Vacation-

we just returned from a week of vacation. Some plans changed in the end- but for the most part is was all good.

Above is myself in the bucket of a digger that was left around a bit of torn up earth on Chamberlain Ranch (we speculate they're subdividing and selling off some land for vacation homes)- just north of Zion National Park- you walk through a bit of the ranch to access the Virgin River just above where it enters the park and slots up into The Narrows. Which we through-hiked in just ender 8 hours (the norm being doing it in two days with 10-12 hours of hiking total. It's only 16 miles- but those are river miles, which have you rock hopping and sliding around crossing back and forth across the river from sand bar to sand bar in search of easier hiking.

There was some great red and yellow columbine in The Narrows. They grow out of the sheer walls, forming hanging gardens where various springs and seeps exit the canyon walls.
Unfortunately we didn't see any of the purple and white Rocky Mountain Columbine- which apparently haunt Boundary Canyon (around Zion)- the friends we visited, Ariel and Phillip, had pictures of some they saw when they did said canyon several weeks ago.

I'm pretty certain columbine are my favorite flower- you can't tell- but the ones in the picture are two and a half to three inches long from front to back with their long tails. They're intricate without being delicate- but they only grow in very wet places, the sides of stream beds, etc. so you don't often fine the density and profusion of them you do in The Narrows.

I'm also quite upset with Xanterra Parks and Resorts (the only concessionaires in many of the National Parks... I'm always upset with them about something- but this time even D thinks it's warranted) when we were at The North Rim Lodge- we quite clearly heard the hostess of their fine dining restaurant tell two twenty-something ladies that they had to have reservations (in the snottiest, drawn-out tone, I couldn't believe my ears). Then a thirty-something couple walked up not two minutes later and she told them she could seat them if they could dine immediately... (the ladies had not asked for a later time, they had simply inquired if they could be accommodated at all that evening)

excuse me???

I work in restaurants- I know how reservations work- and that sometimes someone gets up before you think they will, you can move a few things around, and seat someone on the spur of the moment that you wouldn't have thought you could... but this hostess didn't look around- didn't talk to any other staff between talking to these two pairs... if a table had opened up- she wouldn't have known- she was making a judgment based totally on what she thought they looked like.


Why must Xanterra make our parks cheap and trashy??? Why can't they step up their service and services to match the fact that they're located in some of the most beautiful, treasured, and historic places our country has???

Bah.

More...

I'm finally getting around to the point of these last two posts... which was to classify the different flowers. Some of these pictures are from much earlier in the season, they're not all blooming right now. First we had the primrose come out. Then half the side yard turned purple with these bundles of little flowers I couldn't photograph well. Now it's primarily pink and purple thistles and big patches of the orange globemallow. Always with a few other random flowers tossed in. We didn't manage to have any Indian Paintbrush though... there were plenty of them growing in the empty lot down the street- but none of their bright red blooms in our yard.




Gaura coccinea
Scarlet Guara,
also called scarlet beeblossom, or butterflyweed
You can see our mailbox post on the right side. These grew in a sizable patch by the drainage ditch that separates up from the street (note the row of dark colored rocks that parallel the road), and were only in bloom for about a week... now they have little specks of rose that are the withered up blossoms still hanging on. They stand almost two feet tall.



These are the giant dandelions (three to four feet tall), which known they're in the desert, as they grew in this very shady spot next to the evergreen bushes- and would also close back up during the worse heat of the day, then open in the mornings and evenings.



Erigeron divergens
Spreading Fleabane
One of the hardest to pin down- and I'm not entirely certain it's not Eastern Fleabane (which took federalism to heart and is not located in almost every state). I eventually ditched my Field Guide to The Plants of Arizona and started through the USDA's Plant Database- which is super interesting, includes pictures, and should be visited by everyone.




Tragopogon dubius
Yellow Salsify,
also called moonflower, meadow salsify, or yellow goatsbeard
This one wins the odd name award for both it's common and scientific names... it's actually an early European immigrant who's made itself quite at home.



Sphaeralcea ambigue
Desert Globemallow,
also called sore-eye poppy, desert hollyhock, mal de ojo and plantas muy malas
The hairs on the stem are an eye irritant- which explains most of it's alternative names. We have bunches and bunches of these in the yard right now. I might take another picture later- as it's hard to appreciate the perfectly round little orange disks that are the blossoms. Most plants have blooms all the way up the stem, creating swaths of orange in the yard.

Company...

some of the flowers that grow wild in our yard... they keep Selma Lee company while she's in the drive way.




Oenothera albicaulis
Prairie Evening Primrose
There are 21 species of Oenothera (primrose) found in Arizona- if you compare this to the last picture in this post- you have to look at the lobes on the leaves to see the difference (there's also a distinct difference in height if you could see a side profile of them).



Opuntia violacea
Purple Prickly Pear,
also called Blue Blade or Dollar Cactus (how appropriate)
We have maybe half a dozen of these on the sloping hill behind our apartment.



Cirsium neomaxicanum
New Mexican Thistle
We have two of these out front all by themselves- they're both about 3 1/2 feet tall, with such slender stems I don't see how they don't fall over.




Cirsium arizonicum
Airzona Thistle
There are many thistle species and sub-species in Arizona. The bloom on this is about four inches across- I think the picture makes it look smaller then it is. We have these all over the yard- this plant is now fully in bloom with five big pink flowers.



Oenothera caespitosa
Stemless Primrose,
also called Sandlily or Rockrose
We have seven railroad tie steps that go up the side of the building- for whatever reason these flowers love those steps- and earlier in the spring- probably early April- we had a dozen of these plants along the steps- which open up in the mornings, and by mid-day are closed and look like boring green weeds.

Terribly off topic...

Why do I read the BBC???

They managed to use the phrase "primed athletic beasts" in reference to laboratory rats...

oh- and British birders are called twitchers... did you know that???

I did- cause I read the BBC.