Joshua Trees
Left alone, the desert here becomes sage brush and Joshua trees, in most places. Joshua trees are an interesting lot. Each one has a different personality. Some grow only one arm straight up like a short phone pole with a pineapple on top. Others grow 20 or more arms wildly in every direction.
Most lean with the prevailing, omnipresent wind from the west.
They are a type of yucca, which belongs to the Lilly family. They bloom in the spring and are pollinated by a yucca moth while she lays her eggs to eat the seeds from the fruit, when it develops. Neither species could reproduce without the other. Enough seeds are left uneaten by moth larvae to keep the Joshua trees going. Most lean with the prevailing, omnipresent wind from the west.
They only grow above 2000 ft above sea level, so they are truly a high desert inhabitant. Like most desert plants, it will only flower in years that have enough rainfall. It will also abort a seed pod that has too many moth eggs in it. It also requires a winter freeze to reset its cycle and reproduce. There are so many different elevations and areas with different rainfall patterns that the moths must carry on somewhere, then spread back out across the Mojave in good years.
This one bird seems to live Joshua trees and you can hardly find a tree without one or more of these birds. I don't know what it is yet, so I just call it the Josh bird.
We redesigned the site a little, I'd appreciate feedback on how it looks in different browsers and settings, so let me know if the "How Daddy" part of the header isn't roughly centered, or any other odd things.
The next time the clouds are coming in over the mountains, I'll photograph that, it's one of my favorite things that happens here and it about breaks my heart every time because it's so beautiful.
The week of September 24th was the only time I've seen snow on the mountains, but that will have to come back soon.
The Joshua tree is beautiful and ugly at the same time, it that possible? The format of the site looks good in Explorer. I LURVE the stuff along the bottom. I vote for one of them being Kelly eating with chopsticks.
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It looks good on my browser (Firefox on a Mac). Except the page name is Air Supply's Greatest Hits. I assume that was intentional.
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"Air Supply's Greatest Hits"? I see it too, Jeffrey.
The header looks great in my browser, Firefox on a PC. (Firefox rulz.)
I saw more snow than I wanted to in the mountains in PA yesterday when I was driving home from Baltimore. It was pretty, but it took for-ev-er to get home.
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So far, so good. Maybe a little more variety on the header though, so it's not all desert. You need to get some pictures of valley girls. We don't have them back here.
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Thanks, Mike, by the way, for the screen capture from LA Story! I hope that's the same Mike. And I'll try to find a representative sample from THIS valley.
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Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! What ever you do to celebrate or wherever you are eating, enjoy the day. I hope you can be with someone you enjoy spending time with too. I am looking forward to seeing my nephew celebrate his second birthday tomorrow, so that will be a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thinking of you, Chuck and Kelly far from home but never far from our hearts and minds.
By the way, no white stuff here yet!!
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