Sonoran Desert Flowers

Here I said I wouldn't be doing anymore posts! Oops - Doug actually found we have wired internet in our new house. I guess they haven't shut off the previous owners' service yet so I am enjoying it while I can! Today we had cooler temperatures finally and a few light rain showers. It was only 85 degrees today after nearly 2 weeks of 90 degree and higher days. Two days last week were over 100 degrees. One  day was 103 degrees. Now that was hot!! At least we know the air conditioning works in the new place. We went out to our RV park today to put the furniture back in the MH. We had the carpets cleaned yesterday and they sure look good! We also put the new chesterfield in the MH and it looks great also. It is ready to sell when we get home. Once we got that all done, we went on an ATV ride with our friends Ann & Trent. We wanted to see if any cacti were blooming yet. There were wild flowers to be seen every where you looked. Many cacti were just budding out so we won't see them flower but what was blooming was incredible.

 We have started personalizing our place, added some rocks we found in the mountains, our pottery and my barrel cactus in the pot against the front of the house

 Domesticated prickly pear flowering in a neighbor's yard

 Domesticated hedgehog cactus in neighbor\s yard

 Flowering ocotilla bush

 Desert hedgehog

 Hawk sitting on top a saguaro cacti

 A close up of an ocotilla bush flower

 More flowering hedgehogs

 wild prickly pear cactus - they come in yellow, salmon, pink and fushia colors

 If you look very carefuly, you can see tiny flower buds starting at the top of the arms. The flowers are dinner plate size and white in color. They open during the night and stay open for one full day only. The saguaro doesn't flower till the end of April, early May so we won't get to see these flowers

 Tiny little blue flowers

 Not sure what Doug was doing but he looks like he is contemplating nature!

 Not sure what this bush and flower are but so pretty

 More of the same, just a little different shade of color

 These yellow flower bushes are everywhere

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 We stopped for a rest break and the fellows have to discuss the merits of their machines

 Buckhorn cholla cacti just about ready to flower

 Little white flowers

 More pretty flowers and colors

 Lunch break

 I don't think we ever get a picture of Ann where she isn't talking with her hands!

 View from our lunch spot

 These ocotilla are so gorgeous in what is often a pretty monochrome color scheme

 Another ocotilla

 A hawk nesting in a saguaro cactus, you can see its tail sticking out

 This is how large the saguaro cactus is the nest is in

 We could not get the bird to sticj its head up, so just a tail end view!

Another lovely bush

We plan another trip into the desert on Tuesday before we pack away the ATV for the season so stay tuned for another posting with hopefully some new cacti flowers!

We are moved in!

Hi everyone! This just might be my last post before we head home. We got possession of our new home in Rancho Mirage 55+ community (in Apache Junction AZ) on Monday and are now fully moved in. Our motor home (MH) is still parked out at our RV resort as we are paid up there till we leave for home. I have left my computer out here in the MH as we have internet out here but are not bothering to get internet for the 2 weeks we are in our new home before we have to head back to Campbell River. I can only check emails or do a post if we are back out in the MH - hence the statement this is most likely the last post I'll do! One of the first things we did on moving in was pick all the remaining oranges off our 3 orange trees. The trees were in blossom with next years fruit and they don't develop well if this years fruit isn't picked off. We got buckets full and we squeezed them all and made fresh orange juice. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. It is the best orange juice I have ever tasted! I can't wait until next year when we get all the oranges!!

 Doug busy picking oranges

 

Sharon squeezing the oranges later that night

 

 We get a beautiful view of the Superstition Mountains from our front patio

 

Sun setting on the  mountains

 Doug's first finished rock clock 

This rock is called Sonoran Dendrite and is mined in Mexico. We put little shards of turquoise rock on the face as the numbers.It is a newly discovered rock just this past fall and is from the only existing mine at present. Doug and our friend Trent bought a big chunk of this rock at the Tuscon Rock show back in February and then they sliced it at the lapidary shop. Doug and I worked on making this clock for our friends Paul & Shyril from Manitoba. It was a house warming gift as they also just bought a modular home down here. Now we just have to finish our clock! Doug has a number of different rock slices he is taking home with him to work on over the summer that will make beautiful clocks.

 Our house warming party! This is our ATV riding group and rock hounds we hang out with

 Notice the women down one end and the men down the other!

 Ann is a good Italian girl and talks with her hands!

 My good friend Pat made me a hand towel holder as a house warming gift

 My decorating of our main bathroom

The picture above is for our daughter Catherine! The first thing she said when she saw our house pictures was "you got to get rid of that frilly peach colored shower curtain! It is awful"  So Cath, this one is for you. I got rid of it! I didn't even donate it to the thrift shop - I threw it in the garbage!!

 

Our house warming gift from Bruce & Connie and Trent and Ann. It is a Navajo pottery jug. It is gorgeous and looks wonderful in our living room

We came out to the motor home this morning to check emails, do my blog and get ready to have the carpets cleaned in the MH. Doug was going around sorting his compartments in the MH and getting it ready to be professionally washed and waxed tomorrow. He went to the back to remove the ladder so the fellow could climb onto the roof to clean it and this is what he found. It has only been 4 days since we have been out here!!

 

 

Pigeon had laid a nest half way up the ladder on one of the steps.

 

He scared the bird off and took the nest down and there was one egg in it so he moved the nest over to the tree in the neighbors yard. Not sure if the bird will come back to it or not but it sure isn't going to lay a nest on my motorhome! Well that is all the news for now. Oh yes, I meant to say Doug has been in shorts for the last 3 days! He never wears shorts so that gives you an idea of how hot it is here! We are planning to come out and bring the MH in to our house on April 14th. We are allowed to park the MH outside our house for up to 2 days to pack and unpack so as we are planning to head home April 15th, we'll get the MH the day prior. I won't have email access so probably won't add any more posts till we are heading home and only if we camp somewhere with internet!