We took a little ride today up to Yarnell, a little mountain mining town on State Route 89 north of Wickenburg. There is a steep, winding section of the road between Congress and Yarnell. On the downhill side, there is a scenic pull-out with this view of the valley south of the Weaver Mountains.

I composed this panoramic view of the valley from three exposures which I later stitched into this panoramic image. On the horizon, you can see Vulture Peak towards the left of the image; moving right, you can see the Harcuhala and Harcuvar mountain ranges toward the right of the image. In the valley below, you can see a large stockyard in the left center and the town of Congress toward the right. Click on the panorama for the full-size view.

According to the shake map above (click to enlarge - sorry about the crappy quality, but this is the original resolution), Washington DC is about 80 miles northeast of the epicenter of the 5.8 magnitude quake. It surprised me to hear that the quake caused officials to evacuate the Capitol and other government buildings. According to the color code, the DC area would have experienced “weak” to “light” shaking and no damage to structures.

As a former resident of a very seismically active area, I can attest that most of us who experienced that amount of shaking would simply have said “Hmmm - a little temblor.” And would go on with whatever we were doing. Some of us nerdy types would go to the USGS Earthquakes website to see the epicenter and magnitude. Maybe even look at the shake map.

I got a bouquet of roses yesterday. I took one of the buds and put it in a bud vase in the little bathroom. The lighting is from a skylight that our contractor installed in the bathroom. He installed another one in the laundry, both of which take advantage of the seemingly endless sunlight to illuminate those rooms without the need for artificial light during the day. Click on the image to enlarge.

I was goofing around with the computer last night and discovered that Google Maps® updated their aerial photos of Wickenburg. This is our parcel with the landscaping (mostly) installed. This is the highest resolution available. North is up.

My goodness! What nice little piece of the desert!

. . . and there’s nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound?

This is the spectacle that greeted us as we pulled into our driveway after our trip out to California. Image courtesy of Verna - click to enlarge.

Years ago, my son Gerald attended classes at the J.H. Hull Middle School. Since 2007, the old school has been demolished and rebuilt. The finishing touches are just being applied. Bob took this panoramic image today after shopping. Click on the image to enlarge.

We got the bad news this morning that our giant saguaro cactus, the “big guy,” is doomed. Our landscape contractor did an analysis after the crew dug up some of the soil around the root base.

The verdict is that the cactus has root rot, a symptom of over watering this type of cactus. The experts assume that the previous owner must have done too much irrigation and the root rot originated there, since we have NEVER watered the big guy in his current home. Regardless, he is going to be hauled away to cactus graveyard.

Eventually, the big guy will be replaced with another similar saguaro cactus as soon as the arrangements can be made. We’re sorry to see the big guy go, but we know that another will fill the empty hole when the time comes.

Image, saguaro root rot - courtesy of Verna. Click to enlarge.