Spring Part 1

This is our first spring at the new house and we're lucky enough to have tons of different desert plants.  Many of them are in bloom right now, or right on the verge.

The pictures above are Beavertail cacti I believe.  I'm not sure if we have a few different subspecies or something (I haven't investigated that closely) but different plants have different colored blooms (though most are the pink color)

I'm not sure what this is - some sort of sage?

Hedgehog cactus blooms.

Cholla (it's hard to pick, but I think these are my favorite)

This is a bush in our side yard...

(Below) we are really happy to see that many of our cacti have buds on them - we're especially happy that the couple that weren't looking very good seem to be growing as well.  

Not sure what this is but it was a nice surprise out of what looked like a patch of weeds!  That's one of my favorite things about the desert, things can look completely dead or uninteresting most of the year and then all of a sudden they bloom!

I hope all is well for all of you.  I'm looking forward to summer, not for the heat, but for all of the fun stuff that lies ahead!  (except for the fact that I'll probably only see Adam for about a total of 2 weeks :().

Lots of Love and keep in touch!

Pat and Karen Visit

By now you've seen quite a few posts from the visit so I won't bore you with the same stories, but here are some pictures from a slightly different angle?  Thank you for making the trek Pat and Karen!  We had an amazing time!

Amazing Time Lapse for you Fungus (and all-around-nature) Lovers

Out of order picture post

Love this guy. 

On a walk with Karen, Adam, and the dogs. Crazy mild weather. 

Porter the adorable puppy. 

We had a nice trip to Ellicottville (spelling?). Here's Adam snowball throwing. 

Oscar was sad we were leaving for a minute...until his favorite Aunt Christi came over to get him. 

Oscar loves Adam. 

We found a little bit of snow on Mt. Charleston. Can't wait to get him in some deep stuff. 

Fun day climbing at Lime Kiln Canyon near Mesquite. 

Bowling at the Frank Christmas party. Had my best game ever!

Mostly pictures of Oscar

I never get tired of the sunsets around here!

Oscar has quite a personality.  Here he is pouting after I took his bone away (it was a giant rawhide and I didn't want him to get sick).

Doggie selfie!

Handsome boy

Buddies at the hot springs.

Took a trip to Santa Barbara with the cross country team - so nice!

These are shark eggs!  So cool!

Oscar the chiropractor.

Adam has done a great job of teaching Oscar how to be a rock (and tree) hopper!  He does some amazing (and scary) scrambling!  

California

Adam had a training in Long Beach and I went along for the ride.  It was actually a pretty cool area.  Lots of beaches close by and an Ikea!

Long Beach

I'd always wanted to go to Venice Beach  so drove up one day while Adam was at class.  Muscle Beach was entertaining and as expected, there were lots of interesting people!

Hermosa beach sunset

Yep, I understand why so many people want to live here.  Though the traffic and expensive everything will continue to keep us away I think.

Spring Break

After Pat and Karen left, Adam and I did a little off-roading to Wheeler Pass.  We got there right about sunset - beautiful.

Below, on the drive to Wheeler Pass.

Pat, Karen, Adam and I took a little hike/drive to Red Rock, many of the desert plants were in full bloom.

There was a lot of relaxation that went on in the mornings.  By all parties.

One day we visited the new Container Park in Downtown LV.  It's a dining/shopping/playground place built out of old shipping containers.  Not as cool as I'd hoped.

More relaxation

Garden inspiration from the Springs Preserve.

I don't know what happened to this picture, but it's of Pat riding through one of the railroad tunnels leading to the Hoover Dam.  Really neat ride!

Generator part graveyard along the ride to the dam.