Good Morning, Cactus!

They all look like normal cactus cuttings, but two of them have been to SPACE!

Yesterday, Julius and I put our cactus samples into pots! With the help of  Mr. Ryan C. from our local Lowes, we settled on some special potting soil, and these adorable terra cotta pots!

In our original proposal we had planned to use some soil from the area around the "Mother Cactus," but we amended this plan for several reasons, the main reason being that we have no clue what is in our local soil, and when we send our research to NASA it would be better if we can point them to something that has a well documented composition. That being said, there is another reason. A very scaly, scary, venomous reason.
When Julius and I were packing the cubes in May, we decided to get some extra pictures of the mother cactus for the blog. After a while I looked up from my camera to see Julius nearly step back onto a long tan "thing." That thing promptly MOVED, coiled up under a tree, and started RATTLING. Ah, Texas is just full of friendly critters! Needless to say, we ran one way, and the rattlesnake ran (slithered?) in the other.
After that, Julius, our teacher, and I decided that stomping through tall grass to dig underneath a giant cactus in the middle of the summer was not the best idea I had ever had...

Thank you for reading!

-Edith