February 2023

Questionable Direction
Tucson, Arizona
2023

I’ve seen saguaro cacti in all sorts of stages of growth, dying, death, and decay. This unusually shaped one had me stumped though. The top half looked quite healthy while the bottom looked quite dead. So I had to wonder, is it dying from the bottom up or growing from the top down?

Watching the Watchers
Tucson, Arizona
2023

A mountain lion relaxing and watching the people watching it at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. I always feel sorry for animals cooped up in zoos, but this cats environs were quite plush. It certainly was in a situation much better than a lot of caged animals do.

For Gene
Tucson Mountain Park, Arizona
2023

If you have cable TV, there’s a good chance Grit is on your channel list. We don’t have it at home but we do have it where we’re staying here in Tucson and watch it quite a bit. If you aren’t familiar with it, Grit streams all old western movies and TV show content. When I say old movies and TV shows, I mean quite old, including a lot of shows starring Gene Autry, a.k.a. The Singing Cowboy. (He competed a lot with Roy Rogers in regards to the singing business I think.)

I’ve always enjoyed Gene Autry’s songs, although the older I get the more the joy derives from the campy, nostalgia of his music than anything else. But that enjoyment started growing thin the other day when for some reason every 10-15 minutes on Grit they would run the same commercial for his shows. So we got to listen to Riding Down the Canyon over and over and over again. In spite of the repetition, I do still like the song, so this POTD is for you Gene.

The backlit effect from the setting sun always gives teddy bear cholla cacti a warm fuzzy glow. But anyone who’s been around them knows, sometimes painfully, the folly of taking that look too seriously. Perhaps instead of Faux Warm Fuzzies, I should have titled this image Forewarned Fuzzies.

Faux Warm Fuzzies
Kofa Mountains, Arizona
2022

Also Ran
Kofa Mountains, Arizona
2022

This house finch portrait isn’t as compelling as yesterday’s hummingbird shot, but thanks to its bright Valentine’s Day red color and the strong lighting, it’s still a cheerful image.

Photo Bomb
Kofa Mountains, Arizona
2022

I was composing a shot of this section of an ocotillo plant because of it’s interesting shape (and the red flower too) when a local hummingbird dived into the scene uninvited. For obvious reasons, I was glad it did. I was so shocked I almost forgot to press the shutter button–I’m way more used to birds flying out of camera view rather than in when I’m trying to photograph them.

Kofa Shadows #5
Kofa Mountains, Arizona
2022

Kofa Shadows #4
Kofa Mountains, Arizona
2022

Kofa Shadows #3
Kofa Mountains, Arizona
2022

Moonrise, Pusch Ridge
Oro Valley, Arizona
2023

Taken from the driveway of the house we are staying in the evening of the same day that I photographed yesterday’s image of the moonset in the morning from the other side of the house. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve photographed a moonrise and a moonset on the same day.

(Pusch Ridge, which you can’t actually see in the photo, is a Wilderness Area in spite of being wedged against the busy town of Oro Valley. Hence the different locations noted for the two photos from the same house.)