I was taking pictures of some of the beautiful spring cactus flowers in the neighborhood when this little guy dashed out from under one of the cacti. A quick scan through my “Desert Critters” reference book and couldn’t find a lizard exactly matching this one. A “zebra tail” was listed but had different markings elsewhere. Click on the image to enlarge.
At the end of rather inhospitable looking spikes on the canes (stems) of the ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) planted in front of the house, some flower buds are beginning to appear. Our ocotillo has been dormant, but now we’re hoping that the monsoons will bring it back to actively producing leaves and flowers.
Currently, three of the canes have flower buds. Two of them have bigger buds than this, but are too high for the camera without a step-ladder. I’ll have more pictures when the flowers become mature. Click on the image to enlarge.
Wikipedia says this about the Ocotillo:
For much of the year, the plant appears to be an arrangement of large spiny dead sticks, although closer examination reveals that the stems are partly green. With rainfall the plant quickly becomes lush with small (1-2 inch) ovate leaves, which may remain for weeks or even months.
Individual stems may reach a diameter of 2 inches at the base, and the plant may grow to a height of 30 feet. The plant branches very heavily at its base, but above that the branches are pole-like and only infrequently divide further, and specimens in cultivation may not exhibit any secondary branches. The leaf stalks harden into blunt spines, and new leaves sprout from the base of the spine.
The bright crimson flowers appear especially after rainfall in spring, summer, and occasionally fall. Flowers are clustered indeterminately at the tips of each mature stem. Individual flowers are mildly zygomorphic and are pollinated by hummingbirds and native carpenter bees.
We have taken Beethoven to the dog park several times since we adopted him. The first time we took him, he got in the little tub of water, splashed around a couple of times and then got out. Today, I had the camera ready for his dip in the tub. Enjoy the slideshow!
We have had our spa since last July. We enjoy it a lot, especially on the warmer days. If we get into the spa late in the afternoon, however, the sun going down on the west side of the house shines directly into the spa.
I asked the gentleman who installed the screen patio enclosure to come out and install a roll-down shade for us. He installed a couple more extruded aluminum supports (the same material used for the original patio) to hold the shade on the west end of the patio.
Image: Before and after – click to enlarge
I say temporary in the title since this shade is a cheap Chinese plastic shade that won’t last in the Arizona sun. We are already planning on getting a custom shade from one of the warehouse home improvement stores. We saw one we really liked at our friends’ house on the Colorado River. The supports installed today will be permanent.
We’re still full from a delicious Easter dinner, so please enjoy this back lighted Easter lily. Click on the image to enlarge.
No, it’s not the first day of Christmas nor spring and neither is this a partridge in a pear tree. However, the red and green complimentary colors make this photo of a cardinal in the mesquite tree look very festive.
We put out the seed bell for the birds a couple of days ago and since they are attracted to it, we get lots of photo ops like this. Click on the image to enlarge.
To all of our Christian friends, Happy Easter and to all of our Jewish friends, Happy Passover.
When we went to our friend’s house on the Colorado River last week, we encountered a little problem when towing the trailer down the drive to the road in front of the house. The last dozen feet or so of the road, it sloped downward a bit abruptly. There was no damage to the trailer, but the rear leveling jacks dug into the one-inch gravel for several feet.
Image: Before and after for the top of the drive and the end of the drive. Two feet wider at the top and flared at to bottom for more room. Click image to enlarge.
It just so happened that Kevin, our contractor (the gentleman that built our house) stopped by the day we got back from the river. I mentioned the problem on the RV drive to him and he agreed to bring his Caterpillar multi-purpose tractor and smooth out the grade to a gradual slope.
Today, we got the work done. Kevin ran the tractor and Damsel and I moved rocks, raked up gravel and helped a bit. It was a bit of work. Earlier in the day, Damsel and I widened the road at the top near the wash to make it easier to get the trailer around the curve. With Kevin’s help, we also widened the bottom of the road to enable a sharper turn when towing the trailer out.
Tomorrow, or maybe the next day, I want to hook the trailer up to the truck and tow it down and around to see if any more work is needed. Judging from the result from today’s work, I believe it will be just fine.