We've had very (unusually) hot water lately, (80-90F) and no rain, but despite the drought we're in, the Cacti are blooming profusely! These are Desert and Plains Prickly-Pears ...
There are hundreds and hundreds of them and each plant has hundreds of buds and flowers ....
They look like those crepe paper roses to me. Just gorgeous!
This next one's a Rainbow Cactus. A huge flower on a really small cactus. You'd expect more colors (of the rainbow?) but they're just yellow. Pretty though!
All this 'going on' has been inspiring and we've tackled some projects too!
James has been busy making me some tools to use with the (used) loom I picked up a couple of weeks ago:
The result: a warping frame, a reddle, warping-, cross- and end-sticks and several shuttles!
(The warping frame comes apart for easy storage.)
All made from cheap lumber for a fraction of the price you pay in the crafts stores and I think they look better too!
An unexpected project came in the shape of a burst (main) water pipe which happened to be right underneath our fire pit!
Fortunately nothing of our doing so it was up to the the park's maintenance crew to repair it but it was quite a mess for a while:
As usual it took a lot of men standing around and leaning on shovels (and big toys) to get it done ;-)
So, not to be outdone, James borrowed some big equipment to drive around upon himself.....!
Reason being, we want to sow some new grass around the RV. In recent years the landscaping of the Park has been somewhat below par and a lot of sites, like ours, have lost most of the grass that was planted originally.
When it rains, the bare soil that's left turns into some horrible slick and sticky clay, and with the rainy season coming up in July and August we'd like to have some grass growing around us!
So we brought in some sand. See it flying in the wind?
Oh, yeah, that brings me to an announcement ... it looks like we're going to stick around here for a while!
James likes this (paid) job so we can put some money in the bank for you never know when. We also happen to like the desert and this park and off course we love the golf course, so we're going to brave the summer temperatures and stay at least until October.
After that, we might move south a little to the Valley or the coast or stay for another winter, we don't know yet. At least, that's the plan ...... we'll see.
Fortunately, we have 3 pools at our fingertips for when the temperature will rise into the low 100's in June and July !
They're heated by solar panels and are slowly coming up to temperature right now. This week we had a couple of days in the low 90's already so we had to test the one at the campground.
Well, ...my big toe still thinks it's too cold but James actually swam! Show-off!
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| Not bad eh?! |
Ha! You really didn't think I wouldn't include some bird shots did you?
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| I think this is a Hutton's Vireo |
Mr. House Finch. Who, me?
And ... whaaaa ...! It's a Cysteodemus Wislizeni. For what it's worth.
It has a whole lot of common names, like Desert Spider Beetle, Desert "blue-ball" Blister Beetle, Black Bladder Beetle or Inflated Beetle to name a few.
The inflated look is actually due to air they store under their shield which keeps them cooler in the sun. It looks like they can fly, but the partition on their body that you see are not wings, it's a trick so you think it's no use to chase him because he'll fly away.
They can exude a toxic fluid when handled that blisters your skin. Interesting bug. No?
OK. Than I leave you with this.
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