What? You think Houdini got it right the first time around?

We have a winner! Congratulations, Shae! You had some fierce competition, but in the end your entry prevailed. Email me at desertsurvivor@live.com to claim your prize of homemade peach jam. 

It was so fun reading through all your entries, and my husband and I kept laughing. Uncle Tom, your submission of "So which is the bigger sucker?" was a close second with its play on words. We'll be doing this again, so stay tuned!

Rabbitbrush Golden Flowers Make My Eyes Pop Out

Oh my, the gray rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) is blooming and it is gorgeous. The yellow of the flowers is so vibrant that it just blows me away. So to sweeten your  Friday, I thought I'd show you some pretty pictures.

Sometimes when I look at the rabbitbrush, I have to take a second look. Is that color for real? Am I just imagining how bright it is, how much it pops out from the surrounding drab vegetation?  I think the crisp late summer air also makes it brighter and sharper.

Looking at the beautiful color almost makes me forget that this plant causes me several days of misery due to allergies. Almost. Okay, it's out of my mind, back to just looking at the pretty flowers.

Not many other flowers are blooming this time of year, so the rabbitbrush can claim most of the attention. It's good that it's so showy and worthy of that attention!

Gray rabbitbrush is also known as rubber rabbitbrush and indeed a small amount of rubber can be made from it. During World War II the perennial shrub was studied as a substitute for commercial rubber, but alas, it was not a viable option. The pulverized wood and bark have been used by Native Americans for chewing gum.

And one more photo just for kicks. (Did I mention I like taking photos?) Okay, back to the serious stuff. For some reason I feel compelled to share a little more information so that I can stay true to my theme Desert Survivor. How does gray rabbitbrush do so well in the desert? One of its adaptations is having the leaves and stems covered with trichomes, felt-like growths that help reduce transpiration and insulate it from extreme temperatures. 

And there you have it. Now head outside and enjoy the colors!

My Least Favorite Weed

When I go walking around the yard now, late in summer, I sometimes throw my hands up in despair because it pretty much seems that the weeds have taken over everything. There's ragweed  (Ambrosia artemisifolia) and Russian thistle (Salsola kali) and bindweed (Convulvus arvensis) and halogeton (Halogeton glomerulus) and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). But of all the terrible weeds I see, there's one that gets my heart pounding and my fingers itching to pull it as quick as possible--puncture vine (Tribulus terrestris), also known as goathead or caltrop.

The cute ferny leaves and pretty yellow flowers are deceiving, making it seem like a friendly plant. Puncture vine is in the Zygophyllaceae family, also known as the creosote bush family. My husband's favorite plant is creosote bush, so how is it possible that my least favorite plant is in the same family? 

Puncture vine is originally from the Mediterranean, but it has spread quickly. These trailing tendrils make it obvious why someone decided to call it a vine. What about the puncture part? Take a look at this next photo.

These little green fruits are fairly innocuous early in the summer, but the heat and dryness of hot days makes them get harder and harder...

...until they turn into sharp brown thorns that break apart and make even more sharp brown thorns. These thorns are so sharp that I've gotten a flat bicycle tire, a flat stroller tire, and a flat wheelbarrow tire. Needless to say, all of these tires now contain Slime.

While I was photographing the puncture vine, Desert Boy took a fall, landing right on top of a mass of it. He started crying immediately and I think he's joined me in calling this his least favorite weed.

Here are a couple of the thorns stuck in his hand. The seeds remain viable for three to seven years, so even though I have pulled every plant that I've seen in the yard, I'll probably have to keep after them for years. And unfortunately there are plenty of seeds just outside our yard.

What's your least favorite weed?

Photo Caption Contest

I really enjoyed reading your suggestions for the last photo that needed a caption, so I've decided to do it again, and this time there's a prize! (Prize revealed at the bottom of the post--so keep reading!)

A couple weeks ago Desert Boy managed to get his arm stuck in the hole on the back of the vacuum cleaner where one of the attachments goes. I freed him and figured that he had learned his lesson. Nope, think again. Desert Boy stuck his arm back into the same hole not once, not twice, but three times! By the third time I had gotten my camera. I figured if he wanted to keep playing that game, he would have to get his picture taken. 

The thing is, once he gets his arm stuck, he starts crying, so it's not like it's even a fun game. I guess I don't understand child psychology.

So what would you name this photo? I'll accept answers until Friday morning at 9 a.m. (PDT) and then pick a winner. One entry per person, and leave your name (or initials) so that I'll be able to identify you. The winner gets a jar of recently made peach jam made right here in the rural desert. It's yummy. 

Visit to a Garnet Mine

As we drove up to Hampton Creek for our hike, we saw these mining remains near the trailhead. The old mill was used to process garnets.

Garnets are often dark red minerals (they also come in other colors) that are used as the January birthstone. In addition, they have several uses such as industrial abrasives. The word garnet comes from the Latin word granatus, which means “like a grain.” 

The Hampton Creek mines processed garnets and sold them for some years with test shipments made in the 1960s. A few mining remnants remain.

Here's one of the metal structures. I'm always surprised by how many mines are located so far away from civilization. We live in the middle of nowhere and we had to drive about an hour into even more nowhere to get to the mine.

This is a water tank that provided water for the operation. Apparently it wasn't worth it to move it to a new location.

The garnets found in Hampton Creek are the hardest and most common garnet type called Almandite with a chemical formula of Fe3Al2Si3O12. 

Not sure what you should be looking at in this photo? See those roundish little black specks? Those are the garnets! They weren't quite what I was expecting either. Under the right light conditions they sparkle, making them easy to find, but on this particular day I had to really look for them. Once you know what you're looking for, they are easy to find, albeit small. These were in the road cut at the parking area for the Hampton Creek trail. At some locations garnets are found within rock, but here they are in an alluvial deposit.

The garnets are fun to pick up and sort of pretty. These certainly wouldn't make valuable jewelry, but they do meet neat mementos.