Change of plans

At sunrise I assessed the situation. It looked like it might rain, at least at Lajitas, and I sure didn't want to go all that way and get rained out. Even with overcast skies it wouldn't be good for odes. But cool overcast weather is perfect for hard work at CMO. So I bit the bullet.

Really needed to do something about the second viewing area (not the one we band at, and I poured a concrete slab at, recently). I built the second one in late July of 2012 (see post of Aug 3, 2012), and  before long a rare Varied Thrush showed up. It soon became obvious that the viewing area was inadequate. Here it is before I started the project this morning.

As  you can see from the above photo, the view is blocked and there's not much seating space. That white bench is actually blocking a pathway. While I wasn't able to finish the project today, all I lack is bringing the ground level up where it's too low. I worked from 8 AM until 5PM and simply could not move anymore. Here is where it's at now. When I get large groups I can bring out more chairs.

And here's a list of my tool arsenal, required to do the job.

Skill saw (chain saw would have been better)

Extension cord

Wheelbarrow

Bucket

Shovel

Hand saw

Loppers

Hatchet

Hammer (to pound the hatchet)

Screwdriver (remove a chunk of wood stuck in the saw)

Grubbing hoe

Sledgehammer

Hand trowel

I actually protected my arms before I started, instead of after they got all torn up. All healed from the last time and don't want to repeat that, knowing most of my effort would be removing the huge almost dead catclaw acacia.

Match my socks. Oh never mind, they are my socks.

I had to grab my camera once today, as whenever I entered the arroyo for another bucket of sand I saw a busy wasp going in and out of a little hole in the ground. When she came out she was carrying, or dragging, balls of dirt. Really fascinating to observe. I didn't see the balls piled up around the hole so I guess she carried them away somewhere. She took off after every exit but I couldn't determine if she was carrying anything. Must have been. Too fast for me.