in America that I have not been in – North Dakota and Iowa.

We will be taking a shorter trip this month which is a repeat of the maiden voyage when we will be out in the California Desert visiting with the Kids and our Grandson who will be nineteen months of age. This will be the last such trip to Palm Desert due to conflicts in the Kids’ work schedules that make it tough on them to meet us halfway. We will see them in April when we will go by their home on our way to see the new great granddaughter.

02 Mar 2017 by Photography Wanderlust

Winter Sunset

Winter Sunset

Wintertime brings cloudy skies from time to time, and, so far, this January has been more cloudy than not. A nice thing about the partially cloudy skies late in the day is the brilliant, fiery color display produced as the sun sinks below the horizon. I took this image last week during a break in the weather.

For the rest of January, the weather outlook is for more sun and more occasional rain. We can deal with the clouds now, since there are statistically likely to be 300 days of sunshine this year. Most of the overcast cloud covers seem to occur in the Winter. We are looking forward to having warmer, sunnier days.

15 Jan 2017 by Arizona Environment Photography

Bottle Brush Shrubs

Bottle Brush

We purchased these Bottle Brush shrubs last spring from a local (overpriced) nursery to replace the Cleveland Sage shrubs that had a propensity to partially die and then grow partially back. Very ugly in the courtyard. But now, the new shrubs have green foliage and are making red flowers just in time for the Christmas season. These have already attracted bees and hummingbirds and a few of the remaining butterflies.

Once these shrubs have established themselves, they should expand to about the same size as the old sage bushes, but seem to be considerably less messy and less work to keep them pruned to a size appropriate to the courtyard environment. Click on the image to enlarge.

23 Nov 2016 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Supermoon over Wickenburg

Supermoon

We drove from our camping spot in K-Stan back home today. Safe arrival with light traffic and no incidents other than a little roadwork enroute. It was a good trip to see the Grandson and his folks.

I snapped this photo of the Supermoon (Luna at perigee) shortly after moonrise this evening. Camera Canon EOS Rebel SL1 with 75-300 mm zoom lens. Settings: 1/500 sec, F8, focal length 300mm, ISO 800 and no tripod. Click on the image to enlarge.

14 Nov 2016 by Arizona Astronomy Photography

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