Un-Sequestered and Free Again

001Last week I was on the east coast. Fighting the after affects of the flu I never was truly warm for six consecutive days.

002Snow storms rolling in from the east and south kept me in a gray, gloomy world. Residents and businesses were planning, adapting, and changing their day-to-day lives because of the weather.

But Friday afternoon I just escaped being imprisoned at the airport as flight delays began. Luckily my scheduled visit for Friday afternoon was cancelled by the client and I grabbed an earlier flight out. It was a just-in-time flight, as my originally schedule later flight was to be delayed for hours and I would not have been able to get home as planned.

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Back home, the weather was wonderful, with temperatures in the 70’s (F). Nothing better to fix what ails you than to go for a hike.

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And nothing cheers me up like hiking in Palm Oases, so that is what I did.

The only native palm in the Western US is the Washington filifera, also known as the California Fan Palm. These palms can grow up to 80+ feet, but require continuous access to underground water. This native palm is primarily found in the Lower Colorado Desert, which is luckily where I live.

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Above: Full skirts are created by the dead palm fronds.

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Above: A few years ago a fire burned through this entire palm grove, but most of the trees survived. The gray-white coloring on the ground are ash remnants.

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Above: Palms need a continuous source of underground water to survive. A Palm Oasis does not mean one will find water. This grove has a substantial spring that provides ground water to the resident animals.

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Above: Even in the heat of summer, Palm Oasis provide a cool refuge from the heat.

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