Aphids

Ooh, gross. During the years I was actively gardening, aphids were the enemy. Some plants, like roses, brussels sprouts and cabbage were often ruined. Out in the wild, there is no one to fight the aphids so they can enjoy their meal of plant juice. Sometimes we need be reminded that everything in the world has its place.

Natural Abstract

When I was heavily involved in art, as an art major at the university, I enjoyed all of the fantastic variety of works that had been created throughout history. I even appreciated abstract art and the so-called modern art. I particularly like Mondrian, Klee and other artists. What I have found in nature is that many of the forms verge on the abstract, especially when viewed close up and without the context of their surroundings. It is interesting to go look for these abstract moments in nature.

Sotol

This isn't a yucca plant, nor is it an agave and it isn't a cactus. It does fall in the overall category of succulents, but it is a tough desert dweller that has a variety of uses. The teeth along the perimeter of the leaves are very sharp but not so large as to cause many problems. Sotol are more common to the east and south of the Salt River Valley, but they can be found in a variety of locations around the state. Unlike agave and yucca, sotols are not a favorite landscape plant in Arizona. I like their form and color.

Crested Barrel Cactus

The Carefree Desert Garden in Arizona is a treasure house of rare cactus variations. Cresting is an extremely rare condition and this is the first and only crested barrel cactus I have seen in my lifetime of walking through the desert. Normally, the cactus would look like this:

Quite a difference!

Genetic Mutations

Some types of cactus seem to have a propensity to genetic variations technically called fascination. There is a very nice collection of cactus at the Carefree Desert Gardens, north of Scottsdale, Arizona. This type of variation is rare in some species but more common in saguaro cactus. The process is seen in a huge variety of plant species, but seems to be more noticeable in cactus because of the variations in the stems of the plants. I run across fascinated saguaro cactus from time to time, but didn't realize how many other types were affected. 

Old Man Cactus

One of the speculations about cactus spines is that they are a means of defense. This might be a good theory except for the fact that many cactus spines are not hard and pointy but soft like hair. The Old Man Cactus is a good example. Some cactus have spines that are almost non-existent or so small as to be ineffective as a protective measure. So why do cactus have spines? Maybe there is a fundamental universal question here.

Heart of Stone

Exfoliating granite makes some of the most organic looking rock formations. This is one of those arrangements that catch your eye and make you stop to look. We were driving down the highway and just had to pull over and take a picture of this unusual rock formation. I guess I am one of those people who love rocks; large, small, it doesn't really matter. I just love rocks.

$8 Million Dollar Fire

We had a rather spectacular fire in Mesa the other day. You can read about it here. My grandson and I were out on a project and saw the fire and unfortunately decided to drive and see what it was all about. I say unfortunately, because we got caught in a grid-lock traffic jam around the fire and it took us over an hour and half to drive home, a trip that usually takes ten minutes. The fire was a plumbing company warehouse owned by some people we know personally. The fire was about eight miles from our house.

Age of the Dinosaurs

We don't really have to go much further than our gardens or the edge of the desert to see what dinosaurs looked like. Granted, these zillion generation descendants are not really related to the giant fossil guys, but it is always comforting to think that if you went back in time, the giant monsters of the past would just turn out to be docile lizards only grown large. Unfortunately, any speculation about their good nature evaporated with Godzilla.

Protection

Here is one of the most puzzling questions about the desert; why do cactus have spines? The evolutionary explanation is that they are modified leaves, but why not just lose the leaves altogether? Why long sharp spines? The few animals that eat cactus, eat the spines as well as everything else. But there are precious few animals that eat cactus with or without spines. In fact, almost every plant that grows in the desert, except some grasses and ground hugging plants, have some kind of sharp pointy things growing on them. Why? What possible evolutionary advantage is there to a defensive system for which there is no enemy?

Fringe Benefits

My guess is that this cactus grows where the desert is very dry, but near an ocean where a fog comes in periodically. The fringes likely capture moisture from the air and the droplets then collect and run down the ribs of the cactus to provide water to the roots. Otherwise this is just extremely weird.

Heart of Darkness or Heart of Light?

Do you see a heart of darkness or a heart of light? What you see depends on your attitude, your cumulative life experiences and your faith in the future. This is another in the series of photos by Amberly. I can't tell if the picture is a fortuitous accident or a carefully planned execution, but in either event it is thought provoking and technically interesting.

View from 14,000 feet

You get a perspective from the top of a mountain that you cannot get anywhere else. This huge panorama is on Pike's Peak in Colorado looking towards the east. You will have to click on the image to see the detail. I climbed my first "mountain" when I was about seven years old. I went up by myself and it changed my life by giving me a new perspective. To this day, I can remember standing on top of the hill and the effect on my life.

Night Movement

This is another contributed photo from Amberly, the Texas photographer. You can get some interesting effects by leaving your camera shutter open for an extended time at night. On older cameras this used to be called "bulb" because of the cable used by early photographer to trip the shutter. On newer electronic cameras finding out how to take a long exposure can be an interesting challenge. The camera needs to be on a tripod or sitting on a solid surface to take this type of photo.

Imagined Settings

This is another contribution from the Texas photographer. Her name is Amberly. See if you can guess how these photos are made. We call it painting with light. I expect she will have more of these in the future. This type of photography is disassociated with reality and the antithesis of my landscapes and flowers. I think this is one reason why I liked her photos.

Not a rose, among the thorns

This is not a rose and technically, those aren't thorns, they are spines, but the saying sort-of works if you don't think about it too long. One of imponderables is why cactus flowers are so beautiful and the plants so defensive? We live in a very strange world when it comes right down to it!

Shadows of the Night

This photo marks the commencement of a collaboration with a talented young photographer from Texas. Hopefully, she will continue to create more the outstanding photos I have already seen and will share here on Walking Arizona. Let me know if you would like to see more of her work. This is a rather strange view, but the eyes make the photo. Click on the photo for an enlargement.

Rock Climbing

During most of my teenage years and off and on for the rest of my adult years, I was a rock climber. In later years, my climbing was limited to teaching rappelling, but I can relate to these folks climbing that central spire. You might have to click on the photo to enlarge it so that you can see the climbers. but there is one sitting right on top belaying up another climber on the edge of the rock.

Greeting the Sun

In the desert, most of the animals are active at night. Many of the cactus bloom at night and so sunrise is a transitional period. The birds and small animals are active, but looking for a place to spend the heat of the day. Within a few hours, the temperature can soar over thirty degrees. Every few minutes it goes up another degree or two and there is a bustle getting ready to survive the heat of the day. Walking around, taking photographs, suddenly, we are too hot and it is time to go home.

Ears

Early morning in the desert is a good time to try to find small animals. Rabbits have veins in their ears that help keep their bodies cooled down in the heat. Depending on who or what you are, rabbits are either cute, food or a pest. This one is definitely cute.

Moonlight Daylight

I am always fascinated by seeing the moon in broad daylight. It is like a small round cloud and it is interesting to watch it transform into a brilliant light in the sky as dusk comes and the light from the sun dims. I have to admit this is a composite picture. I could get either the moon or the plant in focus but not both at the same time. I had to take two pictures, one with the moon in focus and one with the plant in focus and then merge the two images into one composite. I didn't move the moon, it really was right there behind the plant's branches.

Breakfast

Look carefully and you will see what happens to the saguaro fruit. I becomes breakfast for a myriad of birds and insects. Once ripe, the fruit split open and expose the ripe red, juicy core. The fruit has thousands of small, hard, black seeds that the birds cannot digest. The birds fly away leaving the seeds all across the desert encased in a little bit of fertilizer (bird poop). Fortunately, some of these seeds fall in places where they can germinate and grow a new crop of saguaro cactus. Click on the image for a larger view of the bird eating the cactus.

Ripening Fruit

Those of you who are used to traditional fruit such as apples, peaches and pears, probably would not view these offerings with approval. But I can assure you they are delicious, especially the prickly pear fruit on top. It is dark red when ripe and juicy with small black seeds. We cook down the fruit in a steam juicer and make the best jelly and syrup you can imagine. The other picture is Cardon cactus fruit and it is bright orange color when ripe. The fruit is not common here in Arizona. The plants live mostly in Mexico, so I have not had any of that fruit to eat, but I imagine it must be good.

Basking in the sun

We have always had lizards. They are mostly inoffensive and unobtrusive. In the movies they are always used as the models for the monsters, but in real life they are pretty cute and keep to themselves. In the the early morning, they have to warm up before they can move around much and you can find them sitting in the sunlight, sometimes doing "pushups" to get their blood evenly warmed and circulating. Anything that eats bugs is a friend of mine.

Solidarity

There are two areas of these remarkable rocks a short distance from each other. One is the head of the famous Camelback Mountain and the other is this collection of huge rocks called Papago Park. This rock is extremely familiar to me because we frequently rappelled off of the top of the cliff on the right-hand side of the rock in this picture. We would take youth groups and teach them to rappel. The cliff has an overhang and is about 150 feet from the rappel point on top to the bottom of the cliff.

Mom and Dad watching

These two lovely quail had a flock of babies. Unfortunately for taking photos, the baby quail stayed under thick bushes and only came out to run very fast on their tiny stick legs. Meanwhile, the mother and father quail stood guard on a rock overlooking all of the babies. They kept talking to each other and calling to the babies. They are very attentive parents. I love to hear the quail talk back and forth to each other, it is one of most familiar sounds I hear in the desert.

Antlers Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Antlers Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado USA in USA

Antlers Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado is located at across the street from the old Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Terminal in the heart of the downtown area. It takes its name from an early resort hotel built in the area of the park. It is easily accessible from the freeway. The park is handicapped accessible, features a historical locomotive, picnicking, a large group reservation picnic shelter, restrooms, and a sidewalk path. The park has been in existence since the early 1900s. Colorado Springs is over 6000 feet above sea level and the western parts of the city extend to over 7000 feet. With a population of over 400,000 people, it is the second largest city in Colorado. The City is situated near the base of one of the most famous mountains in American history, Pike’s Peak. At over 14,000 feet, Pike’s Peak was one of the first mountains spotted by early pioneers as they crossed the Plains going west.

Night Glory

Unless you get up very early in the morning or stay up all night, you will miss some of the most spectacular cactus flowers. These are the cactus that bloom only at night. But the time the sun is up and the day begins, the flowers are already closing and by afternoon, they are shriveled remnants of the glory of the night. Who would expect that such gorgeous flowers would bloom only at night? Even if I go to bed late, I always get up early, I don't want to miss anything.

Defying Gravity

Rock spires are a major natural attraction because they seem to defy gravity and reason. It is unreasonable to think that a rock could stay standing without some kind of substantial support. Considering the size of rocks that I have seen fall off of cliffs, I am always wary of the apparent reliability of something that has no visible means of support. That goes for people also.

Verticality

During most of my life, whenever I looked at a cliff, I was always figuring out a way to climb it. I was looking for routes that would provide protection and access to the top. Sometime, as I grew older, I finally stopped looking a cliffs as a challenge and began looking at them for the beauty of the formations. I think this picture is interesting because the form of the rock in mirrored in the the form of the trees.

Garden of the Gods

Some places have fortunate names. This beautiful formation is in a city park called "The Garden of the Gods." Without such a name, the whole area, might have been gobbled up by the subdivisions that lie just at its edge.  There are several places I know where development moved right in and over the naturally beautiful area but there are others where the area has been spared by development.

Rocky Mountain Yucca

Succulents and cactus are usually associated with deserts, but this particular yucca plant is growing at almost 8000 feet up in the Rocky Mountains. Some cactus also grow at high altitudes and in extreme temperatures. This is a testimony to the extent to which plants can adapt to various niches throughout the world. On the other hand, it is nice to see one of my familiar plants in an unfamiliar place.

Home Construction

Home Construction, Mesa, Arizona USA in Arizona

Home construction methods vary by region in the United States. Arizona has a distinctive frame on slab method of construction that is different from other areas of the country where there are concerns about water, freezing and natural disasters. This is a typical frame covered with stucco design. The panorama shows the ceiling joists for a second floor that has yet to be added. This particular construction was a virtually complete remodel of an existing structure. Note the existing walls are minimal and the new construction has added living space to the original house. Weather is not usually a factor in construction in Arizona, but heat is and the work begins early and ends before the hottest part of the day. This portion of the construction took about a week to complete. The complete framing of the house should be done in another week or less.

Architecture

I have always been fascinated with architecture and I have seen this building many times in photographs but only recently had the opportunity of visiting it for the first time. I was very much impressed and loved the way the photos came out. If you haven't guessed already, it is the Cadet Chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Cadet Chapel, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado USA in USA

The United States Air Force Academy is located on 18,500 acres, just north of Colorado Springs, Colorado in a lovely mountain setting at an altitude of 7,258 feet above sea level. The Cadet Chapel is 150 high and has separate chapels for different religious groups. The Academy is a four-year program designed to provide cadets to serve as Air Force career officers. Cadets graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree and are commissioned as Second Lieutenants in the Air Force. Back in 1949, the Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington appointed a commission to assist in selecting a site for the Academy and on April 1, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized creation of the United States Air Force Academy. After considering 580 sites in 45 states, the commission narrowed the choice to three locations. The summer of 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold Talbott selected the site.

Main Square, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado in USA

The United States Air Force Academy is located on 18,500 acres, just north of Colorado Springs, Colorado in a lovely mountain setting at an altitude of 7,258 feet above sea level. The Academy is a four-year program designed to provide cadets to serve as Air Force career officers. Cadets graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree and are commissioned as Second Lieutenants in the Air Force. Back in 1949, the Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington appointed a commission to assist in selecting a site for the Academy and on April 1, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized creation of the United States Air Force Academy. After considering 580 sites in 45 states, the commission narrowed the choice to three locations. The summer of 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold Talbott selected the site. The Cadet Chapel is 150 high and has separate chapels for different religious groups.

Regal Saguaro

Saguaro cactus are not the largest in the world, but they are the largest in the desert in Arizona. I have noted before that saguaro have become identified with the idea of desert to the extent that they have been included in graphics for areas where saguaros do not grow, such as Monument Valley in Northern Arizona. One interesting thing about this beautiful specimen are the visible annual growth rings around the arms and central stem of the cactus. A cactus like this is like more than 200 years old. You have to understand that the arms grow after the stem is already 20 or so feet tall. The saguaros in the background are only about 75 to 100 years old.

Meteor Crater

Meteor Crater is located in a barren section of the Colorado Plateau just east of Flagstaff, Arizona. It is one of the most completely preserved impact craters on the planet. Similar craters exist on the moon and other planets, but most of the earth's impact craters have been eroded to point of invisibility. The origin of the crater was debated for many years and it was originally thought to have a volcanic origin. None of the scientific community could believe that anything could fall from the sky and make such a huge hole in the earth. Reading about how scientist finally became convinced of the crater's extraterrestrial origin is an education in the temporary nature of all scientific theories and laws. I have visited the crater many times over the years and enjoyed this view from above.

Star Cactus Flower

Some cactus have fanciful names (they must of had good PR agents) and this is one of them. It is called the Star cactus because of its shape. This is the first time I can ever remember seeing one of the flowers. It is extraordinary, like all cactus flowers, with delicately colored petals and a strikingly colored center. Capturing these cactus flowers could be a daily job, but when you only have time to visit them once and while, you could go a whole lifetime and never see such a flower.