Shopping and Wildlife

I wanted an aluminum half sheet and a quarter sheet pan.  I did not want to pay a ton of money for same.  We’ve spent a ton of money recently, and that has got to stop.  Anyway, we went to Standard Restaurant Supply.  It’s open to the public and if they don’t have it, you do not need it.  When we walked in the front door I swear I could hear the angels singing a heavenly chorus.  I obtained said sheet pans, plus a few other items.  Their prices are really good.  If you’re in the area and need kitchen equipment, go there.  It’s also good for just looking at stuff.

In the front yard there is a berm.  Berms are very popular in desert landscaping, I guess because they add a little interest to what would otherwise be a flat area with gravel on it.  Our berm features a sad, ugly, squished in cactus.  We went out to Landscape Cactus and talked to the owner, Dr. Jon Weeks.  He’s from Syracuse, NY originally.  He was in a PhD program there, but decided he’d rather collect cactus than finish the program.  So he drove out here.  After getting a doctorate studying how salt tolerant plants tolerate salt, he spent ten years in Mexico living in his truck, studying plants and collecting cactus seeds.  He’s 70 now, and owns an amazing nursery of plants he’s propagated.  He’s still collecting plants, as well.  Ask him anything about cactus, he knows.  We got a double headed Golden Barrel in a four gallon container.  It weighs a ton, I’m not exactly sure why we felt we needed something that big, but it will be visible in the yard. If you’re in the area and want to go look, you should go.  Go when it’s not raining, as the road you’ll drive on is not paved.

The red ones in the back are Fish Hooks.  I love the way they glow when they’re back lit.  The structure is a shade house, it prevents sun burns on the baby cacti.

Golden Barrel cacti.  These are singles.  Doubles and multiples are single plants but they look like they were planted too close together.

I forget what this is.  Dr. Weeks uses a lot of Latin names, which I can not remember.  It’s from Mexico.  They’re a pretty plant, they’re very sculptural.

This is the bloom from a Trichocereus.  We weren’t planning to plant any in the yard because they have a sprawling growth habit.  Weeding under the arms is hazardous to one’s skin.  He’s hybridized some that will stand upright.  Probability is high that one of those will make its way into the yard.

Landscape Cactus can be found off of Bopp road, which is just off of Kinney which is just off of Ajo.  Turn on to S Silver Bridle Ln.

Saturday evening, one of our neighbors motioned for us to come out into the front yard.  The neighbor who feeds the birds, apparently is also leaving food out for the javelinas.  It was getting dark so the pictures aren’t great.  There were probably a dozen or so in the brush.  There was some posturing among the herd with growling an head shaking.  We saw one baby.

The baby is just to the right of the right-most pot.  He’s really difficult to see.

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One of them came walking up the street right at us.  They don’t see very well, we wondered if we looked like people to them or if we were just shapes.

Today was windy, tomorrow will also be windy and cloudy.  Then it’s supposed to be better.  Given how terrible the weather is on the east coast, there will be no complaining about this.