Back to normal

Family's gone. Had a good time. As the grand-kids get older I enjoy them more. They played chess and we worked jigsaw puzzles together.

If you thought I was exaggerating about the park traffic, looky here.

Yesterday at the Hot Springs I recalled when my son had been there as a child so I dug out the photos.

In those days we had the place to ourselves. Like sardines in a can now.

Never again!

I thought the grandkids would enjoy the hot springs in the park. Big mistake. When we got to the park, the line going in was 25 cars ahead of us and soon that many behind us. Then the dirt road to the hot springs was jammed up with traffic. Cars couldn't move. We finally got parked down the road and walked to the springs. Packed with people. Not one of the four grand-kids would stick a toe in the water.  Then my 19 year old grandson disappeared. My son finally found him. He had gone downriver, crossed into Mexico and was petting a horse. (He's my daughter's son.) There were repercussions.

Leonardo calling across the river to his nephew

We were in two vehicles. My grandson and I headed for the oasis. My son and his wife and three daughters wanted to see the basin. They tried, but the basin was closed due to too many vehicles. There was a line and one couldn't enter until another left. They didn't want to go that bad, so they went to the packed Santa Elena Canyon. Meanwhile, I was delighted to get back home away from the crowds. It never used to be that bad in the park. I blame it on social media. Daily people are posting to Facebook groups how great the park is. It's not great when it's bumper to bumper traffic. Word gets around and people pour in. I can't begin to imagine how all those crowds impact the environment.

The gang's all here

Family and friends

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving dinner. Ours was delicious as usual.

Got my sons to do a few little tasks for me. My seed feeder is now back to pre-bear condition. We assume bear season is over, so removed the unwelcome mat and lowered the feeder. Hope I don't regret it.

Had a really lovely sunset this evening. That doesn't happen often up here in the Christmas Mountains Oasis basin.

Upcoming oasis Thanksgiving

A couple of days ago I had to come to town, hating to leave the oasis. Here's how it looked when I drove off just at sunset.

But I'm headed back tomorrow. My three kids will be coming and most of my grandkids. My neck doesn't hurt at all and I can turn it a little bit better now. Have a happy turkey day!

Pushing my limits

I tell myself no more swinging the pick ax. But then I do it anyway. Today I spent 3 hours working on the road. Two deep holes had washed on the edge that I feared a vehicle would fall into. I had placed a red sawhorse over them but that looked awful, so today I filled the holes with two pickup loads of rocks. I tried to cover the rocks with dirt but gave out. At least it's safe now.

I think I had taken a picture of the holes, but it must be on my town computer. I can't find it. Here it is today after the first load of rock. I had to drag that biggest rock into the hole behind my pickup with a chain.

Here are the holes after I couldn't go any longer.

Neck 50% better today. YAY!

Wow, what a relief! I was worried that I might have to have surgery. Today for the first time since the pain started I didn't have to take ibuprofen to endure.

Still neck pain

Sunrise at the oasis

Because I still have the horrible neck pain I don't think it can be due to hidden MSG. For one thing, hidden MSG hasn't previously been a problem for me, and would more likely affect my head if it was. And by now, it would have been better. So, I guess I must have a pinched nerve or something. I have to keep taking ibuprofen in order to function.

One of today's visitors wanted the Allen's Hummingbird and Scaled Quail, which would be a lifer for him. I could not believe we didn't see one quail today. Yesterday they were everywhere. Go figure! This birder also discovered 3 Cassin's Finches. I heard and saw them circle above the oasis, but didn't know what they were, other than I didn't recognize the call. When we played the recording it sounded just like it. The visitor also got a pretty decent look at them, enough to confirm ID along with the call. But they didn't come into the feeder, so no photos. Bummer!

Got some nice shots of other stuff while I was (uncharacteristically) waiting around for the finches to come in. The Golden-fronted Woodpecker is still around and I was surprised to see him plucking grubs from a dried up old snag.

Spotted Towhee

Almost overnight the Bigtooth Maple tree changed color.

Not bad for late fall

Weather is great and birding is fairly good, all things considered. Didn't see the juvenile male Allen's yesterday, but he popped in today for a visit.

The adult male Allen's and Anna's are still here too. Was surprised to have a female Cardinal visit.

The oasis doesn't get overwintering Spotted Towhees every year, but it seems one is here this year. I always get overwintering Green-tailed Towhees. And, of course, the Canyon Towhees are here year-round.

Spotted Towhee

One thing that should be here, in large flocks, is Lark Buntings. Surely, they'll show up one of these days.

Hidden stuff

Not long after supper tonight my neck swelled and was very painful as well as the base of my skull. I originally attributed it to hidden MSG in some canned gravy I ate for supper. Now I think it's a pinched nerve or something. Came to the oasis this morning as planned, even in my semi-functional state.

A visiting birder got to see the male Allen's Hummingbird today, but the juvenile male must be gone. The Anna's Hummingbird now comes to the feeders unmolested.

The oasis almost never gets a House Sparrow, but today a female came by sporting, what seemed to me, an abnormally large bill.

My critter cam is hiding in plain sight, but no one sees it. I forget it's there. The only critters it caught lately are the human kind. 

Me doing my thing

Bruce Cramer doing his thing

Paul Jordan doing his thing.

Birds and road work

This morning visiting Virginia birders, Bruce Cramer and Paul Jordan, were observing the Allen's Hummingbird at the house courtyard when an Anna's tried to come to the feeder. The Allen's instantly chased it off. Way too fast for my camera.

This afternoon my help showed up and we put a concrete patch on the steep part of the big hill. Every little bit helps, in my opinion. Time will tell.

Chilly oasis day

Christmas Mountains

It never quite made it up to 60° today, which is below my comfort level. At least I didn't arrive here to need to do any emergency repairs. So I built a fire and took a long nap. Tomorrow I want to be in as good shape as possible because I've again scheduled a little work on the big hill and optimistic that it'll happen this time.

Since birders are coming tomorrow also, I wanted to confirm if the Allen's Hummingbirds were still here. They are. Not much else of interest though.

Luckily, I had seen that the above juvenile Allen's would not let the below Anna's Hummingbird near the feeder area so I had hung one feeder back in the wooded area for the Anna's. The Allen's can't patrol them all, although the adult male Allen's is able to keep all other hummers out of the courtyard where he's set up his territory.

Things are still pretty green at the oasis. Guess not a real hard freeze yet. That's fine with me.

Cold

I hate cold so I'm experiencing the Chisos Mountains only through other people's photos. You won't run into me up there. The Christmas Mountains are bad enough. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to heading back down there tomorrow.

I never mind the hot summer weather, just get so tired of watering in hot weather when it doesn't rain, like this past summer.

What a difference an hour makes

Up in the Chisos this morning by Bob Wardlow

Yesterday I was at the oasis basking in perfect weather, happily taking photos. Feeling really reluctant to head back to Alpine. In procrastination, I decided to download and process my photos. Then I blogged. Excited to learn what I thought was a Rufous Hummignbird was actually my second Allen's Hummingbird, I posted about that and did an ebird report. Time got away.

Juvenile male Allen's

By about 3 PM, I regrettingly decided I had better start packing up and get going so I'd get to town before dark and possible icy roads. I knew a cold front was forecast.

My house is earth-sheltered, like a cave. Inside I have no idea what it's like outside. What a shock I received when I opened the door! A winter storm had arrived, seemingly in the blink of an eye! Instantly I went from not wanting to leave, to wishing I had headed back to town sooner. Hurriedly packed up my ice chest, and all the stuff I haul with me, in bitter cold wind and rain, did a few last minute tasks, and off I headed.

By the time I got to the big hill south of Alpine freezing rain was accumulating on my windshield. Vegetation was covered in frost.

It was impossible to wrap my mind around that just a couple of hours earlier I had been taking photos in calm 70° weather. Seemed a world away.

Here's a shot I had taken of one of my mulberry trees. Worms had denuded it totally. Oh well, worms, frost, all the same to the tree I guess. The leaves would be gone either way.

A lovely fall day

Photographed the same three hummer species at the oasis today that I photographed the last time I was here. However, today's Anna's Hummingbird seemed to be a more adult male than the last one. Also purplish color to the gorget. Don't know what that's about.

Speaking of color, here's my favorite kind of fall color.

Texas Madrone berries

Big Tooth Maple leaves

Checked my critter cam, but no bears have visited since I installed it. Just lots of doves, and a fox.

It just kills me that I can't get anyone here to work on the road (although I have a good prospect for help next week) so I took my grubbing hoe/pick ax to see how much I could do. I lasted 30 minutes and got high center lowered for about 6-8 feet. Now if I can still move tomorrow, I'll try to do another 6  feet or so. Big IF, of course. If my help shows up we're going to put a concrete patch or two on the big hill.

I'm still trying to get a better tail feather shot of the Allen's Hummingbird but it clouded up this afternoon. I know my only hope is full sun. Maybe tomorrow.

My declining years

It's been very obvious to me that my body is declining. Unfortunately, so is my mind. Case in point:

I've always excelled at math. I can add as fast with pen and paper as I can with an adding machine, with fewer mistakes. Since my husband isn't as good at it and has to use an adding machine and still makes mistakes, for the last 16 years of our marriage I've balanced the checkbook with pen and paper. Occasionally I'm distracted and make an error. In that case, I go back and recheck my figures and catch the mistake. Today, no distractions. I wanted to do it one time only, so I went extra slowly and carefully. At the end, I was way off. Groaned, and redid it. Same results. Again. Same results.

In frustration and desperation I went to the bank. I showed them what I had as the balance in the check register. It was the same as they had. We looked closer. My reckoning showed that I had added the outstanding checks to their balance when I should have subtracted them. There is no excuse. I've balanced checkbooks for at least 60 years. Unmistakable conclusion is that my mind is declining. It's scary!

A cool Lajitas afternoon

Today a birding friend and I went to the oasis. Pretty cool weather and nothing much going on there. Thinking Lajitas would be better, we went there.

It was every bit as cool there too. I hadn't been there for ages so was surprised at some of the changes. For starters, we immediately saw the addition of the Robert E Lee statue that had recently been relocated from Dallas. Looks really awesome at Lajitas. It's great art, and now we have it in our corner of the world to enjoy. To me, the statue represents the frontier days when the cavalry rode on horseback. General Pershing and his troops once established a post at Lajitas. If I was told the statue was of Pershing, I wouldn't know any better.

The next surprise was all the vegetation around a little stream and pool, that I loved to look for odes in, was removed and covered with rocks.

Similar area five years ago this week

Another change, which I forgot to photograph, was the construction of about six, or more, cottages on the north side of the "lake" by the golf shop. I actually think that's a good thing. There was nothing there before but bare ground and I assume the cottages will be lovely.

I had never seen the golf course so covered in fire ant hills before. Really had to watch our step.

Glasses for size perspective