Mouse Tails

Mouse tails tell tales of a cold and rainy winter.  I think these poor creatures are known as a "mouse tail" cactus.  And that might explain their odd coloration.  They are native  to Central and South America, where they live in trees, in the warm, wet shade of the jungle canopy.  The ones I discovered are planted in a normally hot and dry patch of desert soil and after weeks of bone-numbing (by our standards) cold, they are probably longing for home!