Desert Spring...OR...Mr McGreggor Gets His Comeuppance

The Beaver-tails, the first of the pad cactus to begin blooming each year are just now starting to do their thing. The Hedgehogs will be next. Strange that the first two cacti to bloom are named after animals, I know, but why not? The red Aloe Vera are already blooming, and the yellow variety are sending up their spikes now and should be coming along nicely in the next couple weeks. It is so interesting to see all the sizes and shapes of the buds that each kind of cactus sets in preparation for the main event.





Of late, I have been paying attention as much to lettuce as I have to the cactus gardens. The stand-up living salad bar we built at the beginning of the season is now starting to be harvested- in fact we enjoyed the first two full specialty salads last night with dinner. Some neighbors have threatened good hardheartedly to "graze" on the crop when I wasn't looking. But all have noted that at waist high production, the rabbits that frequent camp would never be able to reach the greens.... Last week we "Flamingoed" Michelle next door, so I auto-assumed she was responsible for the herd of rabbits that I found in the patch this morning when I first stepped out to water the crops. What a good laugh. But it was my wife who did the dastardly deed, which I suppose makes it even funnier, because had she not admitted doing so I would still be trying to get "even" with Michelle. How many of you think it would be funny if in response to Marilyn's trickery I hide the chocolate for a while???