Search This Blog

Followers

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

New Year's Eve 2013 Hike

Tooling along the upper foothills trail
Caroline, who's on a cross-country drive from San Francisco to Washington D.C., stopped over yesterday and spent the night before traveling on this morning.  She brought us a gift of a Hedgehog Cactus and a baby Saguaro.  Saguaros are indigenous to the Sonoran Desert, which is a lower, hotter desert than the Chihuahuan.  I have seen a few Saguaros in people's yards in Las Cruces and El Paso, but they're rare.  I'm not sure what to do with our new baby--perhaps nurse it until spring planting.  Ouch!  That's a thorny thought.
On the road that loops around Tortugas

Tortoise Mountain

Hedgehog Cactus and baby Saguaro given to us by Caroline


4 comments:

Dr. K said...

Those cacti are very healthy specimens.

Scott said...

Packrat: Who's Caroline? (Maybe she's been introduced earlier in your posts, but I haven't picked up on her before.)

We had a situation similar to your baby saguaro many years ago when we lived in Florida. A friend of ours had gone snorkeling in Tampa Bay and had brought back a creature in a 3-lb. coffee can. It was like a gigantic, slimy tongue--no discernible head, sensory organs, anything. I have no idea what it was. Nevertheless, I felt really bad about keeping it in the coffee can (it nearly filled the can), but what was I going to do with it? Kali and I could have driven 1-1/2 hours back to the ocean to release the creature (and then driven 1-1/2 hours back home). Instead, we chose a different option. I didn't want the creature to die a slow death in the coffee can, so I put it in the freezer, figuring it was among the fastest, least cruel deaths a creature adapted to a warm bay could experience. I still feel bad about what our friend (and we) did. My point is, you may have to pay a visit to the Sonoran Desert and "release" your baby there.

Caroline said...

I'm sure you can keep it alive. Of course, you won't see any growth for another 10-15 years....
Thanks for the great visit!

packrat said...

Scott: Caroline, aka "The Ardent Traveler," is Dr. K's sister. That's her link there, which you can follow to some fabulous photos of other countries and their cities.

Low Country and then High

This & next:  Pyrrhuloxia (aka Desert Cardinal) Willow and I did our regular hike this morning, returning afterward to finish packing fo...