Usually Dry Rock Creek, Rock Creek Canyon, Provo, Utah

 After a winter of record snowfalls, our usually dry Rock Creek is a torrent. It drains into a huge retention basin to prevent flooding and has attracted the out-of-school children to play in its cold water. We enjoyed a hike up Rock Canyon and enjoyed the roar of the creek. 

Time for Tulips Part One

One tulip is beautiful, but how beautiful are thousands of tulips? Here is a series of photos of some of the thousands of tulips at the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival in Lehi, Utah 2023. I will be publishing them from time to time. 

Box Turtle

 A short trip to Florida put us back in the Southern forests where there is a lot of water and the opportunity to see a lot of animals. Quoting from Wikipedia: Box Turtle:

Box turtle is the common name for several species of turtle. It may refer to those of the genus Cuora or Pyxidea, which are the Asian box turtles, or more commonly to species of the genus Terrapene, the North American box turtles. They are largely characterized by having a shell shaped like a dome, which is hinged at the bottom, allowing the animal to close its shell tightly to escape predators. Furthermore, the two genera are very different in habitat, behavior and appearance, and are not even classified in the same family. Even though box turtles became very popular pets, their needs in captivity are complex and the capture of turtles can have serious detrimental effects on the wild population.

The box turtle commonly lives over twenty years, with verified cases of lifespans exceeding 40 to 50 years. There have been unverified cases of box turtles living for a hundred years and more.

Bamboo

 

I am fascinated by bamboo. My fascination dates back to when I lived in the jungle in Panama. There are over a 1000 different varieties of bamboo. Quoting from Wikipedia: List of bamboo species;

In the tribe Bambuseae also known as bamboo, there are 91 genera and over 1,000 species. The size of bamboo varies from small annuals to giant timber bamboo. Bamboo evolved only 30 to 40 million years ago, after the demise of the dinosaurs. Bamboo species can be divided into clumping (sympodial) and running (monopodial) species.

This photo is obviously clumping bamboo.  

Time for an AI Break

 

One of big tech controversies is the impact of AI generated images on traditional photography. I have to admit I had a hard time getting this albino allegator to hold still long enough to have his photo taken but in the end the photo was acceptable. Actually, this is Microsoft Designer. Whether you think AI is a good idea or not is sort of asking the same question about automobiles replacing horses or fast food restaurants. The impact is going to be more than anyone can imagine.  

The Tulips of Spring

 

During the years I lived in the Arizona Sonora Desert of Arizona, I looked forward to March and April when the cactus would bloom. Now that I live in the mountains of Utah, I can look forward to tulips and other flowers. These are generically known as Ruffled Tulips or Parrot Tulips. These happen to be white but some have various colors.