Heat exhaustion!

I may not have fit the clinical definition of heat exhaustion, but something like it was going on with me yesterday afternoon. During the morning I functioned as normal. The mosquitoes were voracious, so I put on a long-sleeved shirt, which happened to be a dark color. Towards midday I was sweating profusely, something I normally never do. During the afternoon the temperature topped well over 100° with high humidity (something foreign to my body). I felt mild confusion, breathless and lethargic. Russ Rogers had come down from Midland to help with the watering, weed-eating, etc. which was my salvation. I had planned to take photos of us working, and of the oasis, but didn't happen. The dragonfly photos I did take weren't good because I wasn't setting my camera correctly.

If the mosquitoes don't abate in a week I'm going to put gambusias (mosquito fish) into the tanks. I had quit doing that this year thinking the mosquito larva would attract more dragonflies. The numbers of odes seemed about the same as would have been with the gambusias though.

Maybe Russ took some photos yesterday that I can share here later. I took pictures of a dragonfly that I thought was a Mexican Amberwing, a species that I'm expecting and many people want for their Texas list. (The last time I had them at the oasis was in 2019.) However, upon examining the wing venation on my photos, I'm not sure it's not an Eastern Amberwing.

We pumped the remaining water from the lower dirt tank and topped off both the stucco tank and big concrete tank. Sorry, no photos. It's sure nice to have all tanks brimful. That means the oasis will make it through until next rainy season just fine. Always a relief.

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UPDATE! I received copies of Russ's super photos and lo and behold, that is a Mexican Amberwing after all! YAY!

Here's one of his excellent California Spreadwing shots.