Saguaros and rock hunting

On this past Wednesday, the 30th, it was a cool day; only supposed to be in the high 60's, so we decided it was a good day for rock hunting.








We had been finding small bits of sparkly, agate looking white rocks on our walks.  A rockhound neighbor told us it was Chalcedony, a form of Quartz that is compact and microcrystalline.  He told us where to find lots of it, so that's where we headed.  The bonus is there were Saguaros too.  

Larry and armless Saguaros and Ocotillo

We spent a couple hours picking up rocks and oohing and awing over the Saguaros.  On our way back home we stopped by the road so I could get pictures of more Saguaros.  Oh, I forgot to mention, they are blooming!  We've never been in Arizona when they've bloomed.  Flowers and rocks!  Woo hoo!

 

As close-up as I could get.

Me

As most of these big, old cactus are really tall it was the telephoto lens or nothing.  I learned after being home and doing research that we were lucky to see the flowers at noon.  They open at night and are usually closed up by noon.  They have many flowers, but luckily they don't all bloom at once as each flower only lasts for the hours they are open.  As the day heats up, usually before mid day, the flower closes and it's done.  I read that the night has to be cool or they won't open.  Persnickety.

 

It's first arms sprouting

The Saguaro is amazing.  They can have no arms or have up to 25 arms.  I've read that they are 50-75 years old before growing one arm.  

Arm buds and a birds home. Desert woodpeckers

So, only 5 to 10 miles from our trailer and we had a couple of hours of fun in the desert.  It wasn't hot and the wind wasn't cranking, perfect day in the Sonora desert.  

Now, into April we go!  It's going to be getting back up into the low 90's and then back into the low 80's.  Typical spring yo-yo weather.  

Lot's of pictures taken but only the best for you.... 

Saw this big one and had to go check it out. 

With my telephoto lens I had to be this far to get all of it.

It's lower part is pretty much spineless

Every arm is crowned with flowers

Honeybees flocked to the flowers

Our guesstimate due to it's height and the number of arms, is that this one is 200 years old or more.

We would need a drone to see these from the top!

Flowers on a shorter arm with the main trunk behind.

You can see it's woody structure in the hole.

Teeny tiny flower

My favorite, I love the bees zooming in together.

The vibrant Palo Verde blooming

These are a bit of the Chalcedony rocks we gathered.  No, I do not know what I will do with all of them.  Larry always asks me that question about my rocks.  Hahaha.

My hunky love!  We have so much fun together!