Warm weather thoughts

Going through my recent pictures, and there are a few I thought I should put up before they get too outdated. We have a water authority 'basin' near our house - these are empty fields that the water authority digs really low and usually surrounds with concrete. They are to hold water when we have our big thunderstorms, to prevent flash flooding downstream - (see Fire crew rescue for a shot of flooding last summer). Some of the basins are very large, and one nearby was left green with soccer fields down in the bottom - it's across from my Von's, so I'll take a picture soon to show how big.
Anyway, they usually put low water landscaping around the outside of the basin. This one has some saguaro cactus scattered around. Well, even though LV is in a desert it is not the same as the south of Arizona, where saguero cactus normally grow. It's too cold here and they freeze to death in the winter. If you see any old cowboy movies you can always tell the ones shot in old Tucson as there are saguaros all over the place. The ones here look a little different in winter:

They are wrapped in burlap to protect them from the cold. Since it's been so warm, they should be unwrapped soon.
Some other signs of spring around our yard - the apple tree is turning green.

And the peach tree didn't turn all nice and pink like it did last year, the green leaves came out first.

It was very nice sitting out today under the shade of the peach eating hamburgers we grilled (yes, our grill is active).
And finally our almond tree has passed beyond the flower stage:

Some little baby almonds are here.