A prickly mess

When I gathered the herd for Thursday morning's check-in, Lucy was covered in chunks of cholla.

It's not unusual to find a piece or five stuck on her head, but this was different.

It was like she had slept with a cactus and they woke up and had a big fight,
which she lost so she rolled over on him a few times. 

Anyway, I removed the big pieces without too much trouble, but panicked
when I saw that her back legs resembled vertical porcupines from the knees down.

Lucky for both of us, our vet answers his phone before dawn

and I had a syringe of Dormosedan Gel on hand.

The sedative gave me a 90-minute window to sit underneath her,

pulling out the spines without her killing me kicking out in pain.

I think/hope/pray I got most of them.

She'll be on antibiotics for awhile in case I didn't, since the vet believes

abcesses might form around any I missed. 

Once all the drama had passed, I headed out to the small pasture
where the herd stays overnight, looking for evidence
that might help me understand how Lucy got herself
into such a prickly mess.

I'd bet the ranch that this is the scene of the crime. 

My theory is: she took a nap in the fluffy soft dirt, 

rolled onto the cactus as she got up,

scared herself silly, then jumped into or over it,

scattering pieces of it willy-nilly across the area.

In other words, she slept with a cactus, had a fight with it and lost.

p.s. Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees a cholla shaped like 

a donkey on her back, rolling with her legs in the air.

Looking for the herd at sunset

A bird and a bee

 I saw a bird flailing about in this cholla cactus over the weekend. 

I felt sorry for it but wasn't about to stick my arm in there to set it free.

The next time I walked by, all was quiet. 

I assumed the bird either: a) managed to escape on its own or

b) impaled itself and was dead.

  Neither assumption was correct.

Way down in the middle of the cactus was the most beautiful egg

in an even more beautiful nest – constructed in part with Hank's tail hair.

I'm not sure how many eggs are in the nest. 

I didn't want to risk impaling myself to find out. 

I got out of there before Mama Bird returned and before I got stung,

but I'll keep checking back to see what hatches.

The cholla tastes best after a storm

The Christmas Cactus

I'm a minimalist when it comes to Christmas decorations.

I usually come up with some sort of tree, then proclaim the decorating done.

Smooch: You've got several burned out bulbs here.

Smooch: It's tangling before my very eyes.

This year's tree is a rusty horseshoe cactus, which I received from Steph

after she and her family visited the ranch last summer. Her uncle made it

and when Steph saw it, she knew it belonged in my house. How very right she was!

I particularly love the rusty-nail cactus spines...

...which proved to be just perfect for hanging ornaments.

This may be my most favorite Christmas "tree" ever.

Smooch: Except for those couple of burned-out bulbs.

Another bumper crop

The cholla cactus bloomed a few weeks late this year...

...but now there are blotches of pink everywhere you look. Sort of like a pasture with acne.

See the new growth rising from the dead branches? 

This is why I'm adamant about kicking down dead cholla whenever possible.

The stuff has an uncanny knack for resurrection.

My current color palette in the house is based on the colors I see outside –

sage green, stormcloud blue, dirt brown – but I'm not the least bit tempted to add cholla fuschia.

When I think pink, I think of all the times this stuff has poked me or one of the animals,

and who needs that?

The only thing cholla is good for is a pop of color in the pasture for a few weeks every summer

(and an annual blog post to whine about it).

Saturday encore ~ A bumper crop of cholla cactus

This post is from exactly one year ago, when the cholla were in full bloom.

This year, not a single cholla is flowering. The desert is a fickle place.

Last September's record rainfall has made it a banner year for cholla cactus. 

Every evil specimen is bursting with color. 

Here's a pronunciation refresher: it's choy-ya, not chole-la.

I blog about cholla frequently because: a) the donkeys eat it, which makes me crazy, 

b) everybody around here gets it stuck to their body occasionally, including me, and 

3) I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get rid of it.

For all its faults, it makes for some pretty pictures, particularly against a stormy sky.

Every time I blog about cholla, I learn something new because I start googling things like "is cholla edible?" 

This time I learned that the cholla buds (which become the magenta flowers, which then become the yellow fruit) 

are not only edible but they are considered a super-food, with highest measures of available calcium and complex carbs, 

plus flavor like a tangy artichoke. It can help strengthen bones, balance blood sugar, remove cholesterol, 

and provide sustained energy. That all sounds well and good until you get the spines stuck in your fingers forever. 

Do you know what the hardest part is about living alone? 

Removing cactus spines from your right hand when you're right handed.

This time of year, I try to forget how much I hate this stuff and focus on

the pops of color that bring the desert and my outdoor décor to life.

A bumper crop of cholla cactus

Last September's record rainfall has made it a banner year for cholla cactus. 

Every evil specimen is bursting with color. 

Here's a pronunciation refresher: it's choy-ya, not chole-la.

I blog about cholla frequently because: a) the donkeys eat it, which makes me crazy, 

b) everybody around here gets it stuck to their body occasionally, including me, and 

3) I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get rid of it.

For all its faults, it makes for some pretty pictures, particularly against a stormy sky.

Every time I blog about cholla, I learn something new because I start googling things like "is cholla edible?" 

This time I learned that the cholla buds (which become the magenta flowers, which then become the yellow fruit) 

are not only edible but they are considered a super-food, with highest measures of available calcium and complex carbs, 

plus flavor like a tangy artichoke. It can help strengthen bones, balance blood sugar, remove cholesterol, 

and provide sustained energy. That all sounds well and good until you get the spines stuck in your fingers forever. 

Do you know what the hardest part is about living alone? 

Removing cactus spines from your right hand when you're right handed.

This time of year, I try to forget how much I hate this stuff and focus on

the pops of color that bring the desert and my outdoor décor to life.

Guilt

It was 75 degrees here yesterday, capping off several days of unseasonably warm temperatures.
With so many of you shoveling snow, I can't help but feel guilty.

The sunsets all week have been amazing.

Even Hank has been impressed.

I hope somebody besides me sees what I see in this picture.

Ethel, I know you do.

The little cholla men are holding hands watching the sunset, right?

Alan and Lucy pierce their tongues

For the record, I feed generous quantities of hay to my equines four times a day –

breakfast, lunch, dinner and a bedtime snack. In addition, they have 80 stinkin' acres of pasture to graze!

 Does this stop them from chomping on cholla? No.

 The inside of this stuff holds some magical power over them. I hope it's not hallucinogenic.

Lucy: Stop fretting. We know what's good for us...

...and this doesn't hurt at all.

 Lucy: Ok, maybe that one poked just a tiny bit.

 Me: Uh...Lucy dear...you've got a little something hanging from your nose.

Lucy: How embarrassing. Don't let them see me.