Ocotillo outrage

Coming to town today I passed this semi load of ocotillo. Ocotillo is an important food resource for Lucifer Hummingbirds. I endured eight years of a banding project in hopes that what was learned would help protect Lucifer habitat. How naive I was!

UPDATE: I have since learned that these plants came from a ranch between Big Bend National Park and Alpine, at least according to Linda Walker. The rancher wanted them removed, supposedly. The Migratory Bird Act makes it illegal to destroy a bird's nest on your property. Many species of birds nest in ocotillo during this time of year. So technically, this removal was illegal. No telling how many bird nests were destroyed.

Check out Linda's wholesale plant website. It's shocking to me.

http://www.westtexasplants.com/

Better day than yesterday

The electrician showed up mid-morning and got the guesthouse electricity hooked up correctly. Took him 3 hrs to figure the mess out. Don't know if everything is right or not. He said he'd be back next week to finish the job. Of course the pump still isn't working right, which is the reason I called an electrician in the first place. But I do have 3 new breaker boxes. Two of them still need a panel or something over the exposed wires.

It got up to 106° today.

Photographed a few butterflies. Nothing special. Here's a Common Streaky-Skipper.

Saw a Central Texas Whipsnake today. I think I dislike them most after venomous snakes. They're alarmingly efficient at getting up into trees and raiding nests.

A roller coaster day

I hadn't heard from the electrician since my threat to take legal action if he didn't show up Friday (today), so I didn't even bother to show up at the oasis this morning. (I'm down) Shortly after 11 AM I got a call from my sister that the electrician was at CMO. (I'm up) I went tearing down there. Not really tearing since endless road work and following pilot cars for endless miles kind of put a damper on tearing. (That would be up and down repeatedly)

When I got here it was just the electrician's helper that was here. He had my electricity turned off, but hey, even that's progress. No AC and it was hot. (Down)

Nothing to do but watch odes at the oasis. Right quick I find what I think is the Five-striped Leaftail that I had seen here the other day. But fortunately I decided to photograph it anyway. Turns out to be a new oasis species, Gray Sanddragon. (I'm up)  I have seen them before at Shafter. 

Finally, just before 3 PM the electrician shows up. (I'm up) By then, his helper is suffering from heat exhaustion. They turn on the power and nothing at the oasis. (down) They went back to the guesthouse and did something at the new breaker box and got power. (up) It should have worked the first time if it had been done correctly, in my opinion, but hey, give the kid a break. Heat exhaustion.

So the helper leaves. The pump still isn't working. (really down) The electrician decides it's either the new control box or the new pump since 240 volts is getting to the control box. Sometimes the pump comes on, sometimes not. He also decides the new pressure switch isn't working right. He switches out the new switch for the old one that had been doing the same thing. But he thinks the old one is working better.

He was ready to leave and said he'd be back in the morning. I pretended to believe him. On my way to the house I decided to clean up the mess of old wires, breakers etc he had left behind at the guesthouse, thrown into a nearby bush making it twice as hard for me to clean up. But hey, heat exhaustion and all.

Since I have company coming to stay in the guesthouse tomorrow, I thought I had better check it just in case. And sure enough, no electricity to it or its water pressure pump. Now I've just gone from desperate to dire. (numb) I texted the electrician and he reassured me he'll be here tomorrow. (numb)

Losing the battle

The electrician, who said he'd "for sure" be here to do the work today, texted me this morning to say his pickup needed brake work done and he'd come Friday. At my husband's insistence, I texted him back that if he doesn't show up Friday I'll take legal action. Haven't heard back from him. If he had been honorable he would have texted right back something to the effect that he understands my frustration, but not to worry, he'll be there Friday. As it is, I doubt I'll ever see him or my money again. And still no working pump. On the bright side, I do have water to pump and by using the little slow pump, even though it's more onerous, it gives me more time to enjoy odes and butterflies.

I saw one dragonfly today that I really wanted a photo of but it didn't land. Got a few decent butterfly shots, though nothing that interesting. Here's a Question Mark.

And a female Funereal Duskywing in Beebrush. It's in bloom all over the place. The air is heavy with its perfume.

I finally got my blog settings so that I get an email when someone comments. I used to, but then google changed something and I had to dig into forums to figure out how to get it back. Sorry for any of your comments I missed. I value them all.

Dragonfly season

Once the summer rains start and I get lots of water, then it's dragonfly season. I couldn't stand to sit in town all day when I spend so many months impatiently waiting for dragonfly season. I was determined to  photograph dragonflies somewhere. There are lots of places* to choose from, but it makes more sense to go to the oasis where I have all the comforts of home, plus getting a special dragonfly there is more meaningful to me.

Atop spillway of big tank

Down in "dragonfly pond"

I didn't actually see any especially interesting odes today, but for sure won't if I don't look. Had plenty of time to take some time lapse shots of myself. Odes seen today were: Desert Firetail, Familiar Bluet, Eastern Amberwing, Great Pondhawk, Common Pondhawk, Blue Dasher, Thornbush Dasher, Red Saddlebag, Wandering Glider, Spot-winged Glider, Flame Skimmer, Roseate Skimmer and Common Whitetail.

Red Saddlebag

Thornbush Dasher

Elada Checkerspot

Still not many butterflies and those I did see I wasn't able to get photos of. Lots is blooming so won't be long. Today the beebrush really kept the oasis heavily perfumed. Very few mosquitos so far. I'm thinking the more mosquitos, the more dragonflies.
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Choices include: Balmorhea State Park and lake, Madera Canyon at Lawrence Woods Picnic Area, Sandia Wetlands near Balmorhea, Cibolo Creek in Shafter, Bishop Wetlands near Presidio, Lajitas and Post Park south of Marathon.

Alpine day

Hanging out in town catching up work here. I texted the electrician to confirm he'd be to CMO tomorrow (Tuesday) like he said he would. He texted me back saying he'd be there Wednesday. I'm so ready to get this done. If the new breaker box doesn't solve the pump problem then I think I'll go to a ll5v pump. Not going to dig up all the underground lines between the guesthouse and oasis.

Probably overdid yesterday. Had a headache all day, but managed to get the work caught up here. Hugh woke up with a swollen painful foot so had to do more for him than I normally do.

Can't keep up

Last night I intended to pump out the upper dirt tank, but once again the water stopped pumping before it was empty. So I just turned the pump off and also the electric pump in the big tank and went to bed. I'm thinking weeds must be messing with the suction. Gonna clean them out when it dries.

Meanwhile, I went to bed around 11 PM, my normal bedtime. Got up at midnight to put drops in my eyes. They get dry and painful. Can't open them until I get drops in. I think I turned on the light, but not sure. Half asleep, I remember reaching for the drops on my desk and feeling horrible pain in my right hand and left foot. Not sure which first. Had to have been a scorpion or centipede. Only an ice pack for an hour made the pain to my foot bearable. I've never been bothered by scorpion bites before. Sharp pain for a minute and that's the end of it. But centipedes leave 2 punctures and I can't find any, so I don't know. Right on the heels of my shingles vaccine I feel pretty battered. Strangely, my hand still hurts and is swollen, but my foot is normal. Maybe when I got bit in the foot I swung my hand and whacked it against the chair or something. Don't see how that would be possible considering where my hand was at the time.

This morning I struggled with pumps and got the stucco tank half full. The other big tank is brimful of course. Just about the time I had to leave for town it warmed up and odes started flying. So wanted to stay and watch them. I've discovered that the good or rare ones are never around for more than a couple of hours, so I wish I could be there more. I'll go back down in a couple of days. Meanwhile, my body is going to rest.

It really bothers me that I can't keep up with the work at the oasis. Now while the ground is wet weeds are easy to pull. Not happening. The road needs work, at least raking the rocks off. I picked up some on the way to town, as many as my aching body could manage. No pictures today.

My schedule is so hectic for awhile yet. Wish it could slow down. Maybe next month. Gotta get the pump working. The electrician is supposed to come Tuesday, but I'll believe that when I see it.

Determined to water

I had that tank full of water so felt like if I don't use it, the next big rain will send everything down to the ocean. But using it is a chore with my little slow pump and doing all the hoses. Spent the whole day at it until it started to rain at 7 PM. Got another lovely rain; enough to top off the big tank and enough in the upper dirt tank and settling pond to add a lot to the stucco tank, but not so much to do damage.

I got the pumps going and plan to pump into the night until the upper dirt tank is done. Then I'll turn off the other pump and start pumping the settling pond in the morning. My wildlife tank got more water too. After my wonderful dragonfly find there yesterday I'm calling it my dragonfly pond from now on.

I took this Eastern Amberwing photo today. I'm looking at amberwings closely so I don't miss the Mexican Amberwing when it shows up.

New oasis ode

I came down to CMO today but still too puny from my shingles vaccine* yesterday to do much of anything. I would have watered had I felt better. But the pump still isn't working so that would mean dragging hoses. Maybe tomorrow. Rain is forecast all week too.

Instead of napping like I had planned I couldn't resist sitting and watching dragonflies. Was really excited to find a species I hadn't seen at the oasis before. Experts ID'd it as a Five-striped Leaftail.

In 2014 I photographed my one and only leaftail sighting at Lajitas but the photo was too bad to tell if it was a Four-striped or Five-striped so I couldn't really count it. Very cool to get my lifer Five-striped at CMO.

The electrician said he'd be back today to put in a new breaker box at the guesthouse to see if that would fix the pump problem, but he didn't show up. I texted him eventually and he now says he'll be here Tuesday. 

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*Got the new Shingrix vaccine. It's known to have these side effects, but it's way more effective than the old vaccine. I was hoping I'd escape the misery, but not to be. Have to get a second shot in 2 months. Dreading that. I'll definitely postpone it until after the hummingbird festival.

Something learned every day

I don't think I've ever seen our Alpine lotuses as tall as they are this year. Some of the taller ones in the middle appear to be at least three feet tall.

I learned something that's probably common knowledge but I didn't know. It's concerning parthenogenesis. I did not know that some stick insects reproduce only females if they reproduce asexually.

Some stick insect species have a very interesting way to produce offspring: the female can produce young without needing a male! The eggs she produces are unfertilized, but do develop properly and grow into an adult female stick insect. The production of a new individual out of an unfertilized egg is called parthenogenesis. The female that produces these eggs is called parthenogenic. Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction.

Stick insects (Phasmatodea) are not the only insects that can produce asexually. There are also aphids, water fleas (Daphnia sp.), nematodes, plants, snakes, the whiptail lizard Cnemidophorus neomexicanus and more species that reproduce through parthenogenesis. It is possible to produce males or females through parthenogenesis, depending on the species. In stick insects only females are produced through parthenogenesis. Not all stick insect species can reproduce without fertilization, many species do need a male to fertilize the eggs.