Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Neighborhood Building Activity

Pad

For the past two days, there has been some activity on the lot immediately to our east. They are clearing a pad for potentially building a new home there. When I say “immediate” I mean the property boundary and not the site where the work is being done which is at least 150 feet east of our property line.

When crews completed their work for today (the second day of work), I went over to the area and made the panoramic image seen above. Click on the image to enlarge.

I also took a panoramic image of the access road to the pad. The road connects between the next street to our north and the pad in the image above. Their lot size is a little over two acres.

I spoke with the owner who says he is going to speculate on building and selling a 1900 square foot home (excluding an attached garage). He may be in luck since the housing market has started back toward the positive side in our area.

I may post progress updates as the work continues.

25 May 2014 by Arizona Panorama

Lady Cardinal

Lady Cardinal

Neither male nor female of the species cardinalis cardinalis has a good camouflage scheme for the desert. This female cardinal was perched in a mesquite tree adjacent to Damsel’s bird feeders. As you can see, her camo isn’t exactly something that blends in well with the desert’s spring colors. Regardless, their repeated trips to the feeders out back, speak to their survivability in our part of the desert.

I was using my Canon SX40HS Power Shot camera with zoom set to near maximum in “AUTO” mode. Damsel gets most of the good shots we post here, but once in a while, I get lucky. Click on the image to enlarge.

23 May 2014 by Arizona Critters Photography

Bright Colors in the Courtyard

Red Bird of Paradise

A little over a week ago, I posted a picture of flower pods on one of my Pride of Barbados (a.k.a Red Bird of Paradise) shrubs in the courtyard in front of the house. Yesterday and today, the bottom pods opened up to reveal my favorite Arizona flowers.

This is the third year since we planted the one-gallon shrubs and this year is the earliest we have seen flowers open on them. Some other Red Birds around town were opening already, so I assume as the shrubs mature, they will open earlier in the spring. We shall see next year. Click on the image to enlarge.

22 May 2014 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Arizona Sun

Arizona Sun

I took photos yesterday of some flowers on display outside the little department store on the west side. The one depicted above is a drought-tolerant variety of daisy called “Arizona Sun” (Asteraceae Gaillardia). According to several on-line sources, this flower attracts butterflies and after the flower petals fall off, they attract goldfinches.

Dave’s Garden has this additional information about this colorful flower:

Sun Exposure:
Full Sun

Bloom Color:
Red
Red-Orange
Bright Yellow

Bloom Time:
Mid Summer
Late Summer/Early Fall
Mid Fall
Blooms repeatedly

Foliage:
Herbaceous

Other details:
This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds
Average Water Needs; Water regularly; do not overwater
Self-sows freely; deadhead if you do not want volunteer seedlings next season

Click on the image to enlarge.

20 May 2014 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Arizona Queen of the Night Flower Buds


Not unsurprisingly, the Arizona Queen of the Night cactus on the west side of the lot has developed three flower buds. One is quite prominent at this time, with two smaller buds in the offing. To highlight the three buds, roll your mouse cursor over the image above.

Last year, we had three beautiful flowers open on this little cactus and now we are expecting three more. There is another Queen in our back yard up on the hill, but it is in a place where I would be unsure of myself hiking up there after dark to photograph the flowers. If the flowers last until morning light, we may be able to get photos of them as well.

19 May 2014 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden

Spring Flower Show


Today was grocery shopping day. After getting home and putting the groceries away, we decided to take a little ride around town so I could get some photos of the desert spring flowers currently in abundance. This is a Spring flower slideshow. Click on the image to advance through the following flowers and things:

  • Saguaro Flower
  • Cleveland Sage Flower Cluster
  • Red Bird of Paradise (Pride of Barbados)
  • Yellow Prickly Pear Flower
  • Agave Flower Stalk
  • Pink Cholla Flower
  • Devil’s Tongue Barrel Cactus Flower
15 May 2014 by Arizona Flowers Photography

ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment

Southeast Asia

This is an interesting thing to watch live streaming from the International Space Station. It is a high definition view of the Earth below taken from one of four HD cameras aboard the ISS. I screen captured the image above of somewhere over Southeast Asia as the ISS sailed off to the south pacific. Read the entire description of the experiment at APOD.

This is a good site to find out the current location of the ISS. Click on the image to enlarge.

UPDATE: I watched the streaming video as the ISS approached the terminator and was surprised to see the full moon rising in the distance.

Full Moon Rising

UPDATE II: This is looking back at the setting moon at about 1815UTC 5/16/2014 as the ISS passed into western Canada.

Moonset

Click on the images to enlarge.

14 May 2014 by Aerospace Astronomy Rocket Science

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