Back to Planet Earth

 Before I left the desert-wasteland for this winter, I did a double-take at a certain saguaro cactus:

You might think, What's the Big Deal.  It's just a classic saguaro postcard.  But that's the thing: I spend most of the winter in deserts that are marginal for saguaros.  You might be surprised how sickly most of them look.  The specimen above is thriving!

Did it just get lucky genes?  Or are saguaros so picky about conditions, that perfect soil and weather only occur occasionally?  I wish I knew more biology.  Sometimes I start doing homework and become instantly bored with all the jargon and memorization needed.

How could plants so picky about conditions even come into being, in the first place?  And then you have plants and critters on the other side of the spectrum: they are so adaptable or so tolerant that they can live just about anywhere.  Consider the coyote as the perfect example of that.

At any rate, we have fled the desert and are now wallowing in the grasslands and trees:

 

The live oaks and sycamores thrive here.  The poppies are already popping out.  My little dog and I are content.

Mt. [Redacted] in the background