Another triple digit day

Our scheduled hummingbird banding was cancelled today so I went back to my oasis to work. Here's the tank after we finished cleaning it yesterday. If the rest of that sludge dries up before it rains, we'll clean that out too. I could remove it now but it makes a horrible mess, and is a lot more work when it's wet and heavy. For starters it has to be shoveled with a big scoop instead of the small square shovel I normally use. I end up falling and skidding in the foul-smelling mud. Enough said.

The swallows don't use it anymore, but many other birds and wildlife do. The swallows are now going to the other tank where I'm hauling clean water to. To give you a perspective, when this tank is full the water at the center is about 9 feet deep.

Today I hauled 4 loads (1300 gallons) from the lodge, then watered my trees, filled feeders, and came back to Alpine. It's been a long hot day. Temperature was 103° when I got back with my last load. It goes faster now that I take the dirt road. I should have done that all along.

 It was a rather nostalgic time for me. Brought back memories of when my kids were young and I used to take them on that road to go swimming at the lodge. We didn't have air conditioning then either. Now that I have my short cut road to the Highway 118 via the Terlingua Ranch Road blacktop, I never used that back dirt road that goes to the lodge. I never had a reason to go before this killer drought. While I was waiting for the tank to fill (approximately 15 minutes), I saw a Western Wood-Pewee and Western Tanager in that big mesquite tree. Surprised me because it's been several weeks since I've seen those species at my place. I thought they were long gone from the area. I'll be glad when I have a mesquite tree that large.

When I got back with my last load of water, a herd (?) of deer was ravaging my oasis. They were stripping bushes like sumacs, etc. So in desperation, I put out a tub of high protein deer pellets. Hope that keeps them at bay until Hugh fills the deer feeders Saturday. I'm regretting putting the tub so near the habitat. I should have dragged it farther away. They tend to hang around feeders and clean out all vegetation near them while they're lounging around. We'll see.

Rain is forecast for this weekend. Even if it misses me, having it in the area will cool things down, at least. Meanwhile, I'll go back in 2 days and haul more water.