Verna took this photo from the hilltop a couple of blocks up the road. It’s a view of the Hassayampa Valley to the northeast and the mountains beyond. The Hassayampa River originates in the mountains and flows underground for miles before flowing on the surface through this area.
I cropped Verna’s photo down to create a panorama. Click on the image to view the full-sized panorama.
I thought it would be nice for the summer and our upcoming July 4th celebration, to put some patriotic decorations out. I got some bouquets of plastic flowers the other day with a red, white and blue theme and placed them around the base of our new mailbox. Very Pretty, don’t you think? Click on the image to enlarge.
Yesterday, I took this photo of a rock squirrel in the little wash that runs west of our house. It was eating some of a watermelon I tossed out. When I looked out this morning, the entire half watermelon that I tossed was gone. Desert USA has a video of a rock squirrel on their site. Click on the image to enlarge.
I bought a little gadget to hang the birdseed bells in the mesquite tree out back where we can see the birds visiting the bell from the patio. Today, a cactus wren (the Arizona State Bird) came to feed and I was surprised to see it hanging like a bat, inverted and pecking from the bottom. None of the other birds seem to do this. Click on the image to enlarge.
What a beautiful Arizona day! With temperatures looming around 90° this afternoon, the cactus flowers are anxious to open and share their beauty with the world. This pair of pink flowers opened today along with several other flowers opening on the hedgehog cactus in front of the new house.
I hiked up the hill across the road from the new house and snapped a series of photos that I combined by using the stitch feature in the Canon Zoom Browser application. I took three images from left to right which covers the front property line of the half-acre lot. During the stitching process you can accept the automatic merge function or you can specify two or more corresponding areas. I find that the latter technique makes for smoother “seams” in the final image.
I think the house has “curb appeal” even though there are no curbs on our little unpaved road. Click on the image to enlarge.
