Bad tires

After a long hard day I was heading to town shortly before dark when I had a flat tire a couple of miles from the oasis. I had known better than to drive on the 4-ply tires that my pickup came with when we bought it, but I had heretofore managed to eke by with fix-a-flat and my little portable air compressor. But today nothing would inflate the flat tire and it was a nightmare. I couldn't even get the lug cap off. Finally, a neighbor came by. He had recently had surgery but struggled mightily to get the lug nuts loose and change the tire. My little previously unused car jack didn't work; his Jeep jack was too big to fit under my pickup. Using his satellite phone I called my sister and she came with a decent jack. Finally got the dang tire changed. Tomorrow all new 10-ply tires for my pickup. Never going to have a flat again. That was at least the fourth flat I'd had since getting the new pickup. Never had flats with my old pickup's 10-ply tires. Gonna buy a jack like my sister's too. I can hear my husband bellowing already, but some battles just have to be fought.

While I was watering at the oasis this afternoon I saw a lovely Two-tailed Swallowtail. Even though I've got lots of great photos of that species I cannot resist photographing something so gorgeous.

Here's a torn and tattered Black Saddlebags I discovered perching along the pathway. Otherwise, the oasis was really dead.

The flat not only caused me to get to town late, but I'm covered with dirt. There's a section of road that's a dust bowl and that's right where I had the flat. Gonna bathe and go to bed. Really tired and dirty. At least it had cooled off by the time I had the flat. Earlier, while watering, it was 99°. Just another day in paradise.