Those were taken with my canon 30D, and standard 18-55 zoom lens. But, just for comparison, here is a shot of the blue bottlebrush SPS (thanks again curtis!) taken with a nikon 3200coolpix, a point and shoot that is about 5-6 yrs old:
It's a little washed out in this pic, but I probably need to mess with the white balance or something. Anyway, bring your camera if you're interested, and we can play with it at the big hoedown.
I still have a nearly full bag of portland cement that I can donate to the cause, and it sounds like Joel has a lot of sand, so DIY rock here we come. I have heard that one way to cure it is to place it in the tank portion of your toilet, where it will get a water change every time someone flushes. (laugh) (nutty)