From the Land of the Cactus

   Last week my husband and I came back from visiting my father who lives in Sun City, Arizona.   Our winters are generally wet and cold, and my husband and I were looking forward to thawing out a bit!  There are a lot of things in Arizona that are unique besides the fact that it's a desert and we live in the lush Northwest!  As I was there this time, I was collecting some pictures for an ABC desert book that I am planning to make for my grandkids.  Here are some of the things we have found interesting there:

1.  Cactuses have beautiful flowers!

I zoomed in on the flowers of a neighbor's cactus.

2.  Rabbits run wild in Sun City.  Here is a baby bunny that lives in my father's cactus.                                                           

This is the cactus where the bunny lives--and notice it
has beautiful orange flowers on it!

3.  People in Sun City can drive golf carts on city streets.

4.  You can often spot a lizard sunning itself in the yard. 

5.  Quail are everywhere!  I took a picture of this one perched on my father's roof!  

In the spring time it is very common to see a mother and father leading their babies across a yard or even across the street.  This is a picture of some baby quail by the side of a neighbor's bush.  

In this picture you can see how little they are next to their parents!

6.  Cactuses come in a lot of shapes--this is called a globe cactus. 

We learned that it takes between 50-75 years until a cactus grows one arm. 

This is a picture of my husband checking out what's called the ribs on a dead saguaro in the Desert Awareness Park.

7.  Not all deserts are an occasional cactus and sage brush, the Sonoran Desert has trees, bushes, and many varieties of cactus!

8.  Cactuses make forests too just like evergreen trees!