Another project completed

I was supposed to meet someone in Alpine this morning at 8 AM and bring him to the oasis to work for me and then take him back to town later. But when he hadn't shown up by 8:30 AM I just came to the oasis without him. Glad I did. Not only saved me money but a friend, Jennifer, that lives on Terlingua Ranch came and helped. She and I worked great together and got done what I wanted to get done.

The project was to mix cement and put it on top of some of that black pipe in the lower dirt tank to hold it in place. I also put bolts through the white PVC where it joins the black pipe, so I finally feel my struggles with them coming apart is over. Hopefully leakage will be minimal. It's impossible to seal the black 3" fast line to the PVC pipe, but I try. I'm still concerned how it'll do when the dirt tank is brimful and this pipe complex is submerged under about a foot of water. If it tries to float that'll stress the joints. Will just have to wait and see. More cement weight would be better, of course, but I don't see that happening. Before all this plumbing, the pipes were more open and water could fill them as it filled the tank. But that meant I had to wade out and connect them together while they were submerged. Hoping this will be the solution. Jennifer suggested I pile sandbags on the pipe. That seems doable to me. Maybe I'll order sandbags online.

Even though the project just involved mixing 3 wheelbarrow loads of concrete, and even though Jennifer did at least half the work, I still ended up wiped out. This old age is really annoying.

Driving past the oasis to the house I spotted about a dozen doves in a neat row along the edge of the new tank. But by the time I got my camera focused on them only two remained. You'll just have to visualize how it looked.

There's very little bird activity at the oasis lately. Coincides with a Sharp-shinned Hawk hanging around I think. At least one Rufous Hummingbird is still around. It'll probably leave about the time the Lucifers and Black-chinneds return. No Anna's seem to be here anymore.

Tomorrow I hope to walk around a lot looking to see what wildflowers are blooming. And hoping to get good photos of them. I need all the practice I can get.