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Monday, May 20, 2019

Barefoot in the bog

OMG! I'm getting too old for these dumb adventures. It started out well enough. I went to Balmorhea where a Tezpi Dancer (damselfly) had been seen yesterday along FM 1832 (Boy Scout Ranch road) . A lifer for me! No hiking. Piece of cake!

Promptly got the Tezpi.


Figured it was my lucky day, so why not go for another lifer. After driving that far, no need wasting the afternoon, I reasoned. A Paiute Dancer had been photographed below the dam at Lake Balmorhea in the bogs there. I thought long and hard about going, and was really on the fence about it. Those bogs are tough. What I didn't realize is, I'm about 10 years older than the last time I entered that area. I parked on the far (west) side of the dam and began walking below toward the main watercourse. I made it about two-thirds of the way before I just got too exhausted and short of breath, so headed back. I estimate that I endured about a mile of bog slogging in all. It sucked my shoes off with every step, until I just ended up going barefoot. I didn't even want to think about the nasty stuff in the water. That area is loaded with cattle. The bulls scare me, and it was getting ridiculously windy too.

Small stream that runs through the bog toward the main watercourse.

No lifers from the bog area. Took some photos though. Here's an Aztec Dancer


And a couple more from FM 1832.

Hackberry Emperor

Cardinal Meadowhawk

The minute I got to Alpine I took a bath with a liberal amount of Tea Tree oil. Hopefully, no chiggers or parasites in that stagnant, manure-infested water. Needless to say, not doing that again!


2 comments:

leilani said...

I've been meaning to comment on this for the longest time: your photography is getting *truly* outstanding! You used to gripe about your equipment limitations, but it seems to me over the last year or so, you've made a giant leap capturing your tiny subjects. Please pat yourself on the back for us, these are just magnificent.

Carolyn Ohl-Johnson said...

Thank you! I can't carry my heavy Canon anymore so I just use my Lumix on autofocus. It does good enough for me to document stuff at this stage in my life. It's slower than the Canon so I miss a lot of shots, but I've given up trying to do better. At one time I tried to change, but now I just accept.