After a week in Florida followed almost immediately thereafter by a trip down to Death Valley National Park to assist with their Astronomy Week, it is nice to be back home sleeping in my own bed again. Except for the nasty cold I caught on the Florida trip. Death Valley was kind of cool though I had little time to explore since I was there to work. This picture was taken maybe 10 or 15 miles north of Furnace Creek while I was returning from Scotty's Castle where I'd gone to help with the solar telescope. It is a desolate, yet interesting, place that I had only passed through once many years ago and needs to be on the list for a return trip.

They've had some rain and in some areas these - Desert Gold - were blooming rather profusely. In addition there were some purple flowers called Phacelia but, by the time I found them, the wind was blowing hard and I couldn't get any photos. Birds were few and far between though I saw some Say's Phoebes, lots of Common Ravens, a flock of Mallards flying around, House Sparrows, and European Starlings. I saw a male goldfinch perched on a Desert Gold, too, but couldn't settle on a species as I zipped by at 60 miles per hour. Hope spring comes here soon (he says knowing there's another foot of snow coming in the next 36 hours or so).