This is the latest “Star Cactus” flower to open on the Astrophytum in the courtyard. We saw one of these open when we returned from our last California excursion. This one opened yesterday (when I snapped this photo) and opened again today briefly. Click on the image to enlarge.
We discovered a bird nest in our little palo verde tree by the driveway down near the road. It might be a hummingbird or verdin or other small bird since the entrance to the nest is rather small. When we first started building our house here, we found a verdin nest in this tree.
We haven’t noticed any activity in this nest, having only noticed it a couple of weeks ago, probably after the nesting season for this year. Maybe the little bird will come back next time so we can watch what happens. Click on the image to enlarge.
On Friday afternoon, we placed a pork roast in the smoker to cook all night and most of Saturday so we could have pulled pork sandwiches for our Saturday weekend dinner. The two images above are the before (Friday) and after (Saturday) photos of the pork roast in the smoker.
After smoking the roast at 250° overnight, the meat was literally falling off of the bone as we lifted it out of the pan into a large container. I shredded enough meat for our sandwiches before dinner and shredded the rest after dinner. I spent about 45 minutes getting the rest of the meat of of the nine pound roast shredded and put in a container for use in a variety of leftover dishes that Verna and I have in mind.
This is one of three flower stalks currently growing on the native “Queen of the Night” (Peniocereus greggii) cactus up on the hill behind our house. The location of the cactus is unfortunate for us since it is a steep climb to get to the level where it is growing. Moreover, since these bloom exclusively at night, we won’t be able to see them open because 1) steep night time climb where no lighting exists, and 2) nocturnal critters like crotalus (rattlesnake), coyote, javelina and mountain lion can be present in our rural patch of desert.
I am going to try and keep an eye on this cactus in order to possibly catch a morning after photo or two before the flowers eventually fade. Wish me luck.
We are in California this evening relaxing after the drive here from our Arizona home. We had a good crossing with cooler than seasonal weather and no significant wind issues. There were a lot of Big Rigs on the road, but we fought that off and got to the campground without incident.
The baby is cuter than ever and sporting four upper and four lower teeth. We just love him.
Verna and I have been blessed with new generations in our family; our granddaughter gave us a great grandson, Alex, and our daughter-in-law presented us with a grandson, Jerry. Both have been born within the last two years. We decided it would be a good idea to start an investment/savings plan for each of them.
Within the past two weeks, we opened a Universal Transfer to Minors Account (UTMA) for each of the boys. Since we both have accounts with the well-known brokerage seen above, we went through them to establish the boys’ plans. As of this evening, they are each vested in a mutual fund designed to produce growth in the equities, and for us to continue to contribute via periodic automatic investments and the occasional special gift for birthdays and such.
