At Camp Thunderbird

The yellow flowers on the greasewood (larrea tridentata) are being replaced by the usual pussy willow like fuzzys. Haven't seen any of the ant-like insects which look so amazingly like the 'fuzzys.'

But speaking of amazing, I was reminded today of a happening I experienced on the desert sometime about the fourth grade in grammar school. I was a well experience lizard and bug hunter and had caught and kept snakes. However, one day upon turning over a rock I was truly surprised by finding there a creature from outer space. It looked a bit like a lizard, but I knew the creature was unearthly because sunlight passed through its body! and in the place where earthly creatures had claws or talons it had suction cups; suction cups! What good luck for a fourth grade boy.

Well today while cleaning out my woodshed I encountered five more of the creatures. They were of two different kinds. The larger ones were identical to those I had first discovered. The others were smaller and of a darker color. Now I know them as species of earth geckos. Still interesting even if not as alien as I first thought.

All of this reminds of of an experience I had with an eye when I was only a four year old.

Larrea Tridentata

Some asked about ¨Larrea.` This blogger program ´asked´ me for a name and told me that Richard was taken. I was looking out the window at a greasewood/creasote bush and it came to me that its scientific´name was larrea tridentata. The full name seemed a bit long so I offered the program Larraea and it was accepted.