Now Blooming

Like the proverbial, quintessential western desert movie, here's the "What's Playing", i.e. "What's Blooming" in the desert around Quartzsite this week. You can watch for an early look at what is shaping up to be the first bloom showing up on one of the big Saguaros. The "buds" are popping, but no flowering yet. It appears to be a long way ahead of most of it's neighbors, but I hear from the year-rounders that that is often the case: some of the cactus bloom in a sequence and it is sometimes predictable within a region which specimen will do its thing first. The Saguaro flowers are, as best I know, the largest of the blooms, so waiting for the first one is kind of exciting; I'll be keeping my eyes open for the first chance to grab a picture.

What's Playing on lot F1? Well, the cement pour at the back corner of the wash is gone and today we started the back breaking, sweat making, muscle bruising task of laying the first course of mega rock- those big enough to withstand the force of the water on those occasions when the wash is ripping with flash flood currents. Haven't seen the real deal up close and personal yet, but I guess it's the closest thing to a tsunami that the desert will see any time soon. We're trying to build for a worst case scenario. We actually got more done today than I expected to- what with the heat and a mid-day break to join what's left of the Class of Brenda for Happy Tuesday. On the menu today- baked Alaska salmon, roast turkey (the whole big bird), mashed potatoes, corn bread stuffing, gravy, broccoli and bacon salad. Just like Basking Robins----Yummmmmm!

OK, here come the pics.... A few stills and a slide show. Enjoy. Hopefully the next post will begin to reveal the new wash rock wall.