This is a claret cup cactus (echinocereus triglochidiatus) which is a close relative to our hedgehog cacti (echinocereus fendleri). The difference is that instead of pink flowers, this one will have bright red flowers starting in about a month. You can see the red flowers by clicking here.
Framed by the “musical mesquite,” the moon rises in the distance. We’re just a couple of days from the full moon and the late afternoon sunlight on the house makes for a very nice picture. We still can’t get over how happy we are in our retirement home. Click on the image to enlarge.
This is a photo of a cholla cactus embedded in an old dead mesquite that is up in the wash behind our house. I took this photo today and then rendered it in sepia to make it look all artsy and stuff. Click on the image to enlarge.
To view this same image in full color, click here.
While in California last week, I collected some more wind chimes and other trinkets to bring to the Arizona house. I put some of them in my “musical mesquite” tree. When spring comes, the tree will again bear leaves and seedpods. Click on the image to enlarge.
Bob transplanted several paddles from a beavertail cactus that was growing up on the hill behind our house. It has been about a year and a half and all of the transplants seem to be doing well. This individual has grown from a few paddles (maybe four to six) to all of these paddles in that time. The cactus is about a foot and a half tall and is spreading nicely on the area by the RV drive west of the house. Click on the image to enlarge.
There are a pair of curve billed thrashers who are expressing an interest in nesting in our big saguaro. When the crew installed the cactus in August, it had a couple of abandoned bird nests in the arms. Today, the thrasher was on the cactus singing a different tune. Instead of its usual wit-WEET call, it was making a warbling, squeaky, hurried song, which we think is a mating call.
We had thrasher chicks last spring and summer in a nest in a nearby cholla cactus. It was low enough that we could walk over to it and take photos with eggs and then chicks, in the nest. The saguaro is a different proposition; this nest is eight feet above the ground, so we won’t be able to get a camera up there. Click on the image to enlarge
