Thorn-Apple Wildflower

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 9 Comments

Thorn-Apple Wildflower 

This plant seems to have many names and uses.  Some call it Thorn-Apple, or Sacred Datura, or even Jimson Weed.  The entire plant is poisonous, but portions of the plant are used in modern pharmaceuticals for things like motion sickness medication and to counteract muscle spasms.  Not surprisingly, Native Americans were also aware of the many medicinal benefits of this plant. 

It is about the only thing blooming in Anza-Borrego right now, this plant will bloom most the summer.  We should be back in Alaska Saturday night, it will be a little while before flowers begin blooming there.Read More

Yikes!

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Photos, Travel 9 Comments

Snow

This photo was on the card in my back-up camera, a camera I didn’t need on this trip.  I do remember taking this photo before leaving on this trip.  This is a snow storm raging outside our front door; you can see the door frame on the edges.  Normally I keep a path shoveled down to the street out front, but the snow was filling it in so fast that I said forget it and took a picture instead. 

Finding this photo kind of reminded me of my film days when a partial roll would get left in a camera after a trip, only to be developed weeks or months later.  It would often be a nice surprise.   

I must admit, after a couple months in the warm desert, this scene looks completely foreign to me right now.  I have often said that during the summer in Alaska, I have trouble even remembering what winter is like, and in the winter, summer seems equally inconceivable.  I remember enough to know I am very excited to be heading back to Alaska  for summer!  Here are more Alaska photos.

Silly Wabbit

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel, Wildlife 14 Comments

Jackrabbit

Actually this is a jackrabbit, so maybe I should have titled this Silly Wack-wabbit. 🙂

Seems like at the end of a trip we start evaluating our travel plans and methods.  Our trips outside Alaska to the Lower 48 have typically been fairly long trips for a couple of reasons.Read More

Web Server Blues

Ron NiebruggeArizona, Phoenix, Photos, Travel 15 Comments

Owl’s Clover

Owl’s Clover.

This Owl’s Clover really has nothing to do with our web server – we were adjusting a few photos from earlier in the trip for a customer, and I thought it was kinda purdy, so I went with it.

Our main photo website seems to grow in spurts, and lately it has really been spurting.  According to Webalizer, we had over 336,000 visitors last month!  This month is even busier.  I believe Webalizer counts spiders and repeat visitors, so that number is probably a bit overstated , but even if you reduce it by a third, it is still a lot of great activity.

That’s the good news, now the bad.  Read More

Cholla

Ron NiebruggeArizona, Phoenix, Photos, Travel 2 Comments

Cholla

I think cholla cactus look great when back-lit.  I can speak from experience, these things are no fun to remove from an arm!  I now give them a wide berth.