Desert Anomalies

I've been in Arizona for the past week, hangin' with some friends, loafing, a little hiking, etc. I've posted Arizona desert pix before, so this time I tried to find some unusual shots. This is certainly one. This is a barrel cactus that appears to be trying to grow an arm...on the lower left. I have never seen barrels grow arms...that's usually the specialty of the saguaro. This is obviously an ambitious barrel cactus that is thinking outside the box.

Here's another anomaly...a saguaro growing a new arm down low on the cactus. Notice that the cactus in back of the arm is partially brown and spineless...this is the old, washed up part of the cactus yet it can still produce new life. The growth to the left of the pic is also unusual, a large, thick arm growing from the bottom of an old cactus. This is a strange saguaro!

Here's a longer range view of the above cactus. One of the intriguing things about the saguaro is that each of them has its own personality and design, but even so this one is downright wierd!