Changing Scenery and a Changing Life

My first cactus bloom of the season. I almost missed the Submatucana species bloom while camping.

I added my own found rock to the cairn at our chosen camping spot at Knoll Lake. Cairns and similar rock stacks have recently been adopted by the Deep Ecology movement. I'm not sure if this is one is a part of that movement, or just campers who wanted to leave a lasting monument of their visit. The cairns are also something that offer places and moments for reflection at spiritual-environmental retreats. Maybe that's what's going on here.

We had to drive five miles every day to the Rim to get phone service to call home. Yes, we check in everyday! I'm not sure how I made it all the years without cell phones. I remember when pagers became popular and how much easier life became because of them! Kids just had to find a pay phone and have a dime--or was it a quarter?--in their pockets to call home.

We had two days of rain and the temperature dropped to 58 degrees. Most other days were 73 degrees!

The guys fished and hooked a few trout. We will have a fish fry later this month!

The Osprey is watching her babies in a dead tree close to the lake.

Hubby's binoculars allowed us to see two babies peeking out.

Agave plants were plentiful along the roadway and offered several colors of inflorescence.

I love this bright gold yellow! Some had red, pale yellow and even orange.

The saguaro cactus fruit is fading from the bright red that started at the beginning of the season. May is the month for saguaro blooms at home--but maybe they come later in the high country.

The summer is going by so fast. Hardly had time to hate the heat! I am now on my way to North Carolina. A wonderful business opportunity was offered to the grand kids that couldn't be passed up, so one grand daughter, her husband and baby (my only great grand baby!!) have moved to North Carolina!

I hope we will be able to handle the humidity when we get there! Granddaughter needs help with the baby, two small dogs on the plane, and help with unpacking--if the movers get there on time! The airline doesn't allow dogs to fly in the under-carriage during the hot summer months in Arizona. The dogs will fit into one dog carrier. I have a bottle of Rescue Remedy all ready and waiting in case the dogs have anxiety. We'll probably pop a few ourselves.

This past year has brought a lot of major life changes and just as I try to digest one, another comes up. Not sure how I will adapt to the separation from my great grandson. I have enjoyed him being close for the past nine months! I want to see him take his first steps, get his top teeth, etc. We are planning lots of trips to NC, and I sure hope the ticket prices stay affordable.

This change isn't good or bad. It's just the way of things. Everything changes, nothing stays the same. It's just life happening.

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies."

~Author Unknown

I couldn't wait to get home from camping to see my little guy!!! He was just as happy to see us!!!

In Search Of Flowers

Spring break, and enough time to repair our old truck. Hubby replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor and voila--runs like a champ . After record rainfall this spring we were hoping for lots and lots of wildflowers! The mountains are a beautiful green, the temperature in the 70's, and we can't wait to drive the back roads again!

A few miles out we came across this patch of flowers. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any closer.
We were heading west to the Saddleback Mountain.

I came across this lone poppy, and next to it hidden between two rocks this beautiful little Mammillaria engelmannii. I found the quarter earlier on my hike.

The poppies were sparse and there's not much chance of more blooming. The record amount of rain didn't start until January--about a month late for the seeds to get a good start.

I feel like this decrepit old cactus--and I'm beginning to look like it as well! This is what happens when you don't get enough sleep!! If you look again, you may see a cowboy riding his horse backward--see the tail raised high is a prancing pose?

This is the next step up from decrepidness when you add stress to the mix!
I am trying to be a better blogger and post more, but the lure of Farmville on Facebook has a hold on me. It's worse than drugs! I have five farms that I farm and I truly love them. I hope that soon it will lose its appeal. I wonder if I need an intervention.

Sock Puppet Cactus

This Saguaro cactus is in the median on the drive to my home. I have waited for years for the top of it to break off. It must have been damaged in some way to even grow like this, but it just keeps getting stronger.

It recently developed eyes and a mouth. Now it looks like a sock puppet. Not sure if birds or man did this. Some sense of humor! Hopefully, it is natural. Bird holes in Saguaros are considered natural as woodpeckers drill the holes to nest, then the nests are later taken up by elf owls and/or cactus wrens. All part of the natural cycle of life in the desert.

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My hubby is still receiving chemo twice a week. Unbelievable as it may sound--he is feeling fantastic!

Luckily, he started working again a few weeks ago-we need the added income to cover the expense of his nonstop eating! This is a completely different reaction than expected!

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We spent the past week in Georgia for my grandson's graduation from boot camp.We had two days with him--he could not wait for the ceremony to end. He had been craving a hamburger and a Dr. Pepper! After finding a good place to eat we explored the area then crossed over to Alabama. We experienced "boiled peanuts". (Ugh!) and fried cornbread and grits. None of it to my liking! It was very cold and I wore gloves, layers of clothing, a large coat, boots and ear muffs! All borrowed of course-- I don't own this kind of clothing! I am so thankful that I live in sunny Arizona. We paid for non-stop on US Airways and ended up having a 6-hour delay--mechanical problems--so we chose to take a small commuter plane to North Carolina with 2-hour layover instead. We finally got home and it was glorious to see the sunshine and all my flowers in bloom! Can't get any better than that! Yes it can--I only gained 4 pounds!

Boulders and Bummers

When I moved into my new home 18 years ago, the builders were giving away rocks and boulders to homeowners from the excavated building areas. I ask for a large one, never dreaming it would be HUGE! It can't be moved without a huge front loader or some other heavy duty equipment. A few years later when we added a wall to enclose a small courtyard area, we had to build around the boulder. My house is described as the "boulder house" when someone asks for directions. My grandchildren loved it when they were small, and they would climb to the very top every time they would come over. They thought they were on top of the world!

My Santa Rita has turned a beautiful purple as the temperature has come down--definitely a nip in the air in the morning and evening. I still don't have the ability to transfer my photos to my computer, so I can't show the color change. So, I'm using a photo I already had. Just try to imagination the total pads even darker purple than what's just on the edges in this photo. Sorry! I hope I can figure out something soon as to what's wrong--I'm sure it's the computer card reader and not the camera memory stick.

Bunny Ears Prickly Pear--doesn't look very much like bunny ears. More like teddy bear ears.

I love this beaver tail prickly pear! These pictures were taken when this cactus was smaller than it is now. The flowers of this particular prickly pear species are so beautiful--they are a purpley fuchsia.

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Not sure what to do with my computer. My son-in-law is giving me his very updated one whenever he gets around to installing his new one. That may be a while because he happens to be the worst procrastinator on the entire planet!! His number ONE flaw of only three flaws! He never gets around to reading this blog because he always puts it off, so I can tell you about him. Oh, he does admit that he has a problem, but he just puts off trying get help for it. Yes, it's that bad that he needs professional help, and he IS a professional himself!!! He sure has a green thumb though, and that sort of makes up for the procrastination, so he is a keeper!

My grandson will be leaving this coming Monday for his Army service, and we had a going away party tonight! He is the very first of my family to leave our small world and it certainly will be hard for all of us to let him go! He is positive this is his calling, and I can't do a thing to stop it. It's hard to accept, and I haven't yet, so.......I had to watch it because I could have ate half the cake tonight to assuage my conflicted feelings, and if I had, I would not have felt guilty!

Ups and Downs...

This morning's sunrise. All my mornings start off with a beautiful sunrise, and for this I am thankful.




After my healthy Masculana hugeinimus 'Horny' cactus became limp and all dried up, it reinforced my belief that I'm not a suitable caretaker for these intimidating desert dwellers! I was ready to ship all my remaining living cacti and succulents off to Claude and Julie! Then......

I was presented with this breathtakingly display! Sunrise, cacti blooms and air conditioning-- what more could I need?

Sorry guys, I'll just keep them around a while longer!

Magic Rain!

Remember my road kill cactus that bit the dust? Well, a funny thing happened after a day of roaring winds,

a few broken pots, and 0.50 inches of rain,

Road Kill came back to the living! Our Arizona desert rain is magic! It lifts everyone's spirits and quickly brings life back into the desert! It will be short lived though--

I'll be complaining in a few days of the humidity!

Teeming With Birds....

My small back yard is teeming with birds! The sprinklers turn on and they sit on the view fence waiting for the spray to stop so they can fly back into the wet grass. With temperatures of 107+ today, and 116 predicted for the weekend, my back yard has become a bird sanctuary.







This little guy is eating the Elephant's Food plant. After getting his fill here, he flies to the tomato plant.

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Mammillaria grahamii

My cactus plants are producing puny flowers. I totally understand -I too am wilting in this hot weather! Time to take another road trip, but not sure if it's worth it--the" cool" country is hitting the 90's! Guess I'll stay home and pray my 18+ year old air conditioner will make it through another hot summer!

Don't remember the name of this one.

The Ups and Downs of Pudgeduck's World

This is the end of the road for the Road Kill cactus. He never grew much, sorta just limply hung in there. Not sure why he died. I am just not that good with cactus. Now, Road Kill looks just like his name--road kill. Reminds me of a squished frog in the road.

I think this is the beginning of the demise of the lithops. I have kept these two out of the original five alive for 15 months and I was feeling a little cocky about it. Isn't that the way life goes? Get on top, thinking your s--- doesn't stink and then someone flushes! Seems that's the pattern with my cactus and succulent gardening.

Then, one small bloom shows up on my Gymnocalycium multiforum this week and I soar back to the top! Looks like a couple more buds are forming. It's a good thing I keep my inventory small, otherwise, I would probably go into a three month funk over all my losses!

First Time Parodia Bloom!

This is the first time this Parodia magnifica has bloomed! I won it in a raffle at last year's Cactus and Succulent Society Show. It was large when I got it and it already had a lot of offsets, but look how many there are now!





This cactus needs some shade in the summer, so I keep it on my front patio behind a pillar. It takes twice a month water in the summer, but it has to stay pretty dry in winter. Sometimes I forget to water it, but it stays alive.




Getting ready for the Black Mission figs to ripen! Can't wait for one of my favorite summertime treats! This is my daughter's tree--my son's tree has even more, so the fight is on.



Now, I'm on my way to cool country to house sit a few days. It will be a fun break from our early heat.

Cemetery Cactus and Sunflower

I just received my cactus goodie package from Claude at Random Rants and Prickly Plants. I found two pots and quickly planted two of the Esobania missourieusis. The third one went into the miniature cactus garden. Claude rescued the Esobania offsets from a cemetery after they mowed down the main part of the cactus.

The Cleistocactus winteri was planted in a larger pot. I have them on my east patio out of the intense summer sun. Thanks, Claude, for trusting me to keep them alive!

Newest sunflower to open. It's really heating up here, has been over 105 already! I'm in a mini depression thinking about the long hot summer ahead of us!! Turr Tull has not come out and I think he might have gotten out of the yard during the deck fix-up or ??? There isn't any way of checking into his hole as it is a small opening and goes pretty far back.

But today, I will find out the gender of my first great-grandchild, and the anticipation is raising my mood to the cheerful side! We tried the wedding ring test a few times and it is showing a boy! To do this, a wedding ring is attached to a thread and held dangling over the belly of the mom to be while she is lying prone. If the ring swings in a strong circular motion, it's supposed to be a girl, and if it moves in a to and fro motion like a pendulum, it will be a boy. My many years of expertise and my record 0f 99 percent accuracy on this test is on the line, so I'm just a little tense! I know this is just an old wives' tale, but it's harmless. It doesn't take the place of medical tests, but it is sort of a family tradition for us.