We bought this nice Sugar Skull decoration in a post-Halloween bargain pile at one of the supermarkets here in town. Other than a Halloween decoration, this could be used to celebrate “Dias de Los Muertos” or Days of the Dead that starts on October 31st through November 3rd to coincide with Halloween and All Saints Day celebrations.
This is a rare photo of the BNSF Railroad Bridge spanning the Hassayampa River seven miles south of Wickenburg where there is water flowing above ground in the riverbed and going under the stately bridge. Verna took this photo from US 60 on Wednesday while we were on our way to do some shopping in the northwest metro valley.
We have had a considerable amount of rainfall over the last week, with thundershowers in the mountains and below producing enough precipitation to flow down from the headwaters of the river in the mountains northeast of town. Today, the showers have subsided and the forecast is for partly cloudy and mostly sunny weather until the next unseasonable thunderstorms hit, maybe as a consequence of hurricane Patricia, now situated in the eastern Pacific off the coast of Mexico.
Meanwhile, it looks like good weather to prevail for tomorrow and the weekend.
The really hot days of summer are now over, it seems, with forecast highs ONLY in the 90’s. Some of the cacti around the yard are opening flowers like spring has sprung. This is typical of this time of year which the locals (and that includes us) refer to as “second spring.”
The photo above is the last flower of many that opened on our Devil’s Tongue Barrel cactus over the summer. We brought this cactus from the old place in California, put it in the ground here and it has been happy ever since, having grown to twice the height and a significantly larger diameter than when it arrived. Click on the image to enlarge.
Verna and I were doing some minor outdoor chores today. I was spraying to kill some weeds that had cropped up over the summer, and she was snipping off the “sucker” branches from the palo Verde and some Mesquite trees on the property.
After surveying some of her work, she snapped this photo of the house as it appears today. Our new retention wall in front has done its job this summer and kept the property from eroding in spite of a millennium rainfall and runoff last July 18th. Click on the image to enlarge.
After more than a week away from home, the birds that usually gathered beneath and on the bird feeders were mostly shopping elsewhere. It took a day or so for them to gradually start coming back to the (now replenished) feeders.
This is a shot of a woodpecker that snatched a tidbit from the seed bell and is (apparently) headed somewhere to either eat it or to share it with a mate or offspring. I’m not sure which.
The birds (quail, woodpeckers, curve billed thrashers, etc.) have returned, but not yet in the droves as before we left on our trip. I am sure that the numbers of birds will return to their previous state in a few days. Click on the image to enlarge.
I took this photo of Verna looking for photo targets of opportunity in the rock and cactus garden yesterday. There is always something in the desert to photograph, including the photographers, themselves. Click on the image to enlarge.
