Sittin' Atop a Cholla, Comfy As Can Be

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Believe these are house finches.



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Cholla and Man's Walking Stick

After Man's experience with a cholla and his shoe, P-I-C-K-Y, P-I-C-K-Y, he is not a bit more cautious, so, when we were taking a short hike he used his walking stick to poke at this particular cholla. (Well, I think it is another cholla, still working on identifications of all these new plants.)

I stabbed at the remnants of one of these on the trail and those pokers stuck in the tip of my walking stick.  I really don't want to find out what that feels like in skin.  OUCHIE!

Here is an entire field, err, hillside, of em, zoomed (20 times) up the mountain side to get the photo, it is not the best, out of focus a bit.  That said, do you want to try to climb that hillside??  Nope, me either!

Cholla Fruit, a Different Color

In December, I shared a photo of a cholla, the fruit, in yellow.  At Boot Hill Cemetery, Tombstone, Arizona, I found this specimen, with a orange/red colored fruit.  Due to the bright and totally abundant sunshine (which I just cannot stand - YA, who do I think I am kidding - I LOVE this abundant and totally bright sunshine), the color is not true, but you can get the idea.

The Cholla, Living Desert State Park, Carlsbad, New Mexico

As Man and I travel into new and uncharted (for us) territory, we are eager to learn about the new flora we are finding.  This is a form of Cholla.  A sign on another cholla plant in the park gave its technical name as opuntia imbricata or the furniture cholla.

If I have this right (still learning), this is NOT the flower, which is a vivid hot pink, as you can see here.  This is considered the fruit, which are dry and not tasty.  Here's hoping we can see the flowering version in the spring.