Hi again.  This is my second post for the day, but I hadn’t yet been outside when I posted the first, and hadn’t yet seen this lovely flowering Coryphantha.  Enjoy!

Also, be sure to see my last post, below.  I don’t think the mass e-mail went out about it, and I wanted everyone to see it!

This time, it’s a Southwestern Black-Headed snake (Tantilla hobartsmithi). Rich caught him in our basement. He’s seen several down there recently, but this one he was able to catch and bring up for me to see, and of course, photograph. He’s so CUTE! …and TINY!

Our book on the subject (Western Reptiles and Amphibians, by Robert C. Stebbins) told us that these guys live under things (rocks, dead logs and bushes, in basements, etc.), and come out at night to eat small beetles, crickets, and centipedes (which would explain why he’s hanging out in our basement). They lay clutches of 1-3 eggs in the summer. I am assuming this is one of this summer’s babies, as he was very tiny. They are anywhere from 5-15 inches long. They have a bright red or red-orange stripe down the center of their bellies. Usually, this is to frighten predators away somehow, but the book doesn’t say anything about it for this particular snake.

Hope you have enjoyed our latest nature encounter!

P.S. Incidentally, we put him back outside near a basement vent when we were finished checking him out and taking pictures. I hope he lives a long, happy basement existence, and catches many crickets, spiders, and centipedes. ICK.

I have some new little plants growing, and an update on my first Mesquite tree.

Actually, let’s do that first. I can’t believe how much my first Mesquite tree has grown! It’s not what I would call ‘mighty’ yet, but it’s getting there. I am very happy with its growth. Here are a couple pictures of it:

I have sown a second Mesquite seed, and it has sprouted, and is putting out its first ferny little sets of leaves. It’s a little behind the first one, and half of its cotyledon died when it first sprouted. However, it seems fine, and the first Mesquite has lost its cotyledon already anyway, so this one should be fine. Here is its progress:

At the time I sowed the second Mesquite tree, I sowed two Caesalpinia gilliesii seeds. The common name for this plant is ‘yellow bird of paradise’, though it is not related to the real bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae). One of those has sprouted, and is growing beautifully, and the second has yet to sprout. The seeds for these were a gift from a friend I visited in San Diego. I gave half the seeds to my mom, and kept half to grow myself. They are an experiment. Several people have told me these will be cold-hardy here in Moab, so I want to try them, but have enough plants to keep some INSIDE, too! Here is my one little plant, and its progression (the last photo was taken today):

That’s about all I have to say this time. I will add this photo of a red dragonfly that Rich took today, though. Thanks for stopping by!

Okay, this isn’t going to be a great post, but at least I can tell you what I did for the rest of my time in SoCal.

August 9: I left Santa Clarita to drive to San Diego at 7:45am. It took me just under 3 hours to get there. I went to visit some fellow cactus & succulent enthusiasts who are also VERY knowledgeable and nice. I arrived at Balboa Park at about 10:30am for the San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society meeting and plant sale. It was interesting to attend a meeting, since I have never been to one for a cactus & succulent society. Really, it was like a large support group with lots of friendly people. I wish I lived closer to a C & S society.

Before the meeting, one of my friends walked with me around the Balboa Park cactus garden and shade house (which is full of beautiful orchids). Thanks, Jürgen! Here are some photos from there:

Grounds of Balboa Park:

Cactus garden:

Shade house:

When the meeting was over, I went to another friend (Mark)’s house to see his plants and gardens, and hang out with he and his wife, and 2 cute little boys. I was supposed to meet up with another friend who happened to be in San Diego from Mexico on business, but that ended up not working out, and I stayed with Mark & his wife. It was very nice of them to let me stay, and I had a great time hanging out with them. They even fed me dinner, which was FAR above and beyond the call of duty.

The following morning (August 10), I drove to El Cajon to Jürgen’s house to see his plants. He (and Mark, too) has some amazing plants. Some very strange things, and some beautifully-grown old plants. It’s always a pleasure to see other people’s plants!

Here is a photo of Jürgen’s greenhouse: 
After leaving San Diego, I drove back up to Santa Clarita, and Barb and I went out for some food at a place called Buon Gusto. I had an AMAZING sandwich (panini), and some delicious watermelon-flavored Italian ice. YUM! I think for the rest of the afternoon, we just hung out and had some beer, and watched the Olympics, etc.

August 11: Barb took the day off work, and we did some shopping, and ate some more good food, though I can’t remember what (See?! This is what happens when I don’t ‘blog right away). I introduced Barb to Kenny vs. Spenny that night, and we watched about 6 episodes of that. I think we had Wanna Iguana Mexican food for dinner that night.

August 12: I went and picked Barb up at work, and we went to Tommy’s for lunch. It is impossible for me to visit southern California and NOT eat at Tommy’s. After lunch, I went back to Barb’s house, and packed up my bags and all the stuff I had bought while there. When Barb came home, we went to Baja Fresh for dinner, and then I left her house to drive to Whittier to stay for one night with Rich’s mom. Chris’s mother dropped him off there, and he was with me for the rest of the time in SoCal.

August 13: CHRIS’S 15th BIRTHDAY!!! We had Baja Fresh for lunch (yes, AGAIN), and left Rich’s mom’s house to go to his brother’s house in Alta Loma (Rancho Cucamonga). We spent 2 days there, swimming in the pool, watching movies, and eating. It was nice to see everyone there. We see Charlie frequently, as he visits Moab a couple times a year, but we never see my sister-in-law Virginia. While I was there, she taught me how to play a variety of sports on the Nintendo Wii. It was fun! I was good at the baseball, but HORRIBLE at the bowling.

August 15: We left early in the morning to drive home to Moab. It is about an 11 hour drive, so it’s an all-day event. I got home at about 7:00pm, to a very happy husband and dog. It was a great trip!

Thanks for commenting!

Hi, all.

I just got home from southern California this evening, and look what was waiting for me on my vine! A bunch of lemon cucumbers! Here is what they looked like before I left:

…and here they are now:  

They have come a long way since then. Here is the one I picked (and ate) this evening:

That last is a very UNPLEASANT action shot of me tasting it.

It was really tasty, and as you can see, they are not your usual cucumbers. The only thing I can see as a downside is that the very lovely skin (which was actually pearlescent and speckled with nice black prickles) was TOUGH. Barb already suggested that I just skin it. I GUESS that would make everything okay, but I grew this in MY GARDEN, darn it, and I wanted to experience it as a ‘whole fruit’.

K

P.S. San Diego pictures, and the rest of the SoCal story coming soon, I promise. The problem: I have over 600 photos to edit and select a few from to post. May be a few days.

Hi again, and thanks for tuning in!

August 4th: …continued from last time. Barb & I went to Romano’s Macaroni Grill for dinner. I had a yummy dish with grilled chicken, caramelized onions and mushrooms in a creamy Marsala wine sauce - all over rigatoni. I drew a totally funny chicken on their paper tablecloth, and we had horrible service, but we had fun. We went home and went to bed early. Yeah - my life just isn’t that exciting. Hee hee hee.

August 5th: Barb picked her kids up from their dad’s house early in the morning, then she dropped them off at home, and went to work. I watched cartoons all morning, for which I feel guilty. Cartoons just don’t seem to be what they used to be, either.

Barb came home early from work, took her daughter to register for her first year in high school, and then we went to Panda Express for lunch, which happens to be in the same parking lot as Lowe’s, which has a cactus section. I bought Aloe ‘lizard lips’ there. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the backyard, and Pizza Hut brought us dinner. I went to bed early.

August 6th: Went to Pasadena - saw James (bought a bike helmet from James, because I left mine in Moab), Jeff, Chris W., Dave, Tama, Brent. Went to Puebla for lunch - had a carne asada burrito. MMMM! I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!

This is me, enjoying it immensely.

I had to send photos to Rich via cell phone, to show him what he is missing. HA!! Apparently, Mountain Dew has made up some crackpot new flavors for us to enjoy (this one is Berry & Ginseng).

It wasn’t bad. Carl’s Jr. for dinner, bed at 11:00

August 7th: Pasadena. Went to see Dr. Castner, and spent the afternoon with Laurie.

Made a bracelet, and here it is:

Went to see Jeff, Lacey, and Cameron. Cameron is CUTE! Here is a picture of Cameron & Lacey:

Forgot to eat lunch, and had Taco Bell with Barb for dinner. Went to bed at 9:30, and slept through the night.

August 8th: Got up at 9:00. met Barb at Geisha Sushi for lunch.

Yum! Barb was right - it IS better than Shogun. We ordered the daily special, which was called ‘dragon balls’. They were rice topped with some VERY fishy fish, then some sort of sweet sauce, and baked. I thought they were okay, and Barb said she wanted to like them, but couldn’t. How could we pass up trying it at 3 for $1.00?!

Here they are:

We also ordered a California roll, a spicy tuna roll, a kamikaze roll, and a pink panther roll. The pink panther roll is pink from fish flakes springkled on top.

Here are the kamikaze roll & the pink panther roll:

Tune in again soon for my TRIP TO SAN DIEGO!

Hello, loyal readers.

I am currently spending two weeks in southern California, visiting my friends and Rich’s family. Rich decided to give this trip a miss, since he had to catch up on a bunch of website work, and has been recording with his band.

My trip started August 1st, when I left Moab at about 11:30 am. I packed up my car, and drove out, headed for Janet’s house in Cedar City. That’s about a 5-hour drive, and I wanted to see Janet since I hardly ever see her. I spent the night at Janet’s house. Here we are:

Janet and her boyfriend of about 8 years Joel just got engaged last week. I got to see her ring (and of course take pictures of it). Here is that:

August 2nd: After leaving Janet’s house at about 8:30 am, I drove on toward Los Angeles. I stopped in Mesquite, Nevada to put gas in my car (gas prices are OUTRAGEOUS at $4.29/gallon), and had some breakfast. About 3 hours past Las Vegas on I-15 is Baker, California. It’s one of the hottest places in the USA. They have a restaurant (called Bun Boy…he he he) which boasts the ‘world’s tallest thermometer’. At noon, when I drove through Baker, the thermometer said it was 104°F. I have seen it much hotter than that in Baker, but at noon…that’s pretty hot. Here is a photo of the ‘world’s tallest thermometer’, reading 104°.

An hour or so past Baker, CA is Barstow. At Barstow, I turned onto hwy 58 west, and drove to Mojave, CA. There, I got onto the 14 freeway, and headed south toward Santa Clarita, which is where my friend Barb lives. I arrived at her house at about 3:15 pm, and was rewarded with beer. MMMM! We did nothing that evening, except order some pizza (which was delectable), and watch some TV.

August 3rd: Barb and I got up and waited for her mom to come home from church. When she did, we went out with her to Margarita’s (a Mexican restaurant), where they serve a spectacular Sunday brunch, including Mexican and American breakfast stuff. YUM! After leaving Margarita’s, Barb & I drove out to a cactus ranch we have been to many times on hwy 126 (which goes to Ventura). We shopped for about an hour, and I ended up buying 13 new plants, one of which I promised to get for MY MOM. Barb got 12 new plants. Below is a picture of one of the plants I got. It’s a Pachypodium saundersii. If my camera (the old one, thank GOD) hadn’t died, I’d have a bunch of pictures of the actual cactus ranch to show.

After the cactus ranch, we went to a store close to where Barb lives called ‘Tokyo’. It’s full of all kinds of Japanese toys and collectibles. I loved it, and bought some things. I bought 2 boxes of tiny collectible food collections called ‘Puchi Petites‘. I got one from the ‘Sushi Bar’ collection, and one from the ‘Elegant Sweets’ collection. I took the stuff out of their boxes, but I did not open their plastic packaging. Here they are:

Sushi Bar ‘What Dad Enjoys’:

box front: box back: stuff that came in the box:

Elegant Sweets ‘Gourmet Market in Department Stores’:

box front: box back: stuff that came in the box:
We went for sushi last night, at Shogun Sushi, which is just a few blocks form Barb’s house. I thought it was absolutely delightful and delicious (but with abhorrent service), but Barb said it was just okay, and she’s got a MUCH better place for me to try, once we are ready for sushi again, which could be any minute now…

While I have been here at Barb’s, I have taken lots of pictures of Barb’s dogs, Bella & Chief. Yesterday, I sat outside in the morning, waiting for a bird I had seen to come back, because I’d never seen one like it before. Of course, it never came back. GRRRR. In any case, here are photos of the dogs. Maybe I will take pics of the cats tomorrow.

Bella: and Chief:

August 4th: Today, I went and met Barb for lunch near where she works. She works for Princess Cruises. Here’s the P.C. building:

Okay, I have taken up enough of everyone’s time. Thanks for stopping by, and please don’t forget to comment below!

*K*

I made my first ‘harvest’ from my garden.  They are Anaheim chiles.  I ate one, and it was very mild, with just a little heat when I got near the stem.  Very tasty!  Since I took these photos, I have also harvested about 10 jalapeño chiles.  They are pretty hot, and very nice.

I am also posting some photos here of my little Mesquite tree, so you can see how quickly it is growing.  These pictures were taken this morning (July 12th).  I think it is beautiful, and I am very proud of it!  I have noticed that it requires a LOT of water, especially right now while Moab is so hot and dry!  I soak it every morning, and it is limp by the following morning, silently begging for water.  Here it is:

Here it is in its actual home.  It lives under the screen to save it from grasshoppers and any other seedling predator, and also to provide it with just a bit more shade than it would out in the open.

Stand by for more updates!

Howdy, loyal readers.

My little garden is doing very well. I have so many little green cherry tomatoes I can’t count them all, I have Anaheim and jalapeño chiles coming out both ears (not literally), and everything else is super happy. I am really glad that I chose the spot I did for the garden this year. It’s obviously a good spot! Here are some photos from the garden:

…and the whole garden:

Another new development in my plant menagerie is a Mesquite tree. My mom gave me some Mesquite seed pods about a year ago, and I hadn’t really thought about them since then. I was just recently cleaning off my potting table, and there they were, begging to be planted. I opened one, and put 1 seed into a small container with suitable dirt, watered it well, and put a lid on it. 5 days later, up popped a small Mesquite tree! I was surprised how quickly it germinated. It has grown quite a bit since then, and I have removed the lid, so it gets air circulation. I put a nice piece of screen over it to 1) protect it from the sun, and 2) protect it from the millions of voracious grasshoppers that are invading my yard now.

Here are some photos of my little Mesquite tree.

Under the screen:

Several others:

If you take a closer look at that last one, you can see that it is now getting its first set of the nice ferny little leaves that adult Mesquite trees have:

As always, all photos are clickable thumbnails. Thanks for visiting!

This week, the only things happening in the greenhouse are non-succulent. I have taken almost all my plants out of the greenhouse, because I have not yet figured out how to attach the shade cloth to the inside of it, and my plants were roasting.

There is, however, a VERY healthy and happy volunteer moonflower (Datura) growing in the corner of the greenhouse. I think it came with the floor gravel as a seed. It’s been coming up every year since we built the greenhouse. This year, though, it seems bigger and happier than in the past. Here are some of its charms:

Alright. That being said (and shown), there have also been other goings-on in my greenhouse. The day I took all these photos of the moonflower, I went to the greenhouse, camera swinging from my neck, and discovered that to take photos of this plant and its enchanting flowers, I’d have to move a PILE of stuff. There was a ladder, a trash can, 4 watering jugs, a step stool, and a towel, all in the way. I moved everything, and when I got to the towel, I lifted it, and out jumped the tiniest, cutest little toad! I had never seen one so handsome…he was very white and bumpy, and had tiny black, brown and red spots. I was really glad Rich was in the yard close by, because I wanted him to hold the toad, so I could shoot photos of him. We caught the toad, and I took about a million pictures. We then took him down to the creek behind the house, and let him go there. He got right into the water, and swam very well. I am still not sure how he got into the greenhouse and under that towel in the first place, but I am glad he did, and I am glad I found him in time to save him from cooking in there! Here he is, in all his tiny glory:

Happy end of June!