the scourge of the desert.

don't forget to click the pic

A picture of last night's almost full moon.

Because of an incident that happened today I decided I would write about every desert dwellers least favorite cactus. Even if you don't have a favorite cactus, everyone that's spent some time in the desert has a Cactus that is their least favorite and most folks agree that it's the Cholla.

Whether it's called the Teddy Bear Cholla, the Jumping Cholla, or that &#$%$& Cholla, they're all referring to the same thing, the scourge of the desert, the most despised plant in the desert, that miserable excuse for a plant, the devils on spawn, the Cholla.

Covered with a million spines that are as hard as, but sharper than a needle. Parts of the plant are barely attached to the main stalk so the slightest touch breaks it off and it instantly becomes attached to you so most efforts to remove it only makes it stick tighter and the spines go deeper.

The spines will go through the bottom of sneakers, through bicycle tires like they're not there, and when you pull the spines out of your skin that area aches for half an hour or so. I've yet to see a single redeeming quality for that infernal plant.

So this morning an older couple that are boondocked with some friends across the way from me decided to get off the dirt road and stroll about six feet into the desert, which would've been fine except they obviously had no idea about the unwritten rules one must follow when walking anywhere near Cholla cactus.

They both immediately got Cholla in their shoes and the woman was so bad she could barely make the three steps it took to get back on the road. Their friend came running over to help, and ran back to the trailer for a couple of lawn chairs and a pair of pliers.

The situation eventually got straightened out but the couple sat in those lawn chairs for about half hour pulling cactus spines out of their sneakers, socks, and I'm assuming their feet.

They learned a valuable lesson about the desert and where you can and can't walk, but imagine a similar situation where the couple was actually out in the desert half a mile from their car and their shoes and pant legs are full of Cholla and they have no pliers to get the Cholla off themselves, they might not be able to take their shoes off because of all the spines sticking through them, they can't sit down because of the Cholla on their pant leg, and they can't walk because of the spines in their feet. Those folks this morning were very lucky this happened 50 feet from their trailer and there friends were nearby.

                                   theboondork

Since the woman led the charge off the dirt road and into the desert she got the worst of it. At this point she can't take another step and is really hurting.

The unfortunate couple spent about half hour sitting next to the road pulling Cholla out of their shoes with pliers. If they had an extra pair of shoes in the camper they should have just thrown these away because some of the spines that broke off in the shoes will eventually work their way through the rubber and come back to bite them someday

Close-up of a ruined sneaker, she just doesn't know it yet.

Cholla pups on the ground in a Cholla patch, never walk through a Cholla patch, it's the Cholla's playground and the Cholla is the playground bully.