May 31, 2009

Life in an Arid Land


The high desert was 70 degrees on the last day of May. With the sun shining, that feels hot.

We thought the prickly pear blooms would be out en masse, but we saw only one. The pink blossom was so full of tiny insects, it writhed like a creature from a science fiction film!
Other plants were blooming, too. (I'll give you my best semi-educated guesses on the names.)
Yellow cryptanth,
western peppergrass,

desert dandelions and prairie sunflower,
and cushion buckwheat.

The desert was almost lush with bunch grass, probably due to several generous afternoon rain showers in the past couple of weeks.
While I dawdled taking photos, Mischief followed me down the road to the trailer. What a good boy. And yes, that's a piece of grass sticking out of his mouth. Nobody's perfect. You can't expect a horse to pass by a delicious snack without a nibble, can you? Especially a horse with a name like Mischief...

13 comments:

  1. Beautiful, Janie... Your area is just gorgeous. Glad it is really warming up in Utah!!!

    The bunch grass is pretty. I know it is nice to get some rain.

    Love your horsie... Mischief is a perfect name..
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  2. Mischief is so cute...love the photos....

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  3. Goergeous blooms, especially that prairie sunflower, and no, I don't expecet mischief to pass up a tasty morsel. Ha!

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  4. How wonderful to see the blooms and grass in an arid land. The ground looks dry but I'm sure any rain would be sucked up by the vegetation. No Mischief to a good snack.

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  5. Beautiful photos! I am not very well versed on native wildflowers but I do have a sulfer buckwheat in my yard.

    I can see that the horse is aptly named.

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  6. I like the cushion buckwheat...

    The ground is so red and hard and dry...I find it amazing that the flowers and grass grow in it.

    Your horse is such a cutie. Where's Daisy? :)

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  7. Even in the desert you can find color.

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  8. Beautiful! A question: do you often leave the horses lose? If so, has it ever happened that they've run away?

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  9. How many beautiful flowers you can find in an arid land! Your pictures are so wonderful, and your horse is such a cute darling!
    My dog D'ora also waits patiently for me while I take pictures :)

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  10. The second photo is quite fascinatingly freaky! ;)

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  11. I love Mischief and he looks as though butter wouldn't melt in his mouth!
    Isn't it surprising what will grow in the desert. Some of the plants a quite pretty!
    Thanks for visiting me.

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  12. Mischief is such a cute horse. (Can horses be considered cute?) Neat flower pics, too.

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  13. What a good and cute boy he is. Kinda reminds me of how Howard will run around with various pieces of grass and other trash hanging out of the corner of his mouth, except he doesn't know about them... which... I guess makes Mischief smarter. Shhhh... don't tell Howie.

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