We listened as the wind howled and rocked the motor home all night long. Somehow it doesn’t sound as bad when in the living room as it does from the rear of the bus. Dave says it’s because it’s going through the engine and cowling that amplifies the sound. I was praying we didn’t flip over in the night, it was so rough!
The pic shows the action while I sat out a round so others could get a turn. We had that many show up to play. This game was not only fun, it was hilarious. Your butt cannot leave the chair. You must rotate, just like real volleyball. It is hard people! But we laughed and hooted our way through it. I had some good volleys, but the reality was, we all sucked and need a lot more practice. Or do we? Maybe it’s supposed to be a silly, good time. We all had a laugh and a good time for sure.
I headed back to the motor home to get the snacks ready, grab David, and head to the activities center for the potluck and the game. Those chairs were uncomfortable, so we stayed a little while, ate some snacks and really good desserts, then headed home to feed and walk the dogs before halftime. I thought Rihanna put on a great show. Now we are watching the rest of the game. GO CHIEFS!!
Yeah, I’m from Texas, but my boys like the Chiefs and I don’t care for Philly…sorry Eagle fans! My sincere condolences if y’all lose!
The mountain views here are always changing and to me, fascinating. Today for instance, we were coming back from grocery shopping in Marana when we observed this severe looking view of our peak here in Picacho. It’s because it was cloudy and the other side of the highway’s mountain was shrouded in rain. This created an almost cartoonish view of the mountain. The picture doesn’t do it justice, it was a purplish-black that was most creepy looking. The rain on the opposing mountain was coming down in a curtain that’s edge was clearly visible. I wish I had taken a picture of it.
The other day, the sun was shining but there were puffy little clouds around giving the mountains a beautiful, mottled look that highlighted the greens, tans, and purples of the mountain side. They constantly fascinate me, as do the cactus. The closer we got to Marana, the more lush the desert became. It was a virtual jungle of cacti, trees, bushes, and grasses. Teddy bear cholla were everywhere, and the saguaro were thick. Yesterday, we were walking the dogs and met another lady in the park who stopped to chat and give our girls a treat. She spoke with us quite a while, eventually inviting us to go see something called a crested saguaro on a particular walking trail she knows of. I will have to take her up on that…when it stops raining.
I never tire of the beautiful landscape here, and I’m dying to explore new places to search for rocks and/or gems (if I’m that lucky)! I could see coming back to this area year after year, maybe in a different place each time so we would have new views each time. So much to discover and explore in the great southwest, from canyons, to caverns, mountains covered in cactus to rock covered mountains and lush vegetation to beautiful lakes. Rock formations that will blow your mind to white sands as far as the eye can see. All somewhere in Arizona and New Mexico! I wish we had the gas and the money to explore a new town every day or even once a week, but soaring gas and grocery prices make that impossible at the moment.
What we do discover I will gladly share! Let me share a few pics in a simple gallery of photos I may not have shared yet.
I can’t wait to see what the new area will provide when we change locations in couple of weeks!
Anyway, back to the series on The Wild, Wild West where I was discussing the cacti native to Arizona, especially the southwest area. Along the way today, I’m playing along with Linda G. Hill’s prompt for today’s SoCS.
| Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “start your post or one paragraph with the word ‘anyway.’” Bonus points if you start your post with “anyway” and regular points if you use it in a paragraph somewhere else in your post. Enjoy! |
Today’s post concentrates on hedgehog cactus and their colorful flowers, pincushion cactus, and fish hook cactus.
This species grows in clusters, has brightly colored flowers, and favors rocky or volcanic soil.
You can surely understand how it gots its name with all those spiny clusters of sharp spines. This one resembles the Boyce Thompson hedgehog, but that has since changed classification.
Each of these species has the most vibrant flowers! This one here has 3inch white spines…Watch out! I wouldn’t want to fall on that! They also grow in New Mexico and certain parts of Texas. Most of the cactus I’m talking about does.
Who knew such dangerous plants grew such pretty flowers? The plants themselves can be pretty dull brown, or green clusters and these gorgeous flowers pop out! Nature is amazing!
Anyway, let’s move on to the fish hooks, shall we?
This one says it also goes by pineapple cactus and has red needles, or spines, making it appear pink or purple from a distance. I think when it gets a bit warmer, I’m going to go through the park and find out how many of these cacti I can find and identify. Many of the fine folks around here have them in their landscaping.
This example is pretty but rarely seen in our area, more to the northwest.
It says this is the most common variety local to Phoenix, so I doubt if I’ll find this one here, but of course, the flowers are mostly seen in the spring and summer. We might be gone by then. 🙁
Ok, now let’s look at a few pincushion types.
This guy grows flat to the ground and is seen all over Arizona, usually solitary in nature. It’s frost tolerant and can also be seen all the way down to the Texas gulf coast.
White to pale yellow flowers and green/brown fruits distinguish this species. Also close to the ground but grows in clusters instead of alone.
There’s still so many more different varieties of cacti to cover. I didn’t show nearly all of the many types of cholla cactuses, but some people may want me to move on now to the 10 most dangerous animals of the area. So, maybe tomorrow I’ll tackle that subject.
Anyway, it’s about time to sample some of that delicious strawberry cake Mr Darcy gave us! Yes, I returned his plate with some of my own creations on it…luckily the man loves peanut butter! I made him some peanut butter cookies and some chocolate and peanut butter fat bombs! He was very appreciative ☺️ It was nice to meet and chat with him for a few minutes. I learned that he moved here to the resort to be close to his grandkids, downsizing after his wife passed away. It made me happy that I returned his plate with a gift of my own on it!
I was going to talk about the need to initiate conversation in order to make friends around here, when suddenly there was a knock at our door. This man we’ve never met dropped off this beautiful cake and said he wanted to put a smile on our face! I’ll say!
Right now my belly is full of ice cream after attending my second ice cream social, but the cake still looks wonderful. That was super random, but oh so nice! I’m more than blown away, as the man ran off so fast we didn’t have time to invite him in, or even see where he came from or went to! I’m not accustomed to such random acts of kindness, I’m still reeling from it! Maybe he didn’t want us to feel obligated in any way and that’s why he left so fast?
I will have to invite him over if I see him again! That’s one way to initiate a friendship!
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