The oasis today

At this point, the stucco tank won't hold water. I'm going to try to patch it, but not real optimistic, either about my ability to patch it, or whether it will hold.

It wasn't constructed well enough to last forever and what with heat, cold, and continual movement of the earth, it's not surprising that it's deteriorating. Some things in life just have to be accepted. The only solution would be to put a plastic liner in it, but animals would puncture it. Originally, we used a plastic liner instead of concrete on the big tank, but ended up having to cover it with concrete because animals punctured the liner. So far the big tank is holding pretty good, even though the concrete is breaking up on much of it. Nothing is forever.

As I watered trees yesterday, I enjoyed watching birds, as usual. Always love visits from Gray Catbirds.

And Belted Kingfishers.

Green-tailed Towhees should stay the winter. I never get tired of seeing them.

The bear that visited recently broke a limb on the Chinkapin Oak tree. Not sure if it happened the night it left those tracks and I just didn't notice until the leaves wilted. No other evidence of a more recent visit.

Still lots of ripening acorns on the tree, so I expect more broken limbs. 

In 2017 I had my husband clean out the big tank. That caused me to lose the pondweed from it. Ever since I've been trying to reestablish it. Finally got some established in it now, and wouldn't you know, I have to pump out the water to water the trees, so may very well end up losing it again. 

I could pump instead from the emergency reserve above ground tank, but that's risky. If we don't get any rain until next summer, I'll need it to keep the oasis alive, whereas the water in this open tank would just evaporate anyway. Can't risk it, as much as I love pondweed. Maybe we'll get some rain yet. It's not impossible.