Well, Spring is here and the cactus flowers are blooming. I composed this anaglyph image yesterday of one of our Hedgehog Cacti with open flowers on it. You will need a pair of red/cyan or red/blue 3D glasses to view the image in stereo. If you don’t have a pair, you can see the 2D image here.
The Wickenburg and surrounding area forecast called for high winds (to 40 MPH) all day today. In the sky (clickable image above) we saw several areas like the one depicted having lenticular (altocumulus lenticularis) or lens-shaped clouds. Sometimes called “standing lenticulars,” the clouds appear stationary in the sky but the truth is they are in a very high winds condition usually downwind from mountain ridges. The clouds condense at the tops of the “mountain wave” where the airmass is rising and descending as it moves away from the ridge, I think they are very pretty to look at, but I wouldn’t care to be in an aircraft anywhere near them.
In other news, we had an Argentine Giant Cactus flower opening up on Palm Sunday evening. The photo below is that flower in the broad daylight of Monday afternoon. Click on either image to enlarge.
It’s been eleven months since we did a photo update. Here we are in the courtyard enjoying a nice spring day with the temperature up to about 72° with an expected high of 76°.
Today, we’re going to grill up a couple of Filet Mignon steaks and Verna will fix a nice salad to go with the meal. Yes, the dogs will be getting some of the scraps.
Image taken with my ancient Canon Powershot A710 IS using the delayed exposure timer. Click on the image to enlarge.
OK — the first day of Spring and the Equinox are here. The nights of darkness and days of sunlight are of equal lengths, according to the official astronomical ephemeris. However, at our particular latitude and longitude here in Arizona, the day length grew to just over twelve hours last Wednesday per the actual observed sunrise to sunset times. So, we can look forward to longer days peaking at the Summer Solstice and then on to the Fall Equinox when they fall back to be less than 12 hours again.
As of a couple of weeks ago, the Turkey Buzzards have begun to migrate back to Arizona and other northern places, I assume. These vultures bring the promise of warmer conditions for us, although there is still some cooler weather and precipitation still headed our way.
Even though it will be a month or more before the Pride of Barbados or Red Bird of Paradise shrubs to return from their winter slumber (we cut them back to nearly ground level in the fall). We expect that the hummers will begin to take advantage of the nectar when the gorgeous flowers return to our courtyard.
Enjoy the warmer weather and longer daylight. We know we will be enjoying the spring weather, birds and flowers.
Images courtesy of Verna.
I know that other regions in our Nation have had much colder winter weather than we’re currently experiencing and, in fact, so have we here in past years. However, this is the coldest we have had this winter and it’s happening in accordance with the March Proverb. Supposedly, this is the time of late winter when we’re beginning to have cactus flowers blooming and other signs of impending spring.
In the image above, you can see the Weaver foothills covered with snow which is fairly rare here. The snow will be gone tomorrow and then we will expect to revert to the late winter conditions we’re used to. I hope.
Verna snapped a bunch of snow photos today and this one shows the lower foothills and the snow proximity. Click on the image to enlarge.
Happy 2023!
The photo in the image above is of “Hieroglyph Ridge” (a name I made up) taken from the road that runs in front of our house. The original without the graphic greeting can be seen here.
