December 15, 2014
Brisk out this morning. Went for a walk about nine. Here are a couple more views of Cholla Central:
Cholla Central No. I
Cholla Central, No. 2
Cholla sometimes takes over in areas that have been cleared or burned (it's the first plant to thrive). One of the local theories is that the Hohokam (or Sinagua) farmers who lived in the cave across the way, cleared the plateau we live on for farming. Makes some sense.
Warning: Manhood Cringing Story Ahead
The worse case of cholla attachment I have ever witnessed was when our neighborhood dog Smokie came yelping into our yard with cholla thorns stuck to his hind legs and butt. I quickly removed them with a comb, but then I realized he had a more serious cholla attachment underneath. Peering between his quivering legs I saw it—right on the full length of his penis and scrotum. A long cholla shaft was jammed flat and the spines were all the way in at 45 degree angles to each other! Smokie literally jumped up on a picnic table and whimpered for me to help him. Every time I approached with the comb, he would growl, but then whimper, and I finally had to get a pair of pliers to finish the job. It was very traumatic for both of us, but I could not imagine the pain that must have caused him. We assume Smokie got into it with a javalena and he was pushed or fell into a cholla patch, probably in the area of the above photos.
"Cholla hand warmer? No thanks?"
—Old Vaquero Saying