Verna and Bob's Weblog

Arizona

Chillin’ in the Courtyard

Dogs in the Courtyard

The Mama and the Daddy have let Cabela and me go out into the courtyard without leashes or being carried. This is good. I can lay down in the sunlight and be warm and relax. Cabela just runs around sniffing everything. Click on us to make us big.

The Daddy says that we still don’t have the back gate but he is trusting us to be good dogs and keep away from there. Daddy also says there will be a new gate soon and that we might be able to just run around the courtyard to our heart’s content. Cabela and I will like that.

April 19, 2015 by Arizona Critters Family Home & Garden

Prickly Pear Cactus Flowers Again

Prickly Pear Cactus FlowersIn the springtime when all the cacti bloom, there is a wonderful sequence that we have become accustomed to. First, the beavertail cactus blossoms appear, followed shortly by the hedgehog cacti. As those begin to fade away, they are replaced by cholla and then prickly pear flowers.

The photo at the right is of a cactus a few steps west of our yard along the roadway that leads to our neighbor’s house up the hill. This cactus is more mature than those in our yard which do not seem to be developing flower buds this spring, except for one lawyer’s tongue variety of prickly pear near the west side of the property close to the fence.

I will continue post photos of cactus flowers as long as they bloom in the spring, summer and fall. The giant saguaro flowers are going to open in a few weeks and we are really looking forward to that.

April 16, 2015 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Verna’s Close-Up Photo Secrets

Cleveland Sage Flower Making a Close Up Photo

When the desert breezes briskly blow the flower you’re trying to photograph around, you simply get a grip on the flower stem out of the camera’s field of view and then take the image of the now stabilized flower.

We were both in the courtyard today taking photos of this and that, when Verna grabbed a flower stem on one of the Cleveland sage bushes, pointed her camera at it and managed the close-up photo she was looking to get. I just happened to be in a spot where I could capture the moment when she was shooting her close-up with my camera.

At the left is the image she got of the sage flower; on the right is my photo of her getting the shot. Click on either image to enlarge.

April 15, 2015 by Arizona Family Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Quail on the Courtyard Wall

Gambel’s Quail (male)

The local quail seem to make themselves at home on the courtyard wall which spans somewhere around 50 feet long as it curves around the front of the house. Bob took this shot of one of the males as it walked along the wall yesterday. Click on the image to enlarge.

Well, the quail will have another 300 feet of walls to commandeer: two more out front and two out behind the RV drive totaling around 350 feet altogether including the courtyard.

The new walls are in place already, but not painted and they won’t be until after the RV drive concrete gets poured possibly this week. However, we observe that the quail are already testing out their new “quailing walls.”

April 14, 2015 by Arizona Critters Home & Garden Photography

Curve Billed Thrasher

Curve Billed Thrasher

I happened to be out behind the walls in the little wash to take some pictures of prickly pear flowers that are now opening. On my way back to the house, a curve billed thrasher perched on a mesquite stump a few yards away. Since I had the telephoto lens on the camera, I wasted no time and put the perched bird in the camera’s crosshairs.

The bird cooperated with me for about three camera shots before swooping away on its regular route around the back wash. We have a lot of these birds that hang around the area and two of them have a nest in the cholla in front of the house by the RV drive. We’re hoping to get some pix of the thrasher chicks after they hatch.

April 8, 2015 by Arizona Critters Home & Garden Photography

New Addition to the “Musical Mesquite”

Whimsical Boot Birdhouse

I found this cute little whimsical birdhouse shaped like an old western boot. It has some sort of electronic solar powered feature, but we didn’t know what that was until we peeked out the front door to see a little illuminated beacon shining on it. I guess that is so the birds can see at night in the birdhouse. Click on the image to enlarge.

April 7, 2015 by Arizona Home & Garden Photography

Avalon 1998

Categories

Archives