Back at It

Sky at start

I took Becca with me to the west side of Tortugas Mountain this morning, and I carefully monitored her while we did a short trek.  No limping.  Two days without hiking and a half of a Rimadyl twice a day has, perhaps, done the trick.  I won't stop monitoring her, though; often it seems that's all I do where Becca is involved.  She definitely appreciated getting out into the desert, and she took full advantage of every scent she came upon.  On the way back down the mountain road we bumped into a guy named Raymond (Ramon, really) who we see fairly frequently around Tortugas.  He told me he's moving to Denver in January.  Not exactly the month I'd choose to move to The Mile High City.

. . . half dozen of the other

Becca says she sees something

Yuccas on a slope

Now she convinces me she sees something

Green strip (center) marks the location of the Rio Grande

Big sky

Cactus garden on the western slope of Tortugas Mountain

Echinocactus horizonthalonius, aka "Devil's Head"

Upper elevation cactus garden

Clouds over the Organs

Steep west side of Tortugas Mountain

Boulders/Prickly Pear/Ocotillo

Parry's Agave (Agave parryii)

Parry's Agave

Small forest of Torrey Yuccas (Yucca faxoniana)

Another sky shot

West side of Tortugas

White on light blue (Soaptree Yucca flowers)