We drained the spa yesterday and refilled it today. We replaced the old water with new water treated with the new chemicals we ordered last week. Now the water is nice and crystal clear.
I added a new feature – the rubber ducky that floats around as we enjoy the spa. Cabela really wants to play with it, but is intimidated by the jets and bubbles. We had a good session in the tub this afternoon but got out as soon as we saw some lightning strikes nearby. Click on the image to enlarge.
One of our neighbors who lives up the hill to the west of us asked us to keep an eye on her property while she is away in Montana. We took a walk up the road this morning to check her place out and while in the pool area, I snapped several images to merge into this composite panoramic image. You can see our little red house just to the right of center in the image. Just look at those beautiful mountains in the distance. Click on the image to enlarge.
Our long-time friends, Jim and Karen, arrived yesterday for a visit. They have a desert retreat they were planning to visit this weekend and were able to stop by for a long overdue get-together. We were just sitting down to dinner in this photo. Click on the image to enlarge.
A single flower opened on this little cactus last week. Today, it has five beautiful pink flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.
I found this reference to the little cacti that dot the hill behind our house at BirdandHike.com:
Common Fishhook Cactus (Mammillaria tetrancistra) is a small, mound-shaped cactus with short, thin white spines that nearly cover the plant plus longer, darker, fish-hook shaped spines that stand out from the body of the plant. In early summer, red to lavender flowers emerge from the side of the stem that are nearly as large as the entire plant.
In a few days, our little fishhook cactus will produce five more little pink flowers for our viewing and photo-op enjoyment. Click on the image to enlarge.
I believe this is the last of the summer saguaro flowers on our giant cactus. We were very fortunate to have had so many flowers after the cactus crew transplanted our beautiful saguaro in May. Click on the image to enlarge.
