iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Monsoon is mushroom season and Saturday’s hike did not disappoint. Here is a collection of some seen on the trail.

I love how this came out highlighting the gills of large-ish orange color mushroom.

Bunches of little (dime-sized) mushrooms. Clusters of these were very common all over.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A rather large group of coatimundi crossing the path on my hike last Wednesday. The group included very cute babies as well as adults and perhaps some adolescents born earlier in the season.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Found some new friends on my hike Saturday 😂 they were calm and not aggressive although I know they can be. This was right on the side of the trail.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Here’s my ginger cat celebrating Ginger Cat day with a cat nap of course.

Orange tabby cat sleeping on a gray background.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

A tobacco Hawk moth that I saw this morning

A mostly black with bits of white and tan. A few fingers of my hand shown for scale

A Tonacvo Hawk Moth. Mostly black with some tan and white markings.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

A baby coati crossing the road.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Can you spot the baby horned lizard? They blend in so well with the ground substrate

A brown baby horned lizard on a brown background of soil, rocks, and leaves

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Came across this gorgeous mushroom on my hike yesterday. I think it is a feed bracket fungus. Such beautiful red color. It was on a dead upright tree stump. #mushrooms #fungi

A bracket fungus clinging to a dead tree. It had a beautiful red outline on shelf like brackets that are more subdued in color

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Little Pink blossoms on Mammillaria cacti

Pink flowers on cactus. One with a bee visiting

Pink flowers form a ring around the cactus

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Water in the desert is amazing. Finally got some good rain.

Saguaro cacti reflected in water just before the water flows over a dam. Some leaves of plants show in the foreground.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Saw an Arizona Coral Snake. Beautiful snake. It wasn’t moving unfortunately I think someone stepped on it.

An Arizona Coral snake has beautiful bands of black, red, and yellow. They are venomous. This one was about as round as a pencil and maybe twice as long. Red on black a friend of Jack. Red on yellow can kill a fellow.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

A beautiful start to the day. Had to get going early for a hike before it gets too hot.

A grouping of saguaros with mountains in the background and clouds in the sky

This guy was fast. I think it’s a whip snake.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Determination: do not let a few spikes in life stop you.

A white winged Dove builds a next within the spikes meant to deter birds from this spot.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

All it takes is some rain, thunder, and lightning and you get frogs. This small pool on my hike today had a bunch of frogs. There were also a lot of bees drinking water from the perimeter.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

A desert marigold after some much needed rain yesterday

A yellow daisy flower with a yellow center sporting water drops from recent rain. Brow and green stems in the background.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

There was absolutely nothing blueberry in this product.

Box of Kellogg’s Blueberry Bran cereal. Notice the picture showing two whole blueberries. Also notice the small but there blueberry bits in the spoon fill of cereal.

On the back of the box is a picture of a bowl of cereal. You can see the bran flakes. You can see the oat clusters with dark blue chunks in them.

This is my bowl of poured cereal. There is nothing blueberry. I pulled out the entire sleeve to inspect and throughout there was not a speck of blueberry.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

We are not on the table. Pulled the cat tree next to the table so they can be next to me without getting on the table. Sometimes it works. 😂 #Caturday

My gray tuxedo cat on the top of a cat tree and my orange tabby cat on the platform below pulled next to the table.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Just finished this book. Highly highly recommended to anyone who enjoys the outdoors, hikes or backpacks, who loves our national parks and public lands, loves the desert Southwest, values the Grand Canyon, respects native peoples, and thinks such places should remain forever wild and protected.

A Walk In The Park by Kevin Fedarko book cover. Tow backpackers looking over a high cliff in the Grand Canyon at the blue Colorado River below.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

The snakes are out. It’s hot and feels like summer. My car said 101 degrees at the finish of my hike this morning (finished about 10 am)

A Mohave Green rattlesnake crossing the path. There is a diamond pattern running down its back that fades into stripes that darken at the tail.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

My two cats caught chilling together.

A gray and white tuxedo cat next to an orange tabby cat on a gray sofa.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Just finished this delightful book. It’s a really nice escape from everything else and has Red Dog vibe (an Australian film I also really liked). I highly recommend both. The film is older, might be hard to find.

Picture of the book cover for Cat’s People by Tanya Guerrero. A black cat is being pet by five hands on a pink background.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

An early hike in the desert today. The rattlesnake was the highlight 😀

An early bloom on the top of the saguaro cactus. Here there are two white flowers with many buds all around, yet to open.

A young diamondback rattlesnake crossing the paved path. I find the white and black stripes on the tail just before the rattle fun.

Acacia pollen factory. Hard to tell there are little green leaves among the many yellow blooms.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Saguaro National Park April 4. The wildflowers are gone but the cacti and other plants are blooming, even some Saguaros already blooming.

A cholla cactus bloom. The petals on this one are yellow rimmed with orange.

A yellow flower spike of the shin dagger. These flowers were fragrant and like perfume.

A view of the desert and clouded blue sky framed by lavender blossoms of the ironwood tree in the foreground.

A deep re flower of a cholla being visited by a bee.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

UofA is in the Final Four!!!!

The University of Arizona alumni red T-shirt

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Gilbert, AZ one of many No Kings protests.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Yay UofA!!! Going to the Elite 8

T-shirt says University of Arizona alumni on a red background.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Mountain hike yesterday. Looks like late winter after the snow has melted but felt like summer with the unseasonable record high temperatures. 80 degrees on the mountain, over 100 in the valley.

Hikers on a trail going through dead brown ferns. The ferns will grow back, become tall, and green up the slope later.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Thomasina and Jerry wish you Happy St Gertrude’s of Nivelles Day today March 17. St Gertrude is the patron saint of cats.

Thomasina is a gray tuxedo and Jerry is the orange tabby cat. Both are rescues and raised since they were tiny kittens.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Saguaro NP hike Saturday. The weather is getting toasty in the desert. Already in the upper 80s.

Zebra-tailed lizard perched on dead cactus debris on the sandy trail.

Echinocereus fascicles in bloom. Five fuchsia color blooms on this one. They are so beautiful and many had multiple blooms like this.

A black bodied and bright orange head & thorax on this rather large blister beetle seen off the trail and in the vegetation.

Some steps up on the trail. Mountains in the background and blue sky above. I love the high wispy clouds in the sky.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Getting out in nature always feels good. It’s a nice reprieve from all the bad things in the news.

Male and female cardinals. The red male is easy to spot. You have to look closely to see the brown female just below on the same branch.

Two white and pink striped Chicory blossoms reaching for the sun and a small purple lupine underneath in the bottom right corner.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

An unexpected mushroom on my hike yesterday in Saguaro National Park. It was quite large, maybe 8 inches tall. I believe it is a Shaggy Mane mushroom. Surprising because I rarely see mushrooms in the desert and it had been unseasonably hot and dry for the past week or two. #fungi

A large white mushroom with some brownish on top. Found under a tree.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I love the spring flowers and butterflies. I hope you enjoy them too and perhaps take your mind away from the awful things for a few moments. In nature I find renewal and hope.

Leptons marina butterfly showing two dark spots and tan stripes on cream colored wings. The butterfly is settled on a fury spike with two tiny purple flowers with yellow anthers showing prominently.

An Empress Leila butterfly (locally nicknamed Princess Leia). I prefer to photograph them on flowers rather than the rocky ground shown here but sometimes you gotta take what you can get. The butterfly is light orange with white and dark spots.

I believe this is a Heliolonche carolus moth on Desert Chicory (NM plumeseed). Many of the flowers had one or two of these moths in them. Their markings are a deep pink/rusty rose color.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

If Globemallows lived in a marsh, would they be marshmallows? Here is a Globemallow in bloom against a saguaro in the desert.

Deep orange blossoms on a Globemallow growing at the base of a saguaro cactus.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

A close up of orange poppies blooming along the roadside.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Wild poppies color the hillside in the Salt River Canyon in Arizona.

The hillside is orange where poppies are growing.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

If you turn the sound on you should hear frogs. In the smaller ponds they would shut up as I approached. I and my hiking buddies never could site a frog though. Not along the shore, not heads sticking out of the water, not water ripples or bubbles after escape.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Nature heals. Nature is serenity in a crazy world. There were flowers and butterflies. Spring is on its way.

A red admiral butterfly rests on a brittle bush yellow daisy flower. The butterfly has orange stripes and some white spots on a dark wing.

A light brown American Snout butterfly sits on a stem.

Two pink and beige butterflies on a white flower. I believe the flower is a New Mexico Plumeseed.

A stem of blue and yellow lupine alongside a couple of white lupine flower stems.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

The wildflowers are out! They promise more to come. This is along a trail in Saguaro National Park. #nationalparks #hiking #nature #outdoors

Orange poppies, purple lupine, purple scorpion weed and other flowers line the trail,

Orange poppies looking up into a blue sky

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Saguaro National Park on Valentine’s Day #NatioalPark

Orange poppy snuggling against some rocks

A row of orange poppies lining the trail.

Purple scorpion weed blooms. A cluster of flowers shown here.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

From today’s hike. Some flowers and butterflies are showing up. Also met a furry little gopher. They are usually all tucked up in their dens.

A mostly orange (painted lady) butterfly on a yellow daisy Brittle Bush flower.

A Botta’s Pocket Gopher (little brown animal) peaking out from its burrow.

Two saguaros frame wispy clouds in a blue sky.

A saguaro, a gray patterned rock, trees lining the creek and the sun peaking down over a rocky ridge.

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DebS @debbiesch123.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

This! This thing! Canyon ragweed makes my nose run a marathon while hiking a few miles. Notice the pollen factories (flowers) at the end of the stalk. Brittle-bush also contributes to the running nose but at least its yellow flowers are pretty.