Pretty good day at CMO

For some reason the stucco tank pump worked about 40% of the time today instead of the usual 10%. Go figure! But it made it possible for me to get the watering done faster, plus it only got up to 100° here, which helped. Now I'm thinking I may have enough energy to go oding at Lajitas tomorrow. Haven't been yet this year.

Pale-faced Clubskimmers aren't that rare here at CMO but getting a decent photo is really challenging. This one isn't that great, but will do since no other odes of interest showed up today.

Saw a nice Gulf Fritillary.

And some of the Big Bend Silverleaf (leucophyllum minus) is blooming.

Finally, I photographed a pair of what I think are some type of bee flies, maybe Villa??

The electrician had promised to come finish up this week but since tomorrow's the last working day of the week, I texted him and told him I'd hang around here if he's coming tomorrow, otherwise was going oding. He responded that he won't be here until next week. Yeah, right!

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UPDATE on the Ocotillo harvesting: I talked to the sheriff and the game warden. Don't know if it'll help but can't hurt. The sheriff says that West Texas Plants (Linda Walker's company) is not responsibly harvesting as their website claims. He owns property near Black Gap WMA where there's a ranch where yucca, ocotillo, etc are being cleared completely off the land. I know the rancher he's referring to. Not of good character. Has been in trouble with the law more than once. He inherited the ranch and selling the plants is his livelihood. I'll bet when the plants are all gone he'll still manage to survive. Supposedly the game warden is going to investigate. We'll see. I was told by two sources that landowners get over $100 per foot for their yuccas. Big business.