Neglected to post

This past weekend was hard and hectic and in the process I didn't get this photo posted. It shows the interior of the wall around the old cabin door.... just in case you're curious. I'm positive the windows look the same, but those will be for another day. Sometimes I get discouraged and think the whole place is a lost cause. But then I think how being at the oasis beats sitting in town.

Weekend warriors

Lee, Morgan, and I spent the weekend at the oasis. It was pretty brutal to my body. Today I had to fight raging wind all day while I worked patching in the stucco tank and watering trees before coming to town. 

There's an overwhelming amount of broken and dying infrastructure for Lee to tackle. Things that I can't do, so I try to do the oasis work that I can do. Or used to be able to do. He couldn't complete his two main projects because he needs stuff from town. That's one reason things are so dilapidated (besides age). Previous stewards tended to use what's available, even if it's the wrong thing. Lee prefers to wait until he gets the right parts or material. Because the wall that the cabin's door is in was built with 2x4s and not 2X6s, the new door frame is too deep. He has to build up around it before attaching the storm door. Here's the progress so far. The new door is just primed. Not sure what color I want to paint it. Maybe black or brown.

I didn't realize how bad the windows area looked until I saw the door area. Several years ago I put concrete and concrete board beneath the one window to keep it from falling out.

Claret Cup cacti are starting to bloom, as are many things.

Lee Hoy (excellent photographer & bird guide) photographed this female hummingbird at the oasis today. Expert Kelly Bryan speculated that it's a Black-chinned, about 6-10 years old, based on the amount of gorget feathers. Another expert, Sheri Williamson, believes it's a hybrid Black-chinned X Anna's. Interesting hummer!

Brief update

Too exhausted to blog much. Came down to the oasis this morning and worked in the stucco tank, cleaning and patching. Tomorrow I hope to make more progress on that plus water the oasis.

Lee and his wife, Morgan, are down here and he worked from sun-up to dark installing a new door in my cabin, formerly the guesthouse. 

Before

The framework inside the wall around the door was destroyed by termites, so he removed that and put in pressure-treated wood.

He ran into a glitch when attempting to put on the new storm door. The door frames are made for thicker walls than what we have there, so he has to build it up around the door. Have to do that another day, but meanwhile the new door and frame are solid and mouse-proof. A huge improvement. Neither the old door nor the old screen door would close right, probably because of the bad shape that wall was in.

In years past I've packed concrete below a couple of the windows and the AC to stabilize them. That's what happens when things aren't built right in the first place. Still a work in progress but it'll be my oasis home for the rest of my life. I'm thrilled to have the great new steel door. He used concrete board siding (Hardiboard?) on the outside around the door so that'll last longer than the decayed siding that was there.

Pretty hectic

So much going on these days. I spent the last three days slaving away, but, bit by bit, things are coming together. Thanks to Lee Hoy for working really hard toting gravel to the low end of the blind to make it more level. Looking good!

Still getting settled into the guesthouse, no longer a guesthouse, so I'll call it my cabin. My son sold his house in Austin and brought the last load to Alpine. Running out of places to store his sign making equipment, etc., so he put some of it at the house I just vacated. Still a lot of stuff juggling going on.

Mike and Cecilia spent all afternoon working on the new blind. It's really shaping up to be awesome! Here are a couple shots Mike took.

Getting the posts all painted beige is going to make a lot of difference too. And I'll probably roof over the gap between the two modules. And soon a water tank to catch the roof runoff. Then a new water feature so there'll be more to watch from the blind. Really exciting!

Too exhausted to write more tonight. 

Horrible windstorm

With previous record heat, record cold, record drought, it wouldn't surprise me if this turns out to be record wind. I came to the oasis yesterday to sleep in my new bedroom for the first time last night, other than when I lived in the guesthouse for two years while building my house. So it's very nostalgic for me.

The hardest part for me to get used to is the tiny windowless kitchen, but I love being able to see the oasis and sunrise from the guesthouse windows.

Today's wind was forecast so I rushed around getting some concrete work done this morning at the oasis before it hit. It wasn't a big job but at my age it was huge. By noon I was totally exhausted and could barely move. As I got to the guesthouse a fierce cyclonic wind shattered the stillness. Normally winds come on gradually; not this one. Hadn't been inside five minutes when I looked out the door to see half the shed roof blowing straight up in the air. 

I should have taken a photo but in my panic I got my screw gun and ladder and got on the roof to screw it down before the whole thing went. My late husband and I had covered it in some heavy rubber conveyor belting. It's too heavy for me to even lift a portion of it so with half of it waving in the wind I figured in short time the weight would rip off the whole thing. Got it screwed down but my son probably needs to do some more work on it when he can. His list is very long.

I've been without electricity all afternoon too, so I'm at my sister's house. Fortunately, hers is still on. There's a line down at my place. The electric company is out working in the whole area.

I would have gone to town but I have help coming tomorrow and don't want to mess that up.

The squeaky wheel

 I hinted that I needed help at the oasis, so now I'll have help Tuesday for sure and maybe a little before then. Going down tomorrow to do more sorting stuff in the house to either dispose of, leave, or take to the guesthouse, where I'm now going to reside when I'm at the oasis.  I moved enough stuff to live on but I'd like to fine tune it some more. 

I was trying to make a before and after photo of the new blind but couldn't get it right. My many-talented son came over and did it for me. I've posted both photos before, just not side by side.

They're not taken at quite the same angle so when I'm down there I'm going to try for the same angle.

End of an era

Last night I slept in my house near the oasis for the very last time. I've moved into the guesthouse. For several reasons. My son and his wife need the space and I don't. The house is too big for me to keep clean and maintain. The stairs kill my knees. It's time to downsize. I got to enjoy the house for over 40 years and I'd like my son to get as many more years enjoyment from it as possible. I'm to the point that I can't maintain the oasis alone. I'm just so grateful he's passionate about the place.

Even though there is scarcely anything blooming, this male Black-chinned Hummingbird's bill is totally covered in pollen. I can't imagine where he got it.

Because of the record drought followed by record cold I haven't seen many butterflies. Finally today a few started showing up.

Marine Blue

Red Admiral

Moving was exhausting. I'm sure I'll do more tweaking in the coming days. Discarding stuff I saved and retrieving stuff I'll decide I need. Seems I'm always a work in progress. But a person has to change with the times and aging.

Moving was more of a relief than a trauma, although it'll take me some time to get totally comfortable. It's going to cost a lot to get Wi-Fi boosted to the guesthouse from the house, but not optional.

Before and almost after photos

Two very long hard days but we're winning! Here's the blind in August of 2019.

And here it is today. Not finished. It's going to get a shelf all across the front so I won't need to squeeze tables inside and the fiberglass front material will be replaced with wood soon. Gonna put fill gravel in the low end and get some nice viewing stools. But you can get an idea anyway.

That's Mike and Cecilia enjoying the fruits of their labors. Without them this project wouldn't be happening.

I totally did not see that Lucifer male at the feeder when I was taking the above photo.

A long hard day

The contractor didn't finish the blind today, had a few snags, so will be back in the morning to finish. I had a real busy schedule and wasn't planning on staying at the oasis overnight, but since I have to be back early AM, I have to stay. Which I'm happy to do, but it puts me behind on other obligations. 

While Mike and I awaited the contractors, we, mostly he, installed the canopy at the big tank. I won't need the canopy where it was anymore since there'll be a new blind there and I've really been needing a shady sitting area at the big tank. Lots of good birds come there to drink.

The contractor arrived around 11 AM, minus one of his helpers (who went for a covid vaccination), so that, plus a few glitches along the way, prevented them from finishing today.

As it was getting dark, Mike wired up a temporary "blind" until the wood one arrives. Lots of birders this time of year and they need something of a barrier between them and the feeder.

My son and his wife got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine day before yesterday. They were achy and headachy yesterday but much improved today. A big relief!

Not to worry!

 I started watering the trees shortly after daylight, did a bunch more pruning, then right after lunch headed to town without seeing a male Lucifer. Wouldn't you know, not long after I left, this gorgeous male showed up. They're always so pristinely fresh and lovely when they first arrive. At least I get to enjoy Mike's superb photo of it.

It wasn't that I was worried there wouldn't be any males showing up. I know that the early March migration of Lucifers is followed by a later surge when things start to bloom. I think that's in late April or early May. Kelly Bryan discovered that as a result of his eight years spent banding them at the oasis. His hummingbird banding work is in the process of being published. I really look forward to seeing it.

Friday we're scheduled to get the roof installed on the new viewing blind. That's going to be exciting. Of course, I'll take lots of photos and share them here.

Oasis constructioin

Today the contractor came and installed the posts for the new viewing blind. Very exciting! If the metal comes in on schedule it'll get finished this week. Meanwhile, here's the action. That's Mike Gray in the gray shirt. He's the reason this is all happening. He had agreed with the contractor that he would dig the pole holes, so he's working diligently, tweaking the holes to the contractor's specifications.

Photo by Mike Gray

I'm a worrier so worrying is what I do. But the Lucifer Hummingbird males usually show up before, or with the females, and almost always by March 1st. So here they're ten days late, except for one female. My concern is that the bulk of the Lucifers got caught in the record cold snap and perished, except for a lagging older female. Of course, I'm probably worrying for nothing...

The Peregrines are nesting up on the cliff above the oasis and are very vocal most of the day. Try as I might, I cannot locate one, in flight or perched. A determined birder located one perched today with his scope but, not I.

Too tired to blog yesterday

 My body must be really confused most of the time. Yesterday I drove it to the point of collapse and today I'm resting and feel fine. I knew yesterday that Mike Gray was going to arrive around noon to work on removing the old viewing blind to make way for the new one, hopefully to be installed next week. I also knew it was forecast to be real windy in the afternoon. It's the windy month, after all.

Assuming he could wrangle the roofing metal in the wind, it would consume the whole afternoon and leave the structure demolition for yet another day. It's a four hour round trip for him to come, so I felt it necessary to remove the roof before the wind started. I also had to haul the metal and rafters off, as Mike couldn't do it in his car. So I revved up my adrenalin and got it done. Just as I was stashing the last piece of roofing metal in the scrap yard the wind started up. I only had to struggle with that one piece but it showed me how awful it would have been to have waited. Some of the metal was antique corrugated stuff that my late husband put up and I swear it had lead in it.

Mike is a really good hard worker and there's no way the blind project would happen without him. He cut up and removed the pipe structure, which I also hauled away to the scrap yard.

 

Birders are coming nearly daily now. It's bad enough to have rock piles everywhere, can't have metal and pipes too. What rocks we don't use in the upcoming new water feature I'll haul away.

The above photo by Mike (I was too tired to think of taking a photo) shows the empty place where the blind was. That green chair sits about in the middle of where the new one will be. The big new green water tank (center left) looks tilted, but it's not. Must be the lens Mike used for the photo.

As I worked on the roof yesterday morning I removed enough screws to fill a large coffee can. It was delightful to see the first Lucifer Hummingbird for the year arrive at 8:30 AM. A female, that I think is banded. I didn't get a sharp photo. When I'm working hard I get somewhat shaky.

A couple of photos I had meant to share a week or so ago but didn't happen. My daughter took this one when she was at her supermarket during the big electrical outage we had with no power for 3 days. She lives near Austin. We didn't have the grocery shortage in Alpine. Just a couple of fresh vegetables weren't available as far as I could tell.

This next photo is of my son's new sign here in Alpine. He has his sign business set up inside my other son's building. He's getting lots of business...... more than he'd like since he wants to spend more time at the oasis.

Not the oasis at its best

It appears that spring was delayed by that record cold snap in mid-February. The Lucifers should be here and aren't; the redbud should be blooming and isn't. I've only briefly seen one butterfly since then. Bleak. 

And if that's not bad enough, the darned Williamson's Sapsucker drilled the entire trunk of my healthiest Arizona Cypress tree full of sap wells. Now the sapsucker is gone and the poor tree is bleeding profusely. It's hard to see the sap dribbling down everywhere from these photos, but it is. (It's those cream-colored streaks and they're all over the whole trunk.)

Some sharp-eyed birders spotted this tiny Canyon Bat swimming in the big tank this morning. Then it climbed out of the tank. Seems like strange behavior to me.

One can't help but wonder if all these abnormalities are related to global warming.

Word associations

Once upon a time I took a test or played a game, I don't remember which, where you heard several words and had to say what they had in common. So here's my word game. What do Beautiful, Oasis, and Lucifer all have in common? You might reply that they are all relative to Christmas Mountains Oasis, and you wouldn't be wrong. BUT there's something more interesting that they have in common. They're all the common names for three separate, but similar, hummingbird species. I find that fascinating!

Lucifer Hummingbird by Rick & Nora Bowers (USA)

Beautiful Hummingbird by Amy McAndrews  (SW Mexico)

Oasis Hummingbird by Carlos Calle (Peru)

Booklet featuring CMO

A booklet was published, funded by Apache Corporation, in which the oasis is prominently featured. Front Street Books in Alpine has copies, or it's available to read online at:

https://bri.sulross.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-WATER-FOR-BIRDS.pdf. 

Here are a couple of pages from it.

I had long forgotten about the project, and most surprised to see my gravity water drip tank shown in it. Michael Gray took the cover photo. That last photo is hard to tell, but it's of the drip that Mac and I built two years ago.