Wintry oasis day

It seems like every time I get down to the oasis I have to fix something that broke. Today it was the water line from the house to the well, which is nearly a block long. I didn't get it fixed, but will work on it again tomorrow. A dresser coupling separated and the PVC pipe buried underground has somehow bent so the pipe isn't long enough by about an inch. I tried to put clamps around the pipe with a wire between them and then like a tourniquet pull them together, but the work area is underground (kills my back) and tight.

Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer...  and not so windy I hope. Even if I can pull the pipe together I can't tighten it by myself. Someone has to hold the middle of the coupling steady with a wrench while I tighten the fitting, but at least I hope to get it together tomorrow. Can't pump from the well until it's repaired.

I worked so hard to get those clamps on there, but they wouldn't tighten down on the pipe (ran out of slots), so had to take them off. Tomorrow I'll try to get smaller clamps on there. The hard part is getting the clamps to thread back together once they're totally opened up to go around the pipe. Can do it easily outside that hole, but can't line it up right on the pipe. Wasted most of the day on this project and didn't get to enjoy the oasis or water anything. Just serviced the feeders.

There was one hummer among the Anna's that looked strange. I wanted to get better photos of it, like close with the sun to my back, but wasn't able to. Maybe tomorrow. Here's the best I could do. Kelly thinks it's a juvenile male Anna's and I'm sure he's correct. I was just struck by the amount of brown on it.