Cherry Red Cactus Flowers

Cherry Red Cactus Flower

For the third and probably final time this season, the “Cherry Red” cactus (Trichocereus Grandiflorus) flowers are open. This cactus has the brightest red blooms of all the cactus flowers in our garden.

We had a little rain and some thunder this morning, but the clouds cleared and I could get this photo of one of the gorgeous flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.

VERNABOB.COM 12th Anniversary

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Today marks the 12th year that we have been open for blogging. We don’t blog as much or regularly these days, well, because retirement finds so many ways to use your time and efforts otherwise. The following was our opening statement after converting from our old format to WordPress:

We’re now completely converted from the old stuff and functioning as an online diary/weblog (”blog”). We decided to convert our old website to the blog format of the WordPress Publishing Platform.

As we continue to add new posts here, we also plan to add new gadgets and features to this format. Most all of the features from the old website have been converted and are available in the left sidebar. Check out some of the Potpourri items or our “stuff.”

Birdhouse Repair and Re-Hanging

Birdhouse
 
House in Tree

The little birdhouse given to us in May of 2012 by our late friend “River Ron” (RIP) fell off of the palo verde tree out front last week. Today, I screwed the broken parts back together and hung it back up. Click on either image to enlarge. Images courtesy of Verna.

Fishhook Cactus Flowers

Fishhook Cactus Flowers

The little fishhook cactus that we rescued from down the road when they were doing construction a couple of years ago seems to be very happy in its little pot. These are the second set of flowers to open this season. Click on the image to enlarge.

Catch and Release

Trapped

Release

One of the little antelope ground squirrels in the area has been making itself a bit of a pest by digging up Verna’s bulbs and roots in the courtyard. Earlier today, I set up the Havahart small animal trap with a piece of bread and peanut butter for bait. It wasn’t more than a half hour later that Cabela let us know the trap had been sprung.

Ever since we unwittingly caught a cactus wren in a rat trap by the trash barrels, it has been our policy to catch and release the pests. We caught this little guy in the courtyard and released it at Tractor Supply, about a mile away. That should work to keep it away from Verna’s garden for a while.

Click on either image to enlarge.