The Saguaro Cactus of the Southwest

The state flower of Arizona is the saguaro cactus flower.

The biggest saguaros are about 200 years old. They have more than 50 arms. Saguaros can grow to over 50 feet tall, but they are not the largest in the world. There are about 50 varieties of tree-like cacti found in the desert and some of them in Mexico and South America are even taller than the saguaro.The biggest saguaros are about 200 years old. They have more than 50 arms. Saguaros can grow to over 50 feet tall, but they are not the largest in the world. There are about 50 varieties of tree-like cacti found in the desert and some of them in Mexico and South America are even taller than the saguaro.

A saguaro's arms usually begin to grow only after it is about 15 feet tall and around 75 years old.

The saguaro is found only in the Sonoran Desert, which includes about 120,000 square miles of California and Arizona. Most of Baja California and half of the state of Sonora, Mexico is also included. You won't find saguaros above an elevation of about 3,500 feet since they can't handle much frost.

Saguaro is an Indian word. The correct pronunciation is "sah-wah-ro" or "suh-wah-ro." The formal name is Carnegiea gigantea. It is named for Andrew Carnegie.

Facts and Photos
By Judy Hedding, About.com Guide

Indian Spirit Guide

This is an Indian Spirit Head metal wall decoration as seen on our web site. This one has an eagle under the wolf; can you see it ?!

Spirits have a special place in Indian culture. I have found an extensive list which is worth a look and includes the two shown here.

I had no idea how much thought has gone into these.

http://www.manataka.org/page236.html

History of the rodeo bull

This site is for those who want to know the amazing history and current state of this very specialized breed of bull.

http://www.corrientecattle.org/

A Tucson artist of note

Check out this talented lady @ http://shop.anniemargarita.com
for some very nice artwork. The site is offering 25% discounts until February 15 2010.

Artists of Tucson

Hi western lovers ! In the coming days I am going to add information on some of the many great artist's websites for our local talent. I am not sure why we have so many good ones here but we do. We even had 20 artists come to Tucson from Paris, France, in November, for 10 days. It was organized by my friend Hana Ripp, in an exchange which will send 10-20 of our's to Paris next year.
(http://www.hanaepi.com/)

Also I have a great site for you all to check out that I found on Face Book: http://www.highnoon.com/
It has great articles and schedule of coming events for Southwestern Lore.

e.t.

The Indian, a short history

The Indian, was named by Columbus on his arrival in 1492, believing he had found a short route to India !


Most of us have seen the Indian depicted in the movies either as an attacker of the settlers as they moved West, or as a Warrior in battle trying, with honor, to protect his land.

Those famous Tribes we see depicted the most, actually came from as far away as Florida and had only been in the West for 100 years or so.

Until Columbus introduced the horse to the Americas in the 1500's the native peoples were pretty busy just trying to stay alive and spent their days hunting or farming.

The horse changed everything.

It meant that The Men, instead of taking all week to bring home the ''bacon'', could go out and be back the same or in the next days !

Well, since they didn't do ''Women's work'' what were they going to do for the rest of the week ?

I know, lets go raid another tribe and steal their Women !

And so the Warrior class came to be.

Most Indian tribes remained peaceful and were themselves the victims of the other tribes.

By the time the settlers started to ''invade'' these newly occupied lands, some of the nations were getting pretty good at fighting each other. Now they could turn their attention to the arriving intruders.

The rest, as they say, is history !

See also: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NA-Tribes.html

The Cowboy

The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century became a figure of special significance and legend.[1] A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world have established the ability to work at virtually identical tasks and obtained considerable respect for their achievements.[2] There are also cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, who perform work similar to the cowboy in their respective nations.
The cowboy has deep historic roots tracing back to Spain and the earliest settlers of the Americas. Over the centuries, differences in terrain, climate and the influence of cattle-handling traditions from multiple cultures created several distinct styles of equipment, clothing and animal handling. As the ever-practical cowboy adapted to the modern world, the cowboy's equipment and techniques also adapted to some degree, though many classic traditions are still preserved today.