Flood recovery ongoing

I'm hoping my sons will fix the road. If not, I'm prepared to hire someone. Meanwhile, I'm working at repairing the severely, nearly compromised, dike. At 85, it's slow and painful going. I was asked about getting a volunteer crew to help, but it's just not practical. I'd have to be micro-managing it all, and I'm only able to manage one or two helpers at a time. I get worn out in 3-4 hrs and it's not worth having them make the long drive for that amount of time. Less stress if I just whittle away at it. My son, Lee, will be back from his summer in Colorado on Friday. That'll be a big help. I'm going down to work some more Thursday, and thinking of asking my neighbor Ricky Green for help.

In the above photo, I'm in the middle of repairing an area of the dike that washed badly. The white rocks are holes I filled with rock, and then topped with dirt. After that, I restored the steps as best I could. There're two other similar areas to do. No hurry, in that we won't get another deluge like that in my lifetime.

I also did some weed-eating, besides managing to top off the stucco tank from the broken tank. Before I came back to town, I took my pump out of the tank. Exhausted, trying to get the 35 lb. pump out of the water that was covering a good six inches of mud, I lost my balance and fell smack into the mud. I have an agonizing time getting to my feet any time I get down, so it was an ordeal. I crawled a ways, but only got more mud-covered. Finally and painfully, I used my walking stick in one hand and when I got the pump dragged up the slope a bit, I was able to use both the pump and the stick to get to my feet. It hurt my knees a lot, but I had no options. After that, I had to spend an hour getting mud off me, the pump, hoses, electric cords, etc. No photos because I don't dare take my phone with me into the tank.

I need to pump water Thursday and I discovered the heavy 3" line going to the stucco tank had washed away from the connecting joint during the flood. That's something I can't fix by myself (I could have 10 years ago), plus the 3" pump connected to it is very difficult to start. Also it's time to start watering again unless it rains soon. Thursday will be two weeks since things got watered. Normally, I don't let it go that long, but after the huge deluge, I felt ok with doing that.

Lots of butterflies, and saw my first migrant bird of the season, this lovely Yellowheaded Blackbird.

The BIG ONE

 

The BIG ONE is the one I never want to get.  I watched it from town on radar. It concerned me because it's the first time I had seen the center of a bad cell directly over the oasis since I've been watching radar. The last, and only, BIG ONE since the oasis was created, was in the year 2000. It overran the dike around the oasis, washing some of the dike away. After that, my late husband raised the dike. It never breached again.

Yesterday, the BIG ONE went over the dike. It didn't breach it, but cut into it badly (above photo). When I first arrived at the oasis late this afternoon and saw the devastation, my first inclination was to just give up. Nature won. But then I made myself focus on what was left. My cup half full, not half empty, so to speak.

A BIG ONE inundates the whole oasis, takes away all the mulch, washes random places away, piles silt in other places, and leaves debris everywhere. In 2000 it flooded the potty shed with about a foot of water. We raised it a foot after that. Yesterday it flooded it again, although just a couple of inches. When the water recedes, it leaves a thick coating of mud inside. So much to do and so little energy. But I have time, so I'll do it bit by bit. What made it worse was that when it hit, all the tanks were already full and the ground was already saturated. No place for the water to go. 

I guess the road is the biggest concern. Right now only high clearance is doable. I'm going to try to hire someone to work on it. The problem is, what's left is basically rock. It needs padding, not grading. But I'll address it as a challenge, not a problem. We'll see. It's not over til it's over. 

UPDATE: It was late last night and I was exhausted when I posted this. Forget to mention that my oldest son, Eric, got all 3 pumps in top running shape in no time. He can, it's just if he will. The oasis is a full-time job and my sons have their own lives they want to live. Eric did say when he got back from a trip to Florida in a week, he'd come work on the road. That would be so wonderful if he does.

Feast or famine

Lower dirt tank brimful

Broken tank

More accurately, deluge or drought. This afternoon, it deluged again. The good news is that everything is full of water. No need to pump... or water. The bad news, other than that the big broken tank won't hold water for long, is that my best gas pump that was at the upper dirt tank got inundated.  I used to drag it well away from the tank so that couldn't happen, but these days I'm not able to do that. It's been years since it was necessary, but if a big surge of water rushes over the spillway, it can happen. Due to my vigilence, this is the first time that has happened while the pump was vulnerable. A surge of water over the spillway doesn't last long, but long enough. You can tell from this photo, the water had been much higher. (All photos by Ricky Green) 

Tomorrow I'm going to go down, and with help loading, bring the pump to town. My one son is in Colorado, but my other son reluctantly agreed to try to salvage it. It will need lots of drying and cleaning. New gas, oil, clean the plug, etc. and hope for the best.

Maintaining the place has become too much for me, but I just can't bring myself to let it go. I'll fight till the end. Fortunately, I don't seem to be any worse for the wear after those last three days of pumping. Of course, had I known nature was going to fill everything I could have saved myself the torture. Such is my life! I wouldn't trade it for any other, although I'd sure make myself younger if I could! LOL

My deepest gratitude to Ricky Green for his invaluable help in my time of need! And to the continued support of all the wonderful birders out there!

The price of rain

Lately, the oasis has gotten a couple of nice rains, which means pumping water if everything doesn't fill up from a huge monsoon. I hadn't known that the rain filled the [upper] dirt tank until two days after the fact. By the time I got there, half the water was lost.

I finally managed to get the remainder pumped out into the stucco tank, adding 10" to it. Thereafter, I went back to Alpine to recuperate.

Photo by Ricky Green

That night it rained again, and filled it again, so yesterday I went right back down, still unrecovered from the previous day. Terlingua Ranch resident, Ricky Green, volunteered to help me with the pumps. That was a godsend for me.

We eventually got the pump going. The broken tank had also harvested a lot of water in that second rain, so we set up an electric pump in it. 

Photo by Ricky Green

It no longer holds water so I planned to pump it into the stucco tank. It contained enough to top off the stucco tank. After Ricky left, the gas pump quit running and the electricity went out. In hindsight, I should've used a gas pump in the broken tank. I had thought I could make the pumping easier by using the lighter electric pump. Didn't expect a power outage.

This morning, I tackled the situation by myself. I changed the oil in the gas pump, leveled it better, and finally got it going. Since I had anticipated topping off the stucco tank with the broken tank water, I continued pumping the [upper] dirt tank water into the lower dirt tank, which holds better. Good plan.... if it had worked. Without help, I couldn't change the setup. It was locked in.

All morning the electricity went off and on, mostly off. By the time I got the upper dirt tank emptied into the lower dirt tank, I was too worn out to continue. So I went to town. Naturally, after I left, the electricity came on, and stayed on. But I didn't sleep well last night and couldn't bear the thought of another night without AC. And even if the AC is working, it's too loud for me to sleep well.

Currently, the stucco tank lacks about 18" of being full. I plan to go top it off in a few days from the lower dirt tank, unless a monsoon fills everything. The pump at the lower dirt tank is harder to get going. Ricky said he'd come help if I need him to. 

My back is hurting real bad, but I think it'll feel somewhat better in the morning. It's never pain-free. Those days are long gone.

Still hanging on

Not much has been going on lately. My broken toe is better, but I always have pain on the bottoms of my feet when doing a lot of walking, or when watering trees. My understanding is that our padding thins as we age. So yesterday I bought a pair of expensive (for me) Skechers shoes that seem to give more padding. I'll know more next time I water.

The oasis has been getting a few small showers, which is nice, but so far, not enough that I don't have to water. More rain is forecast, so we'll see.

I watered two days ago and enjoyed seeing lots of newly hatched Scaled Quail.

The oasis is hosting California Spreadwings dragonflies again this year, which I like. I doubt I'll get any Mexican Amberwings since the big tank that had them has failed, but we'll see.

Here's the latest drought map for our area. Not looking good, but for now the oasis is fine.

Surviving and hoping

I feel like I survived a near "perfect" storm. Last week our car was in the body shop, my foot had a broken bone, water had to be pumped, my son was in Colorado, and my pickup was broken down. The only thing that kept it from being a "perfect" storm was that it broke down in the carport in town, and not at the oasis. That would have been unbearable. 

I survived dealing with the heavy gas pump and all that entailed. (That was before I got the special shoe for my foot, while the bone was freshly broken.) A terrible ordeal. Thereafter, I rested in town for several days.

So, yesterday it was time to go water and service the feeders. I finally had my pickup back. At least I didn't have to go through the torture of climbing into and out of my husband's big tall pickup. I got a late start, as I had to take care of some business in town first. 

At the oasis, I serviced the feeders. By then it was brunch time and hot, so I ate, and napped. After my nap, it was 110° out. I started watering, hoping it would rain and I could quit. Looked promising, but didn't happen.

It did cool things off though, so I was able to finish watering in more comfort, not taking into account how bad my feet, knees, and back hurt, especially the broken foot. Since rain is forecast  during the next week, I did a brief three hour watering only, and got back to Alpine before my regular 11 PM bedtime. I would have spent the night at the oasis, but that would have meant running the AC all night. I simply don't sleep well in a room with a loud AC running.

This morning I'm not feeling too bad. My broken foot hurts, and I'm a bit more sore than usual. Hoping to be able to take it easy for a few days. And if it does rain at the oasis, I hope everything fills up so I won't have to go pump. Surviving and hoping seems to be my lot these days. But so thankful to be able to survive and hope!

As I watered, chats were very vocal and the water drip was very popular!

Scott's Oriole

Crissal Thrasher

Broken foot bone

May 25

May 29

On May 24, I stubbed my little toe on a chair leg. I figured it was broken, but as the swelling, etc. subsided, I could pinpoint the break and it was in the bone leading to the little toe. When it seemed not to be improving, I went and got it x-rayed. Dr. says the break is healing, but slowly because I flex my foot, so he put a non-flex shoe on it.

I really had been abusing it. On May 27, two days after the break, I watered the trees at the oasis, which entailed walking for four hours on it. Then after I got back to town, the oasis got a good rain and caught some runoff. On the 29th I went back down to pump some of the water. That meant dragging a heavy gas pump, carrying priming water and gas, getting into the tank of water to arrange the intake, and too much other torture to mention. When I finished that, I took a nap, then cleaned out a storage building that my son had recently mouse-proofed. (He's currently in Colorado for a month) Plus all my regular housework, feeder servicing, etc. Basically, from the time I broke it, I did all that I normally would do, plus some. With this unflexible shoe, and resting it, it should heal now.

A couple of years ago I cracked my other foot's navicular bone and was hobbling in pain for nearly 8 months, but this isn't as debilitating.

As for the rain, the oasis looks lovely, and I added a couple of feet of water to the stucco tank. It loses 1½" per day, so not a great gain, but I've learned that every little bit helps.

Sometimes I feel like life is in a holding pattern, just waiting for the next hurdle! But so many people are so much worse off, that I can't complain. I feel gratitude!

I survived migration!

Normally, migration is the last week of April and the first week of May. However, birding was almost at its best the second week of May. And birders just kept coming. During that bonus week, I was sick with what I think was covid. In bed for two days. Then I had to deal with difficult trespassers, a difficult neighbor, watering, and more. So it was an exciting, but hectic week. I was really glad the birding was good since there were so many birders visiting. It's always a letdown when migration is over. 

Birders are the best! However difficult things are, birders make it so worth it! I plan to hang on until my last breath.

It surprised me how tiny this American Redstart looks on a Prickly Pear Cactus!

And this would've been a great  Yellow Warbler photo if it had been sharp. Never saw one with a fanned tail before.

Fall migration will be here before we know it! Meanwhile, I sure hope we get at least one good monsoon. I feel optimistic about it. 

Catch up

As I was approaching the oasis this morning, a bear was departing. As usual, he left fresh scat at the oasis. But no damage, and no bird seed in the scat.

Another trunk of that cottonwood tree is in imminent danger of falling. It was erect two days ago and now it's leaning precariously. Shouldn't do damage if it falls into the dry dragonfly pond. It might clip the edge of the big Live Oak. If it stays up until my son gets here in a few days, he can attach a rope to it and guide the fall to where it won't damage anything.

I watered for a few hours this morning, then after lunch I sat at the back water drip to see what was showing up in the heat of the day. Here are a few photos I snapped of the action.

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Hepatic Tanager

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Bullock's Oriole

Townsend's Warbler

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, It's unusual for this time of year. Seems to be molting.

A week or so ago I took off the sheet covering my couple dozen stored extra hummingbird feeders to discover mice had gotten into them, and left them covered in droppings, and whatever. I had to take them all in and clean them. A big job at a time when I was overwhelmed with migration and birders and watering. No wonder it escaped mention at the time!

The Texas Ornithological Society wanted a photo of me with my Dennis Shepler Birding Ambassador award so my son took one for them. Here it is. (I'm even wearing the shirt Dennis designed for me.)

 

I think that about catches me up.

Bad things come in threes!

I hope that old adage is true, and it'll stop at three! First the big non-leaking tank failed and won't hold water anymore, then my husband wrecked our car, and today I went to the oasis, planning to water, only to discover a dead cottonwood tree had fallen across the path and was crushing my precious Mexican Blue Oak. There's a small relict population of them on my mountain and this one was started years ago from an acorn from that little motte.

So instead of watering, I called my husband to come cut up the dead tree. While waiting the two hours for him to get there from Alpine, I cut away some small limbs, attempting to free the oak tree as much as I could. And I piled up lots of twigs. Wore myself out. Then when Hugh arrived, I wanted to work slowly, so we didn't trip over twigs and fall. But in his typical fashion, he rushed at breakneck speed to get through and back to town. In the process, he cut into my best water hose. But by the time we got the cut-up tree loaded into his pickup, I was way too exhausted to think about watering.

On this first photo (rear center) you can see what's still standing of the dead cottonwood tree. On the left side of photo is the Mexican Blue Oak. One large limb on it was snapped off and had to be removed, but several others were just smashed down. I was able to tie them up until they regain their form. A wonderful birder, Joseph Ramsey, helped us out. He was a life saver for me!

On this next photo, the oak is just left of center. To visiting birders, the trees are probably just vegetation for birds, but to me, they're like family. 😀

During our Big Sit (May 6) Mike Gray took a photo of a hummer that expert Kelly Bryan ID'd as a Ruby-throated. Quite unusual for this time of year. It's still there. Perhaps a somewhat atypical individual still in molt. There have been near-continuous birders at the oasis lately, and many have remarked about this bird.

I think I need to let my body recover tomorrow. Then Tuesday I'll go back and do the watering. That's my plan, anyway.

A great big sit!

The weather was lovely all day...  after the sun came out. Before then I got chilled, but don't seem to have any ill effects from it. Fingers crossed. We saw more birds than we'd seen on a Big Sit before, I think. Having an ace birder (Stephen Falick) helped a lot. I could barely keep up jotting them down as he called them out.

That doesn't mean we'll win the competition. This year there were a couple more teams competing and I don't know their habitat or skill, so we'll see. Fun either way! Another team member, Jeff Bennett, joined us after these photos were taken. Such a fun group! 

There have been 275 species documented at the oasis, so it's hard to get another, but today it happened. A swallow flew over after Stephen had left to chase a rare bird that showed up in Marathon today. We weren't sure what the swallow was, but decided upon Violet-green Swallow. Then a visiting young ace birder (Camille Conner) informed us she had gotten a photo of it, and it was a Bank Swallow. These young birders these days are awesome! Photo by Camille. 

Another no-nap day, so I'm exhausted and headed to bed!

UPDATE: Mike Gray did his best during the Big Sit to get photos of the Crissal Thrashers at the nest. This is the best that can be done without cutting away the brush, which we won't do for fear it would compromise the nesting success. The twig walls are sort of part of the nest. I wouldn't change it.

And here's Camille's photo of an adult carrying food to the nest!

Crissal-mas surprise!

Birders were sitting at the back water drip, hoping to see a Crissal Thrasher, when they observed the Crissals carrying food to a nest. I commented that I had been sure the nest was to the north side of the water drip in a dense thicket, but the birds seemed to be carrying the grub south of the drip. About then one of the astute birders exclaimed that he saw the nest and the nestlings being fed. OMG! It wasn't even ten feet from the water drip, where constant human activity takes place.

It still took a while for them to get me on it, so well hidden it was. After I gave up on trying to get a photo, I went and got my son to try. He positioned himself in the best possible view, which was still practically no view at all. Then, I covered him with a gray sheet and departed, so as to create as little a human footprint as possible.

It took a while, but he eventually got a couple of diagnostic shots. I couldn't find any at all online, so his may be the only ones that exist. Surely not, but if so, I understand why. I hope to try for better photos, but only if it can be done without risking disturbing the birds.

One fed, one still hungry! Duly noted!

The nestling Black-chinned Hummingbird seems to be thriving too.

Birds still appear to be wading into the water for Fairy Shrimp. Amazing!

Black-headed Grosbeak

Lots happening

First, here's the Dennis Shepler award video I promised you. Watching it today for the first time, I can tell I was nervous on the interview, but as is my nature, I soldiered on for posterity! LOL 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1PmM0qRRJg

Migration is going along smoothly. Lots of happy birds, and birders. Today a rare (to the area) Hooded Warbler spent all day foraging in the mud of the dragonfly pond, or drinking and bathing at the drip. Happy birders watched until a different bird would catch their attention.

As good as today was, it didn't make up for my disappointment yesterday in missing a rare adult male Cape May Warbler. I'd only ever seen a drab female. When it showed up at the oasis, all the birders present were frantically searching for me, but by the time I wandered back to the oasis, it couldn't be relocated. I'll post a photo of it as soon as the photographer that promised it to me delivers. I had been walking down the road along the arroyo to see what birds were there. I didn't see any. Lesson learned. I guess since the water is at the oasis, that's where all the birds are.

I also wasn't consoled with this nice Black-throated Gray Warbler that dropped by for a snack and drink yesterday on its journey to the Rocky Mountains, or wherever. 

Now that I'm back in town for a couple of days, I'll probably miss a great bird. Such is my life! If only I could be two places at once. I guess we all wish that.

I spent all day watering at the oasis, no nap, so pretty exhausted right now.

Migration is never dull

Today, birders found a Prothonotary Warbler at the oasis. There was one here last May but it didn't stay long, only a few people got to see it, and I wasn't happy with my shots of it. When I arrived at the oasis this evening, there was a birder here who said he had seen it around 7 PM. If so, maybe it'll stick around. (Photo by my son Lee).

And happy birders admiring the rare oasis visitor...

I've seen lots of bear scat, but none quite like this fresh deposit that Lee came upon at the oasis yesterday.

I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings!

Bearing up to migration

Birders witnessed a bear bathing in the stucco tank. First time anyone has seen that. Previously, the bears bathed in the big, now destroyed, tank. The birders were sitting in the viewing blind when they heard loud splashing in the nearby tank. A poor photo was snapped of the culprit as it fled the scene.

I spent three intense days at the oasis and didn't want to leave. Good birds and fun birders! Here's the Vent group from the 25th. I'm a couple days late in posting it. Had meant to post it in last blog post, but was really exhausted. I plan to go back in a couple of days. Spring migrations only happen for two weeks every year and I want to enjoy them as much, and for as many years, as possible.

The back water drip is a magnet to birds.

Green-tailed Towhee

Newly hatched Black-chinned Hummingbird

Tomorrow I plan to inventory the birds here at our ponds in Alpine. One of the mulberry trees has some ripening berries, enough to keep it busy with birds anyway. 

Western Tanager

I was given an award at the recent TOS Spring meeting. Here's a quote (by Crystal Ledezma) about it. 

"I am particularly excited about our new award, the Dennis Shepler Birding Ambassador Award, given to Carolyn Ohl for her generosity in sharing her oasis with us. I had the honor of going with Ron to film an interview with her. His finished video was amazing, I cried thru the whole thing. The Christmas Mountains Oasis is a special place, and Carolyn is a very special human, it was a great honor to be involved in this."

I'll get a link to the interview and post it here soon.