Yesterday one of our furry kids (Bo) came limping home looking like a “pin cushion”.  His nose and muzzle, inside his mouth, and all four feet COVERED in cholla spines.  For those of you who have never experienced a cholla up close and personal, take it from Bo, BEWARE and give them wide berth!  Their loose-jointed branches break off easily in segments and their sharp thorny spines have barbed ends - making them great propagators - attaching themselves to whatever comes along.  Cholla spines are tenacious and painful to extract.  We’re still chasing poor Bo around with the tweezers.

The picture above was taken from a safe arm’s length of a mature Chain-Fruit Cholla, also known as a “Jumping Cholla”.  This particular cactus stands well over seven feet tall and is one of several congregated in what we call the “Cholla Patch”.  Check out those needle-like spines!  The dark hole in the center is an active wren’s nest.  This is probably where the puppy-pin-cushion saga started.  Bo loves to chase flying birds and in his excitement he apparently ran right over the protective wire fencing and found himself knee-deep in cholla buds.

Today while we were out reinforcing the barrier fence surrounding the cholla patch, we noticed the wren family occupying the cholla’s penthouse apartment while several flights below, hidden in the basement and surrounded by dying wildflowers, is... can you see her? ...a mama quail, sitting on her nest.  Hopefully, in a few weeks we’ll be seeing a covey of quail.  The babies are so cute and they hatch hungry and ready to run around.  Now we know to be watching for ‘em!