Beauty and ugliness

I've spent over 45 years protecting and beautifying my land. It's an endlessly wearying battle. Went down today to discover the crew that buried the new fiber optics cable had left an ugly mess. Of course I complained and will be meeting with them Thursday. Not sure how fixable it even is.

Here's where they destroyed my lovely rock and concrete low water crossing. Wish I had a before photo. It never occurred to me that I might need one, unfortunately. Makes me really sad.

I've always kept my roads as manicured as possible and never would have tolerated ugliness like this alongside them.* I cleaned up a bunch of rocks and brush near the guesthouse this morning, then raked as best I could, but I'm physically no longer able to clean up such messes. Maddening.

They came in my east gate, not via Snake Road, so it's not an area birders normally see, but to have that ugliness on my property is distressing.

On a brighter side, the rain two weeks ago has left blooms and beauty everywhere else. (Big Bend Silverleaf, Senna wizleni, and beebrush)

The oasis is almost overwhelmingly fragrant. I water this Texas Sage all the time, but it refuses to bloom until it rains.

My Trifoliate Orange at the oasis bloomed for the first time ever. (Some of you may remember way back when I planted my little "citruseria" in March of 2016.)

Summer rainy season is almost over, without the oasis tanks being filled. Just gotta hope we get some fall rains.

Fall migration is underway. Here are a couple of oasis migrants.

Rufous Hummingbird by Amy Boyd

Plumbeous Vireo, I think. (photo by me)

I've noticed I haven't been getting comments on this blog since I set it to moderation. Is it not allowing comments?

UPDATE: Thanks all for your patience! I found the problem and fixed it. It was as simple as going into settings and clicking on "email comment approval requests." I won't miss them now. So sorry.

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*There are some ugly gigantic boulders near the road at the top of the big hill. I've done the best I can with them through the years, but it is an ugly spot. Dynamiting into the hill to make a road that wasn't impossibly steep is the cause. It was the only way to have a road through there. Even so, the steepness required me to have concrete put on it so cars could make it up. The price we have to pay. The ugliness on the other road is not a necessary evil.