Opuntia lindheimeri, known as Texas prickly pear, is a cactus originating in Texas that grows throughout the American southwest. It blooms in spring and early summer, with flowers that range from pale yellow to red. The fruit is edible, but I haven't tried it. The spines can be burned off so that the plant can be fed to cattle as a source of water.
The plants can grow ten feet high, but I haven't seen any beyond three or four feet. Drought tolerant and good-looking, they make sense in our water-rationed gardens.
We expect to see seagulls at Lake Balboa, but this raucous flock was gathered around a rather pathetic puddle in a parking lot at Victory and Owensmouth. The real attraction seemed to be an uncovered dumpster filled with garbage from a couple of nearby restaurants.
It's not unusual to find grasshoppers drowned in the pool, but this one saved itself by perching on a hose. The gray bird grasshopper (Schistocerca nitens) is native to the American southwest. We see a lot of them here this time of year. They appear in shades of gray or brown, and can be as much as three inches long. (This one was definitely that big.) They eat plants, but unlike some other species (including locusts) they do not form huge, destructive swarms. They fly rather awkwardly, sometimes crashing into people when they should be escaping.
