Verna and Bob's Weblog

An Alert Squirrel

While out on my morning walk, I snapped a photo of this little White Tailed Antelope Ground Squirrel in an alert stance in the little wash behind our house. She was looking for the peanuts that I throw out there for them. Hint to the squirrel. There is a peanut in th lower left corner of the (click to enlarge) photo.

She, shortly after I took this photo, found the peanut and bounded off into the underbrush before I could snap any more photos. We love our little desert wildlife and seeing them daily. I saw some juvenile Gambel’s Quail and their parents just a couple of moments before this photo. They, as is usually the case, were too quickly dispersed for me to get their images captured in the camera.

August 10, 2026 by Critters Home & Garden Photography 0

Lughnasadh —
 Celtic Cross-Quarter Holiday

As we tend to do in early August, we celebrated an Irish tradition of feasting on the Cross-Quarter Holiday of Lughnasadh. For today’s feast, we enjoyed Irish Turkey Stew, a blend of turkey meat, broth, Keto-friendly veggies and a Guinness Beer.

About the feast:

Background

Lughnasadh (also spelled Lughnasa, Lugnasad, or in modern Irish Lúnasa) is a traditional Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. It is one of the four major seasonal festivals of the Gaelic year, along with Samhain, Imbolc, and Beltane, falling around 1 August—roughly midway between the summer solstice and autumn equinox.

Origins and Name

The name comes from Old Irish Lugnasad, combining Lug (the god Lugh) with násad (“assembly”). An alternative theory links it to nás (“death”). In modern Irish it is Lúnasa (also the name of the month of August); Scottish Gaelic uses Lùnastal and Manx Luanistyn. It corresponds to the Welsh Calan Awst / Gwyl Awst and the English Lammas (“loaf-mass”).

The dinner was very good. And, No, we’re not fans of their pagan religion, but only of the traditions that were celebrated by our ancestors. We thank our Heavenly Father for the bounty of His hand in providing us with feasts most every weekend.

August 2, 2026 by Culture Holidays 0

Late-Season Saguaro Flowers

One of our saguaros seems to be getting new flower buds. For as long as this cactus has been blooming, the flowers have come and gone by July. Now, there are new buds as you can see in the photo below.

Here’s a closer view of the open flower:

I asked Grok “What is the normal time of year for saguaro flowers to bloom?” The answer came back as I expected it might:

Late April through mid-June, with peak bloom typically in late May to early June.

In the Sonoran Desert (including areas around Saguaro National Park and much of southern and central Arizona), saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) flowering generally starts in the last two weeks of April. Peak flowering is usually during the last week of May through the first week of June, and blooms can continue into mid-June.

Timing is triggered by lengthening days and rising temperatures and can vary a bit by year, location, elevation, and weather. Individual flowers open at night and last less than 24 hours (remaining open into the following day).

Fruit typically ripens later (late June into early July), timed ahead of the summer monsoon rains.

So, it is quite unusual for these flowers to be opening on this one cactus. Click on either image to view enlarged.

UPDATE: August 3, 2026 – What appears to be the last of the Saguaro flowers opened this morning:

July 27, 2026 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography 0

Backyard Critters

Each morning I get up and take Tucker out for a walk in the vicinity of our house. After he does his thing and goes back inside, I usually go back out with one of my cameras to opportunely catch some of the wildlife in the area on digital. This week, I took these photos below of some quail chick juveniles, a cactus wren in the ocotillo and an antelope squirrel getting one of the several peanuts I toss out to them.

Photos below:

We know that we already post a lot of photos of the critters, but we never get tired of seeing the wildlife around our little paradise as they flourish around us.

Click on any image to enlarge.

July 23, 2026 by Arizona Critters Home & Garden Photography 0

20th vernabob.com Anniversary

It has been 20 years since we started our blog. We started it when we were still in California and now continuing (since 2010) in Arizona. We don’t get that many readers, but we enjoy posting things here as our Digital Diary.

I took these on my morning walk today. The weather mostly cloudy no rain (yet):

Curve Billed Thrasher:

Desert Cottontail Rabbit:

Click on either image to enlarge. Both taken in our back yard.

July 17, 2026 by Blogosphere 0

Chicken and Shrimp Louie Salad

Chicken and Shrimp Louie Salad – image (C) Bob

I don’t often Cross-post here from our Food Website, but this was an exceptionally good Sunday treat for us. Shredded Chicken and Jumbo Shrimp in a green salad with Louie dressing. All home made and delicious.

This is a short post since I wanted to share the salad but have to get back to other matters. Click on the image to enlarge.

July 12, 2026 by Food and Dining

Avalon 1998

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