Earth Day

It is with some trepidation that I face Earth Day this year.  Mom Nature is not going to be happy with us, either individually or collectively.  

I've been out in the Lebanon and Beyond Garden placing labels with Maria ahead of VIP visitors Thursday afternoon.  Should be able to finish tomorrow just in time.  Sadly, the day may be quite windy in the p.m.  Even so, the Garden is beautiful right now, especially the roses and peonies.  

City Nature Challenge kicks off on Friday.  Nothing official from the BioPark, but I'll spread the word personally.  

In other news, another nuclear scientist has disappeared; found hours later in a burned out Tesla.  Very strange.  

Steampunk Meets Sci-Fi

Ric and I made a spiritual pilgrimage to the Very Large Area on Saturday.  It was their spring open house.  To our surprise, there were thousands of visitors swarming over the central area.  

Most fascinating to me was the little pony engines (definitely steampunk) that moved the ginormous radar dishes around single-handedly.  Not only can they lift the 230-ton dishes (without tipping them over), they themselves weigh 90 tons and they can swivel 90° to service both the side spurs and the mainlines.  

The dishes on the other hand, were clearly alien.  Sci-fi to the max.  Ten stories tall with an 82' diameter, they had state-of-the-art supercooled electronics packaged atop enormous rotator bases and azimuthal gears.  

The array was wide-spread this weekend, with the full 13 miles of each arm of the Wye being used.  The view even from the main highway was still impressive.

And, not to forget that there was a botanist at the wheel, on the drive home I scored some Glandularia gooddingii for my plant press. 

Echinocactus Season

Spring has sprung despite the fact that it might freeze tomorrow night.  The Echinocactus are blooming.  The claret cup cactus and the scarlet hedgehogs are going off in all their glory.  

 They will be finished in a week or two, but for now they are glorious reminders that the warmth of summer is not far away. 

That said, last year I have photographs of them blooming in late May.  I don't think that's a one-off kind of weather event.  We're seeing the seasons march backwards as the globe warms. 

Yesterday I read that the primary current that fuels a temperate European climate may be grinding to a halt by century's end.  But still our misguided and greedy administration does everything it can to hold the country back from a renewable energy future.  Fracked oil and gas seem to be king, while Iran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz drives home the folly of such a path.  

The idea of a plug-in hybrid is becoming more and more attractive.  For now, I'll make do with the 11-year old Prius and it's 55 mpg.  

To the Moon and Back

This week began with us facing a genocidal threat from TCF, possibly involving nuclear weapons.  The week ended with the uplifting conclusion of Artemis II with a successful splashdown and recovery in the Pacific.  NASA video and audio was very high quality and gave us a ring-side seat into every phase.  

For a Friday, it was one of those "get out of the housekeeper's way" Fridays, so I went to the Garden while Caro went to PT.  The bundle of labels I grabbed was a good one--got them all placed except the Chinese pistach, whose irrigation system is being worked on.  

Then it was off to Duran's for lunch (cafeteria closed :-() and a Covid shot.  We ended up at The Range Cafe instead.  After lunch, we attacked the Co-op for wine and cheese.  I even got a nap in before the main event (re-entry) began at 5:00.  By a little after 6:00 MDT, they were safely floating in the Pacific.  

La Luna

Today Artemis flew behind the moon.  For 40 minutes they were the loneliest people since the Apollo days.  While there were 4 astronauts this time, back in the day there would've been a single command module pilot, alone waiting for the team on the surface to return.  Now we wait for reentry. 

In other news, labels for the Lebanese Garden have been ordered.  The possibility of rain today or next Saturday both seem to get lower.  Things are cloudy, temps are cooler, but no sign of frost.  Sunday Deb brought 4 mosquito fish for our pond.  We'll see how they do.  They and the turtles need to be fed later today.  

Also later today, I'll be at the BioPark Society offices for some kind of trash/recycle bin "training."  No idea what that entails.  

Speaking of training, I've got training due later this month for Edgewater.  Seems a waste, since I'll likely end my Plone 5 support role by June.  

For this post's thumbnail image, below is photo of 8 labels that were not placed in the Botanic Garden beds.  I photograph them and then use Google Lens to extract the text.  From there I cut-and-paste into my Backyard Refuge Label status spreadsheet.  

New Mexico Weather

After record-breaking temps in March, a cold front has brought a setback, at least for one day.  It was chilly enough today to keep Terrance dug in.  Tiberius was out this afternoon, drinking from one of the drip lines during the irrigation run.  I fed him the last few meal worms and he seemed sated.  I look forward to when Terrance's metabolism gets fired up enough for him to start eating.  For now, his weight and general health is good, so I'm not worried.  

The day before (Thursday) found me placing labels down at the Botanic Garden.  From pomegranates in the Spanish-Moorish Garden to the showy milkweed (Asclepius speciosa) and the Mormon tea (Ephedra viridis) in the Cottonwood Gallery, I got quite a bit of distance in.  

I checked out the Orangery and the conservatories as I was finishing up.  Managed to collect and press several Myrtillocactus blossoms.  Need to check on the Neobuxbaumia next time I'm out there.  Otherwise, plenty of things blooming that were worth seeing.  

Clivia

Young pitcher on Nepenthes

Cape Leadwort, Plumbago auriculata

I've been seeing claret cup cacti blooming about town.  I expect that the Echinocereus at the Garden will be blooming soon as well.

White Rabbit, White Rabbit, White Rabbit

White rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit!   

OK, with that business taking care of, we can get on with recent events.  The Botanic Garden was lovely on Monday.  The weather was warmer than normal by a fair bit, so everything was early.  Despite the recent winds, some cherries still had blossoms.  Our Nature's Notebook observations revealed that the showy milkweed, Asclepius speciosa, had made its first appearance.  

Sakura cherry blossoms

Tree peony

Species tulip

Double pink crab apple

Creeping phlox in the HDRG

Anemones, pasque flowers, grape hyacinth, early iris, and more was flowering. 

I busied myself afterwards with labels.  Sphaeralcea sp. went in the Bugarium north beds.  Sporobolus wrightii went in the Cottonwood Gallery.  In between were half a dozen others.  There are now 51 of the Backyard Refuge labels in the ground.