A brutal day

I didn't arrive at the oasis until noon when it was already 101.° The reason is that I tried to rest my knee for the last couple of days and didn't have my town duties performed. So I did laundry, put clean sheets on hubby's bed, made him the requisite cake and supply of salads, etc. before heading south.

My knee was hurting so when I got to the oasis I hung six full feeders to tide the hummers over another day and took a nap. After my nap the temperature was 104° but I had to fix a water leak (took a couple of hours) and then, between 6-8 PM, I started watering to make it easier tomorrow. So I'm more than exhausted. My hope is to finish watering before it gets so hot tomorrow. If it wasn't so hot, or if my knee didn't hurt, or if it rained. If, if, if. I have to admit, I was feeling pretty dejected today. Tomorrow should be an easier day.

Here are a couple of pictures I took while I was dragging the hose around from tree to tree. This is a volunteer cherry tree that grew under an Arizona Cypress. The cherry tree I originally planted is doing fine but didn't make cherries this year that I can tell.

Southwestern Chokecherry - Prunus serotina

Because I was able to pump my tanks full this spring, I'm able to water things enough to keep them from suffering so much from the drought and heat.... for now.

The birds are getting accustomed to the bird bath that Mac and I built last spring. A bunting and a goldfinch were fighting over it. I couldn't focus fast enough to get them both on the shot. While I'm watering the drip doesn't work due to I'm using all the pressure. I have to do that or the pressure pump builds up pressure and shuts off and it takes 15 minutes or so to come back on. By running both hoses the pump stays running, but the drip won't work until I stop watering. It looks like this Lesser Goldfinch is trying to figure out where his drip went.

And this is about my most common dragonfly, a Roseate Skimmer. This is a female.

It's a nuisance to carry a camera while watering, so I feel I need to photograph something. A few minutes before I was ready to call it a day at 8 PM, I saw a rattler slither inside a nearby bush. I really wanted a photo of it but didn't happen. I didn't get a real good look but the rattles looked skinny and I couldn't see any black, or black & white, on the tail. The body of the snake looked only mildly patterned, basically gray overall and very fat. Didn't see the head. Don't know what species it was.

My sister saw a tiny snake yesterday. We don't know what it is either. Our best guess is a baby Mexican Hooknose, but that species doesn't occur in our area.

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UPDATE: Snake has been ID'd as a Chihuahuan Hooknose (Gyalopion canum). That species is also known as Western Hooknose.