Something to do with Tumbleweeds

Last years crop of tumbleweed was enormous on the estate.  The drive along the fence line at the north end of the property was completely obscured by tumbleweed and required cleaning not once but 4 times.  Dreading the arrival of spring, since tumbleweed produce lots of seed, I watched closely the sprouting of carpets of green baby tumbleweed that appeared across the landscape.   Expecting rapid growth and large plants I was surprised to see many of the carpets of tumbleweed start to die back.  Whether the result of competition between plants or just the result of poor viability, the carpets of green slowly started to turn brown.  Good news since the carpets appeared primarily in barren areas where no grass grew.  The appearance of carpets of baby tumbleweed followed by their die off means the established root systems will help hold the soil in these barren areas as well as providing some aeration allowing other plants to colonize these areas.  The conversion to biomass also means accessible nutrients for other plants.

This years crop of tumbleweeds not only appeared in open barren areas but also along the topsoil restoration barriers and other created edges on the landscape which will help catch more wind and water born soils adding to the process already started.

A green carpet of baby tumbleweeds turning brown, but providing ground cover for barren areas.

The Edge effect, where tumbleweed are growing around a pile of last years decaying tumbleweed skeletons

The Friends of Cave Creek Canyon 2015 Garden Party

Another spring has arrived and it is time again for the annual Friends of Cave Creek Canyon (FOCCC) garden party.  A number of ask the expert tables were set up around Cave Creek Canyon's visitor center with topics ranging from local history to jaguars.  The plant sale took place again this year out in the garden FOCCC installed and maintains for the Coronado National Forest and the Painted Pony Resort now has a variety of new local perennials for the front garden.  Of course no garden party is complete without some tasty food and breakfast and lunch were served to visitors attending the garden party.  For additional images of the garden party please see FOCCC's Facebook page.

 

A panoramic view of FOCCC's 2015 garden party at the Cave Creek Canyon visitors center.

Insects of the Chiricahua mountains

Reptile exhibit.

Tables of experts at the garden party.

Without Color

Recently a post on the importance of light and color in how people "see" was posted which generated a thought.  What becomes important in an image if color is removed.  To see what happens the image below was created of an early morning cloudscape over the Peloncillo mountains.  When the colors are converted to grayscale the result is an image where differences in texture and contrast seem to dominate.  Rather than the wavelength of reflected light being a dominate component of the photograph (a phenomena external to the camera's CMOS chip) it is the internal differences within the image itself that become important to me as a viewer.  Visually exploring the color original my eye first focuses on the blue sky and not the clouds, while in the black and white image my eye is drawn to the clouds and the differences in contrast then in texture.  So perhaps underlying the differences in color are the important differences in contrast and texture which helps make a photograph interesting to a viewer.

Original multi-image panorama in color as a starting point.

Final product, an early morning cloudscape in black and white

The Painted Pony Resort and the Internet of Things

Living in a remote area has its drawbacks, for example the San Simon Valley south of I-10 only received cellular phone service last year and only Verizon service is available locally.  Previously, a repeater mounted on the roof of the main house at the Painted Pony Resort allowed Verizon Cellular service in one building.  But progress marches on and eventually service was established around the valley, welcome to the 21st century.  Another step in that direction occurred recently and that was the arrival of the internet of things on the estate.

Simply put, "[t]he Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors and connectivity to enable it to achieve greater value and service by exchanging data with the manufacturer, operator and/or other connected devices. Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to interoperate within the existing Internet infrastructure", Wikipedia.  The idea of connecting together all the electronics in a home is not a new idea, but only recently has it been possible to make this idea a reality for everyone.  The idea of a WiFi connection between physical objects like dishwashers, washing machines and the like makes sense but it still has a Skynet feel to it and leaves one with a vague uneasiness.

The arrival of the IoT was precipitated by the laundry.  With 13 bedrooms and 21 beds there are 30 to 35 loads of laundry done each after a set of guests leave.  The household sized machines in the main house and guest house just were not big enough to accommodate the amount of laundry that is done in a reasonable time period.  So the owner invested in new much larger machines for the main house which will reduce the number of loads and easily accommodate comforters making life easier.

One interesting aspect to the IoT on the estate is the downloadable application for a smart phone that allows one to remotely monitor and control their washer and dryer and instead of walking over to the main house the status of the wash can be checked from a phone.  The only problem, I don't own a cell phone much less a smart phone, so I will continue to walk over.

New washer and dryer, the IoT at the Painted Pony Resort.

A Chance to Say Goodbye

Saying goodbye, whether parting from family or friends. is always difficult.  Perhaps the most difficult is the permanent goodbye that accompanies the loss of a beloved pet.  The loss of a long term companion like a dog or cat is a change we are often not prepared for but must face like most changes in life.

My constant companion for the past 12-13 years was a dog named "Cholla", a little mixed breed female who resembled a fox or small coyote and was often mistaken by others as a wild animal even though she had a bobbed tail.  Tan in coloration, she was a rescue animal I acquired when working for the National Institutes of Health at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center.  Coming back from lunch with co-workers one day I noticed a women with this dog on a string.  The women was sitting outside on the steps to the building waiting for her daughter who had an appointment with a physician and asked if anyone wanted a dog.  It was a stray they had captured and were looking for a home for the animal.  One look and I wanted to take the dog home but initially suggested that a co-worker who had pets might take her.  She declined so I said OK.  Taking my new dog over to my truck she hopped right in and made herself right at home, it was just the beginning of a long relationship.  Having her checked out at the vet where she was neutered and received her shots I learned she was an estimated 1-1.5 yrs old.  I named her Cholla because it was clear she was a desert dog, she didn't like the water and could be a pain at times (just like the cactus).  After house training I soon discovered that she was deathly afraid of other dogs and most people, and when another dog approached she would try and climb up my leg to get away from the other animal.  She rarely barked and always stayed by my side unless she spotted a rabbit, she liked to chase rabbits but never caught any, just enjoyed the chase.  As a pilot I also taught Cholla about aircraft.  All I would have to say was "airplanes" and point away from the aircraft and she would move away, a good dog.  She never got into trouble with rattlers and would always steer clear when she encountered one, a true dog of the desert.

But we all age, Cholla included.  First her hearing started going followed by her eyesight, I would often find her standing in a corner seemly lost but once moved she was OK.  Then her hips started giving her problems and soon I had to carry her in and out of the trailer because the 3 steps were to much.  Last November there was a morning she could not get up and thinking this was it, I got the 30-30, a shovel, and prepared a grave next to the other dogs buried on the estate.  When I returned though she had managed to get up and was moving around so we continued with our routine of carrying her in and out of the trailer every day.

Cholla always stayed near the trailer and was not prone to wandering off.  I could always find her ensconced in her hole under the trailer staying cool during the summer or lying out in the warm sun during winter.  But the other day turned out to be different.  I took her outside as usual in the morning and went to work installing a washer and dryer, this was the last time I was to see Cholla.  By late afternoon I returned to the trailer but could not find Cholla.  Worried I began searching around for her but no luck.  Then I hopped in the Kubota and started driving around the estate.  This continued to well after sunset and I would periodically open the trailer door throughout the evening looking around expecting to see her sitting out on the concrete pad, but she did not return.  The next morning still no Cholla.  I can only hope she found someplace comfortable to rest.  She will be missed, goodbye Cholla.

Cholla sitting up waiting for a treat.

Cholla and Sonny sitting in a trike, ready to fly.

Cholla and me.

The Ocotillo Bloom

It started with grand plans for a series of images of a single Ocotillo stem bloom moving from buds to opened flowers that would morph from one image to the next either as an animated GIF or as a video loop with morning and evening images to show differences in light on the flowers with all the images carefully superimposed to give a feeling of being there over time.  In my mind I knew what I wanted to "see" so I began the translation process to create what I held in my mind.  I chose 2 stems and began taking photographs every morning and evening.  After several days and no progression in the reddish/orange buds I thought perhaps more water would speed things up, so I watered the selected Ocotillos.  Nothing, no change, no progression towards flowering just the groups of flower buds.  Unsure of how to proceed I just continued to take the twice daily photographs knowing that at some point the flowers would open.  Finally it occurred and one of the stems finally bloomed.  Not all once but it started, of course then then winds came up and changed everything, removing a number of flowers and making any additional photography pointless.  So I ended up with just a couple of photographs that were publishable, not enough for the planned animated GIF, but enough material for a little repeating video which was posted to the Friends of Cave Creek Canyon You Tube page.  Below is the final product which came out pretty well considering the amount of work and grand plans.

About Light and Color

Watching the landscape over time I have concluded it is all about light and color.  Light being the intensity and wavelengths of light from the sun filtered through the atmosphere that illuminates the landscape throughout the day and throughout the year, with or without clouds (creating shadows which add texture).  While color being the wavelengths of light reflected off the landscape as a result of the light.  While not a major revelation to most, the interaction of light and color is always producing something new to see which I find fascinating and struggle constantly with trying to create images that reflect what I see.

Since "seeing" is a combination of the biological components of vision and the processing of that information, it does not lend itself easily to study using a reductionist approach.  Rather I am forced to acknowledge that a holistic approach is required which incorporates both the biological aspects and information processing aspects of "seeing" when producing an image.  I conclude that the landscape views that I find so fascinating msut be the result of an emergent phenomena that results from the interplay of light and color interacting with visual processing creating something greater than the simple sum of its parts.

When addressing the information processing aspects of "seeing" I have no objective method for measuring what others see.  Instead I'm forced to post the image and measure others response to what was created.  While this semi-quantitative approach works it adds another whole layer of confounding variables.  The location where the image appears, the probability an image with show up in search engine rankings,  the biases associated with a specific audience that views the image, and the quality of the image reproduced on the viewers computer screen.  These additional variables impede the ability to understand how others "see" making it is difficult to tease out and concentrate on those aspects that would allow the creation of images with more universal appeal.

Below are 2 images both taken in the front garden of the Painted Pony Resort.  One is an evening view of the Yucca and Ocotillo taken with the long light of late afternoon.  While the second is an early morning view of a single Ocotillo stem starting to bloom.  These 2 images taken from essentially the same location (the single stem image is the Ocotillo on the left side of the first image) and at the same time of year demonstrate how differences in light and color affect the final image produced.  But in presenting these images (which I personally find appealing) I'm still no closer in understanding how people "see".

A view of the garden.

A single Ocotillo stem beginning to flower