Verna and Bob's Weblog

Arizona

Ocotillo Flowers

Ocotillo FlowersThe first flowers are opening at last on our new ocotillo. The landscape guys replaced the old one last year when it died. The new one is finally getting flower buds, some of which are opening.

The ocotillos are sometimes completely without leaves or flowers. After the winter rainy season, the canes are covered with leaves and in the spring, the flower buds develop at the tips of the canes. We currently have two canes with flowers on the tips, one is a double where there are flowers on two branches near the tip.

If you click on the image to enlarge, you can see several flowers open with yellow stamens extended from within. The rest of the buds should open shortly.

April 27, 2015 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Throwback to June 2011

Throwback to June 2011

In the interest of providing a benchmark to what the house looked like a bit under four years ago, I’m posting this picture taken back then. Since this photo was taken, the house and grounds have taken a bit of abuse from the elements as well as some measures we have taken to correct the problems.

This image was taken from the neighbor’s driveway up the hill across the road looking north. The image features some things worth noting:

  • The old “Big Guy” saguaro cactus sits at the top of the driveway – it gets replaced after root rot took it down
  • The rosemary shrubs behind the house (on the hillside behind the garage on the right) are little more than the 1 gallon size of the shrubs originally planted
  • The creosotes along the road in front of the house have been well-trimmed but will get out-of-hand as the years go by and eventually be removed altogether
  • The yellow paloverde next to the driveway (below and to the right of the big saguaro) will flourish as we supervise the growth

When the time comes, I will post a similar image (after the work currently in progress) taken from the same vantage point as this photo and describe the differences that are in the works and will be shown later. Stay tuned!

April 26, 2015 by Arizona Home & Garden Photography

Turkey Buzzard Aloft

Turkey Buzzard Aloft

In the winter time we seldom see any turkey buzzards overhead, since we are on the northern boundary of their range during the colder months. I was out with the camera today taking pictures when I saw this bird flying much lower than normal.

I took a lot of pictures of the buzzard and this one was about the best of the bunch. Click on the image to enlarge.

Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) roam over most of the Americas. Excerpt from Wikipedia:

The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), also known in some North American regions as the turkey buzzard (or just buzzard), and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John crow or carrion crow, is a vulture that is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus Cathartes of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. It inhabits a variety of open and semi-open areas, including subtropical forests, shrublands, pastures, and deserts.

The turkey vulture is a scavenger and feeds almost exclusively on carrion. It finds its food using its keen eyes and sense of smell, flying low enough to detect the gases produced by the beginnings of the process of decay in dead animals. In flight, it uses thermals to move through the air, flapping its wings infrequently. It roosts in large community groups. Lacking a syrinx—the vocal organ of birds—its only vocalizations are grunts or low hisses. It nests in caves, hollow trees, or thickets. Each year it generally raises two chicks, which it feeds by regurgitation. It has very few natural predators. In the United States, the vulture receives legal protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

April 24, 2015 by Arizona Critters Photography

The Dogs in the Courtyard

The Dogs in the Courtyard

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been experimenting with letting our two small Min-Pins run around in the courtyard without leashes. That worked pretty well and both dogs were fairly well-behaved and responded to commands to keep out of the back part of the courtyard and to go back into the house when called.

Occasionally, Cabela, the little blue female, would push our patience by trying to sneak back into the forbidden zone, but would usually come back if we commanded in a loud voice. Beethoven, our red boy dog, on the other hand, stuck to the implied rules and stayed where he should – until last evening, that is.

We had both dogs out in the courtyard when one of the big dogs that lives up on the hill across the road started barking. At that point, seemingly without effort, Bay Bay jumped up on the front wall to see what was happening. The wall is a little over three feet high at the point where he jumped up.

Ir scared the crap out of me, since he has been known to run off when loose. Luckily, the little dog trusted me enough to let me walk over to the wall and coax him to let me pick him up and bring him back into the house. It could have been way worse had he jumped out of the courtyard and took off toward the barking dog.

April 23, 2015 by Arizona Critters Family

A New Flagpole

Eagle atop the StaffAs part of the construction and upgrades around the house, we asked for a flagpole. The flagpole was one of several items we had on our ‘wish list.’

Yesterday, the concrete crew poured a three-foot pad around a sleeve as a base for the staff. Today, the flagpole crew brought the new staff, complete with an eagle at the top.

I brought out the two flags we planned to fly and the guys installed the metallic hooks on the pulley rope. They had just recently painted the pole silver and since the paint was still drying, we had to postpone flying the flags for a couple of days.

So, on Friday or thereabouts, we will hoist Old Glory and the Arizona State Banner. Verna also wants to get some other flags to fly, like the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals team flags which she will hoist for special events as they arise.

April 22, 2015 by Arizona Home & Garden Something Shiny

Cholla Flower

Cholla Flower

As long as they keep coming, I’ll photograph and post our desert cactus flowers. This is a cholla flower I photographed a couple of days ago. Click on the image to enlarge.

Snippet from eNature.com:

Opuntia acanthocarpa – buckhorn cholla

The main trunk of this tree-like cactus is short and erect; branching open and low to ground. Branches are cylindrical; the joints light green.

Habit: native perennial shrub; succulent stems, in segments 4-20 in (10-50 cm) tall by 0.75-1.25 in (2-3 cm) diameter; new growth is gray-green to purple-green; old growth has rough, scaly, brownish black bark.

Flower: delicate, lemon yellow to copper to red to pink, 2-3 in (5-7.5 cm) wide.

April 21, 2015 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Avalon 1998

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