It's dead summer, just before the monsoon, and I have so much nature stuff to blog about. But I will limit myself for the moment to two things: one old and one new.

Old is the beautiful cactus blooms we had all around the valley till just recently. The one posted is a prickly pear blossom from our front yard. They range in color from creamy yellow, like this one, through champagne and pale orange.

New is more pack rat trouble, which required getting Mr. Pack Rat out here to get rid of the two guys living on our porch and their gross nests. The guy who set the traps did not come back the next day because the following morning he was bitten by a rattlesnake (but he's going to be fine). His boss, Mr. Pack Rat, collected the one trapped rat and while cleaning up the nests found the other, which was hiding behind a desk. He dispatched it with a shovel.

This morning I saw a great harbinger of rat-free times when I startled a very small, very beautiful king snake on the porch. This picture is of him freezing in fear beneath the baby keiki of a spider plant.