Wild Life

We took a trip out to the desert this afternoon, looking for flowers and rocks and found something we didn't expect to see. A bright green iguana sunning himself on a red rock. He was a hundred feet from the car when we spotted him and from the distance, I thought maybe somebody had placed a kid's plastic toy on the rock. But no, he was alive. While I studied him with a pair of binoculars, Bill fit a telephoto lens on his camera and snapped this picture of him before he took off. His head was camouflaged browny tan but the rest of him was way off. Maybe he'd just crawled out from under a mesquite. The desert is fairly brilliantly green these days. I don't know how much longer that will continue. Already, the grasses are heading up and it looks like a nasty fire season.

The ocotillos were in bloom today too. When you get to a 'forest' of them, they look spectacular waving their orange wands in the air. So I had to get some pictures of them too. The little hedgehog cacti are still blooming magenta and pink but the prickly pear are only just beginning. We imagine in another week to ten days they will be gleaming with yellow and golden blooms.

It's fun because each week some other desert wildflower is blooming its heart out. They are all taking turns. So if you only get to make one desert wildflower trip each season, you're going to miss out. Several weeks ago, it was the blue lupine and yellow poppies covering hillsides. Then two weeks ago, it was the spreading orange blanket of mallows. This week, the light pinkish desert ceanothus and the purple fountain grass drew a spotlight. The Mariposa Lily that was so brilliant three weeks ago is almost finished as are the ruby red penstemon, but you can still find a few. So for this next month, it looks like it will be blooming cactus. I'm getting better at identifying some of the plants, but it was great having my sister come along on Sunday and tell me what they were.

We still haven't seen our first rattlesnake yet. I've been keeping my ears open for a distinctive noise. I talked to a lady on Saturday who ran into a big one three weeks ago. She said it sounded like a garden hose sizzling with water. She said it was so big, she thought its head looked like a cobra. So she and her kids and dog backed away from it. But no, we haven't seen any 'hide nor hair' of a critter. I guess we're just working our way up to it. If we do find one, I hope Bill still has his telephoto lens with him for I'm not getting up close and personal for a shot with my camera.