Yellow Cactus Blossom

Greetings fellow bloggers, I had a chance to get out and snap a few pics this weekend this is one of the beautiful shots that I was blessed to have captured.  The photo features a beautiful yellow prickley pear cactus blossom. I had quite a few close up photos of the centers of these flowers and thought it would be interesting to get a different view point. This particular cactus is  "Engelmann's prickly pear"
Opuntia engelmannii also know as Texas prickly pear.

     I have created many new products in my store today featuring this photo so please check them out and let me know what you think. http://www.zazzle.com/meganrene88

You can also buy a print of this photo here : http://meganrhoover.smugmug.com/Flowers/Plants-and-flowers/i-KCtww59/0/Th/DSCF9898-Th.jpg



Please also visit My website to view my other galleries.

Here is a little more info on the Prickly pear cactus.
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.
The fruit of prickly pears, commonly called cactus fruit, cactus fig, Indian fig or tuna in Spanish, is edible, although it has to be peeled carefully to remove the small spines on the outer skin before consumption. If the outer layer is not properly removed, glochids can be ingested, causing discomfort of the throat, lips, and tongue, as the small spines are easily lodged in the skin. Native Americans, like the Tequesta, would roll the fruit around in a suitable medium (e.g. grit) to "sand" off the glochids. Alternatively, rotating the fruit in the flame of a campfire or torch has been used to remove the glochids. Today, parthenocarpic (seedless) cultivars are also available.
USES
Cactus figs are often used to make candies, jelly, or drinks such as vodka or lemonade. My family and I have made jelly ourselves out of the fruit and it came out wonderful.
Prickly pears typically grow with flat, rounded cladodes (also called platyclades) that are armed with two kinds of spines; large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike prickles called glochids, that easily penetrate skin and detach from the plant. Many types of prickly pears grow into dense, tangled structures.
Fluid ("cactus juice") extracted from Opuntia pads and stems, especially O. ficus-indica, is one of the most commonly additives in earthen plaster for walls and bricks, it had been discoverered that many Native tribes in Mexico used this technique thoughout history.

Like all true cactus species, prickly pears are native only to the Western hemisphere; however, they have been introduced to other parts of the globe. Prickly pear species are found in abundance in Mexico, especially in the central and western regions. They are also found in the Western United States, in arid regions in the Northwest, throughout the mid and lower elevations of the Rocky Mountains such as in Colorado, and especially in the desert Southwest. Prickly pears are also the only types of cactus found to grow natively far east of the Great Plains states.

Charles Darwin was the first to note that these cacti have thigmotactic anthers: when the anthers are touched, they curl over, depositing their pollen. This movement can be seen by gently poking the anthers of an open Opuntia flower.
                                           Thats all for today hope you enjoy! :)

Pink Hedgehog Cactus blossom

This is a photo of a beautiful cactus flower that I found this week out in our pasture.

It is a species of hedgehog cactus and is in the Echinocereus family.  I am not sure of the actually speices of this cactus because there are so many varieties and very few are well documented.  I created many new products on my Zazzle site today that feature this photo, Please feel free to check them out. http://www.zazzle.com/meganrene88  

Many other new products coming soon so please check back!

Echinocereus is a genus of ribbed, usually small to medium-sized cylindrical cacti, comprising about 70 species from the southern United States and Mexico in very sunny rocky places. Usually the flowers are large and the fruit edible.
The name comes from the Ancient Greek ἐχῖνος (echinos), meaning "hedgehog," and the Latin cereus meaning "candle."

Vibrant Photo

I hope you all love this photo as much as I do, I know that Lantana is fairly common in the southeastern united states but it grows wild around the deserts in some spots here in west texas too. I loved the contrast in this photo. I have put a few products for sale featuring this photo and will have more shortly.
   Here is a link where you can buy a poster of the Photo in any size. http://www.zazzle.com/wild_lantana_poster-228988243488415110
Hope you Enjoy! :)

New Photo

   Hello fellow bloggers, I apologize for the long delay inbetween new posts.  Here is my newest photo I have created a large amount of new products on my zazzle site so please come check out my new products several feauture this photo as well. http://www.zazzle.com/meganrene88. Please feel free to comment on my products as well.   This is a photo I took a few days ago of a little beetle that was happily pollenating a wildflower, I took many photos of him but I like this one best because it looks as if he is looking back at me.

New Products!

    Greetings Bloggers, I am sorry That I have been away from the my blog for so long, I Finally have a computer that will access the internet.  I Have dozens of new products on my zazzle site, many with the photo of the Pink cactus blossoms featured here on my blog.  There are many other new products on the that feature my photographs and designs.  Many of the new products featured on my zazzle site are Made in America.... thats right I just said that they were Made in America!!!  I am very happy that Zazzle is starting to help support american jobs , It makes me feel better to know that the people that have worked on the products that feature my Photos are paid decently.  Here is a link please visit and tell me what you think about some of my new products.  http://www.zazzle.com/meganrene88/gifts?cg=196977180946138329&st=date_created   I am also designing a handful of items with a patriotic design as well so stay tuned.   Thank you for your patients and I hope you are still following my blog!

PC problems

Dear Bloggers, I am really sorry for the lack of new posts. I am still having major PC problems, and currently dont have acess to the internet,Lord willing I will soon have my PC up and running and will be able to post some new pics!  Thank you again for your patience.      

More photos soon!

Greetings bloggers!  I appologise for the lack of new content this week! I have had some computer problems and some technical difficulties, But will be back soon with more photos!!!   Please bare with me, If you happen to get bored feel free to check out some of my links to my galleries.  God Bless! :)

Fall is Coming!

   Greetings! Autumn Is my favorite time of the year. In honor of the first day of Autumn later this week, I am posting this Photo of a Vibrant sunflower. Its one of the only colorful things around this area in Autumn. I grew up in the Mountains of California and during Autumn I often feel homesick because I now live in Western Texas and its just not the same here, its much too warm and there are no colorful trees.
  There is nothing like the cool crisp air of Autumn, and the colors are unmatchable.

 In honor of Autumn you may post a Photo or a link to your favorite Autumn Nature photo here on my blog as you comment!

Daily Bible Verse Blog

  Greetings! I Started an additional blog today where I will display Daily Bible Verses.
Please feel free to check it out.  :)
http://dailyinspirationofgodsword.blogspot.com/

Appaloosa Horse

Greetings! This is a picture of a Beautiful Brown Dappled Appaloosa Horse. This Particular Photo was taken In Alamogordo, New Mexico. I have always loved these horses and I thought that I would provide a bit of the History behind the Breed, since it is a very interesting history Indeed. I must give credit where credit is due, I got a lot of the Information off of Wikipedia and to my Knowlege it is fairly Accurate.

 Hope you enjoy! Please check out my products featuring this photo and others!
http://www.zazzle.com/meganrene88/appaloosa+gifts

Early History Domesticated horses with leopard complex spotting patterns have been depicted in art dating as far back as Ancient Greece, Anchient Persia, and the Han Dynasty in China; later depictions appeared in 11th-century France and 12th-century England French paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries show horses with spotted coats being used as riding horses, and other records indicate they were also used as coach horses at the court of Louis XIV of France. In mid-18th-century Europe, there was a great demand for horses with the leopard complex spotting pattern among the nobility and royalty. These horses were used in the schools of horsemanship, for parade use, and other forms of display.Modern horse breeds in Europe today that have leopard complex spotting include the Knabstupper and the Pinzgau, or Noriker Horse.

Trading The Spanish probably obtained spotted horses through trade with southern Austria and Hungary, where the color pattern was known to exist. The Conquistadors and Spanish settlers then brought some vividly marked horses to the Americas when they first arrived in the early 16th century. One horse with snowflake patterning was listed with the 16 horses brought to Mexico by Cortez, and additional spotted horses were mentioned by Spanish writers by 1604. Others arrived in the western hemisphere when spotted horses went out of style in late 18th-century Europe, and were shipped to Mexico, California and Oregon.
Appaloosas' of the Nez Perce The Nez Perce people lived in what today is eastern Washington, Oregon and western Idaho where they engaged in agriculture as well as Horse Breeding. The Nez Perce first obtained horses from the Shoshone around 1730. They took advantage of the fact that they lived in excellent horse-breeding country, relatively safe from the raids of other tribes, and developed strict breeding selection practices for their animals, establishing breeding herds by 1750. They were one of the few tribes that actively used the practice of gelding inferior male horses and trading away poorer stock to remove unsuitable animals from the gene pool, and thus were notable as horse breeders by the early 19th century.
Early Nez Perce horses were considered to be of high quality. Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition wrote in his February 15, 1806, journal entry: "Their horses appear to be of an excellent race; they are lofty, eligantly formed, active and durable: in short many of them look like fine English coarsers and would make a figure in any country." Lewis did note spotting patterns, saying, "... some of these horses are pided (pied)with large spots of white irregularly scattered and intermixed with the black brown bey or some other dark colour". By "pied", Lewis may have been referring to leopard-spotted patterns seen in the modern Appaloosa, though Lewis also noted that "much the larger portion are of a uniform colour". The Appaloosa Horse Club estimates that only about ten percent of the horses owned by the Nez Perce at the time were spotted.While the Nez Perce originally had many solid-colored horses and only began to emphasize color in their breeding some time after the visit of Lewis and Clark, they had many spotted horses by the late 19th century. As white settlers moved into traditional Nez Perce lands, a successful trade in horses enriched the Nez Perce, who in 1861 bred horses described as "elegant chargers, fit to mount a prince." At a time when ordinary horses could be purchased for $15, non-Indians who had purchased Appaloosa horses from the Nez Perce turned down offers of as much as $600.
The Nez Perce War Peace with the United States dated back to an alliance arranged by Lewis and Clark,but the encroachment of gold miners in the 1860s and settlers in the 1870s put pressure on the Nez Perce. Although a treaty of 1855 originally allowed them to keep most of their traditional land, another in 1863 reduced the land alloted to them by 90 percent. The Nez Perce who refused to give up their land under the 1863 treaty included a band living in the Wallowa Valley of Oregon, led by Heinmot Tooyalakekt, widely known as Chief Joseph, Tensions rose, and in May 1877, General Oliver Howard called a council and ordered the non-treaty bands to move to the reservation. Chief Joseph considered military resistance futile, and by June 14, 1877, had gathered about 600 people at a site near present-day Grangeville,Idaho. But on that day a small group of warriors staged an attack on nearby white settlers, which led to the Nez Perce War. After several small battles in Idaho, more than 800 Nez Perce, mostly non-warriors, took 2000 head of various livestock including horses and fled into Montana, then traveled southeast, dipping into Yellowstone National Park. A small number of Nez Perce fighters, probably fewer than 200, successfully held off larger forces of the U.S. Army in several skirmishes, including the two-day Battle of the Big Hole in southwestern Montana. They then moved northeast and attempted to seek refuge with the Crow Nation; rebuffed, they headed for safety in Canada.
Throughout this journey of about 1,400 miles (2,300 km) the Nez Perce relied heavily on their fast, agile and hardy Appaloosa horses. The journey came to an end when they stopped to rest near the Bears Paw Mountains in Montana, 40 miles (64 km) from the Canadian border. Unbeknownst to the Nez Perce, Colonel Nelson A. Miles had led an infantry-cavalry column from Fort Keogh in pursuit. On October 5, 1877, after a five-day fight, Joseph surrendered. The battle—and the war—was over. With most of the war chiefs dead, and the noncombatants cold and starving, Joseph declared that he would "fight no more forever".
After The Nez Perce War When the U.S. 7th Cavalry accepted the surrender of Chief Joseph and the remaining Nez Perce, they immediately took more than 1,000 of the tribe's horses, sold what they could and shot many of the rest. But a significant population of horses had been left behind in the Wallowa valley when the Nez Perce began their retreat, and additional animals escaped or were abandoned along the way. The Nez Perce were ultimately settled on Reservation lands in north central Idaho, They were allowed few horses, and were required by the Army to breed what mares they still had to Draft Horse Stallions in an attempt to create farm horses. The Nez Perce tribe never regained its former position as breeders of Appaloosas, but in the late 20th century they began a program to develop a new horse breed, the Nez Perce Horse, with the intent to resurrect their horse culture, tradition of selective breeding, and horsemanship.
Although a remnant population of Appaloosa horses remained after 1877, they were virtually forgotten as a distinct breed for almost 60 years. A few quality horses continued to be bred, mostly those captured or purchased by settlers and used as working ranch horses. Others were used in circuses and related forms of entertainment such as "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show" The horses were originally called "Palouse horses" by settlers, a reference to the Palouse River that ran through the heart of what was once Nez Perce country. Gradually, the name evolved into "Apalouse", and then "Appaloosa". Other early variations of the name included "Appalucy", "Apalousey" and "Appaloosie". In one 1948 book, the breed was called the "Opelousa horse", described as a "hardy tough breed of Indian and Spanish horse" used by backwoodsmen of the late 18th century to transport goods to New Orleans for sale. By the 1950s, "Appaloosa" was regarded as the correct spelling.
Revitalization of the Breed The Appaloosa came to the attention of the general public in January 1937 in Western Horseman magazine when Francis D. Haines, a history professor from Lewiston,Idaho, published an article describing the breed's history and urging its preservation. Haines had performed extensive research, traveling with a friend and Appaloosa aficionado named George Hatley, visiting numerous Nez Perce villages, collecting history, and taking photographs. The article generated strong interest in the horse breed, and led to the founding of the Appaloosa Horse Club(ApHC) by Claude Thompson and a small group of other dedicated breeders in 1938 The registry was originally housed in Moro, Oregon but in 1947 the organization moved to Moscow, Idaho, under the leadership of George Hatley.