Still not well

After sitting around town for endless days I thought I was almost well, but when I got to CMO early this AM, the least little exertion left me unable to breathe. I guess I have bronchitis, so back to town to rest some more. Thank goodness so far none of my family has caught it.

Since it's December, I started my December butterfly list. Not many species. Here's a Mexican Yellow.

After the mulberry trees had their leaves stripped off by caterpillars, they grew new leaves sporadically. And along with the new leaves came mulberries. First time ever in fall or late fall.

Whenever I arrive at CMO I'm always struck by the quietude. Today was no exception. But shortly that quiet was shattered by the sound of gun blasts. When I investigated I found my new neighbor right outside my east gate blasting away. Nothing I could do but wait it out.

Eventually, quiet returned. Quiet is very important to me. It helps me recharge and stay charged. In town we've never had a house directly across the street from us, but still the neighborhood is stereo dog barking. Now the land across the street has sold and at least one new house is going to be built there. 

We're in drought conditions and a burn ban. Slight chance of rain next week. Sure hope we get some.

It's always something

Now my cold is almost better after nearly ten days and I have conjunctivitis.

Getting old really sucks!

On a brighter side, or not, depending on how you look at it, the days will start getting longer in less than a month and in 3 months Lucifers will return. That seems a long time away right now.

Pecan time

For the last several weeks we've been processing pecans. Hugh shells them and I clean them.

We have about 7 gallons done so far, but will end up with four times that much, at least, throughout the winter. Needs to be a 2 year supply in case the trees don't make fruit next year. I was really shocked when I saw one pound bags of unshelled pecans at the grocery store for $9.39. Seems outrageous. And we've been letting friends gather up pecans at our place for free.

                           

I haven't counted the trees but I guess there's at least 20 of them and they're big trees. I think Hugh planted them about 40 years or more ago. I'll try to remember to take a photo of some of them soon.

Practical jokers

I hate practical jokes. Nothing practical about them. Like when people video someone who they've convinced won the lottery. And their glee when they tell the victim it was a prank. It's like a justification to be cruel to someone, at the victim's expense of course. Some people are really into practical jokes. Their idea of entertainment and amusement. I think those people have a mean streak in them somewhere, or a lack empathy.

Recently, while I was sick, no less, a prank was played on me. I heard a bird I'd never before heard and got as excited as if I'd won the lottery. After overexerting myself searching for the bird, running to the car for my heavy Canon and all, to document it, I discovered it was a plastic bird planted in a tree. Birders who've searched for a rare bird, then heard it, only to discover someone nearby was playing a recording of the bird will know how that feels. Luckily, I didn't trip and fall. My grand-kids had done it, and it wasn't their fault. They didn't know any better. They were put up to it by an adult whose judgement they trusted. My son scolded them for it, which I felt bad about.

Later, when I told my husband about it, he thought it was funny.  So I decided to research the subject online and discovered that a consensus is growing toward thinking of pranks as bad. That's reassuring. Anyone can prank. Doesn't take brains or good sense or anything. Just closet meanness. Children are often prone to pranks, but outgrow it as they develop empathy. So hopefully, as a society we'll outgrow it. But I know a lot of people never will.

I'm gradually recovering from my cold. Now my husband has it. What a terrible time to get sick when I not only wasn't able to enjoy the holiday with family, but more importantly, exposing them to my virus. I almost never get viruses so it must be a bad one. Or maybe my immune system is in decline. Hope not.

Turkey day

Turkey day went as good as it could under the circumstances. Got to CMO early.

After a big midday meal with a bunch of family my Austin son and his family decided to work on the trail for awhile. I got them to pull weeds so the trail won't disappear in vegetation. But that project didn't last long, which is just as well because I'm still not well. Not getting worse though, so just a matter of time.

Beside my son is his new wife. Behind them are his 3 daughters.

Went and got sick

I was being so careful. Didn't miss sleep, didn't get chilled, didn't overwork, didn't stress about Thanksgiving. All was great, yet a couple of days ago I got a sore throat that has turned into a cold and seems on the brink of bronchitis. So disgusting for that to happen at Thanksgiving time. I should be immune to all this stuff by now. Just wanted you to know why I haven't blogged for a few days. Not there there's anything to blog about. To be continued.....

The main reason I didn't plan a trip to the Lower Rio Grande Valley was for fear of ending up sick. And here I got sick anyway.

I just heard they trapped the bear that was plaguing the area. Not sure who did it.

https://www.facebook.com/melissabrownlowart/videos/10155092256892014/

Not sure if the above link will let you see the video.

A bit wintry

Early morning sun

Not much going on at the oasis this time of  year. Actually, nothing going on. I finished watering, pruned a little, then headed back to town into a cold front moving in. Culture shock. Went from calm mid 70s to cool and windy in town. Not that unusual, though.

The oasis cholla patch is looking good. I don't see why a Lucifer Hummingbird won't choose to nest in it next spring. If one doesn't it's just because they're programmed to nest up on the mountain, but it could happen, I think.

Perfect fall day weather-wise

This morning I was chomping at the bit to get to the oasis since it was a lovely day and tomorrow is supposed to be quite a bit colder. Got up to 86° today and not a bit of a breeze.

Mostly I just puttered around. Seemed like hard puttering though. First I got a ladder and went to replace an 8 foot fluorescent tube in the kitchen ceiling. Got the old one out and discovered the new one, which I babied all the way from Alpine for fear it would break going over the bumpy road, didn't have the same connectors. So I had to put the old one back in to make the other side of the light fixture work. A wasted hour there, plus I have to try to see if they have the right type and exchange it. I dread hauling it back to town and then hauling another one down. That means I have to tie my ice chest to a corner of the pickup bed so it won't slide into the bulb. Have to pad the bulb, drive slow, can't bring the mulch down with me that needs to come, etc.

Next I went to paint the kitchen chairs in the guesthouse. Seems when you improve one thing, then it just shows up the contrast to things that need improving.

Finally, I decided to change out one of my watering hoses for a longer one that was given to me. It was better quality and didn't have the repair on the line that kept snagging on trees and stuff that my original hose has. But the connector that hooked to the faucet on the longer hose leaked. I did everything I could. So all that was left to do was to replace the connector. I got the old one off, sawed the ragged edge of the hose to be sure it fit snugly, put on a different connector, clamped it back together, tightened everything really tight, and it still leaked, though not as bad. Another hour wasted. So I just added a short hose that didn't leak to the faucet and made it to where the leak was under a tree. I can live with that. Once I quit watering and turn off the faucet it doesn't leak, just while I'm watering. 

By then it was late in the afternoon and I was tired and hungry. Will finish the watering in the morning. But I did go back down later and service the feeders. I saved the perch pieces the bear ripped off and this evening glued some of them back on. Don't know if they'll stay, but it's worth a try.

A new day brings new energy

Once I got the old joints moving this morning it was easy to finish painting the potty shed.

Then I watered lightly. This time of year things don't need a good soaking, so I get frugal with my water supply. I still had energy left, didn't feel ready to head to town so soon, so I did a bunch of pruning, mostly branches the bear had broken.

Turned out I should probably have saved some of that energy because I got to town tired and had a ton of things I had to do here. But now I'm sort of caught up and should have an easy next few days. And maybe easy for the winter. At some point before spring migration I need to work on the birding trails. Don't think I'll work on the mountain trail anymore. There's a trail up that I can make it fine on, and doing work to it wouldn't really improve its usability, so probably not worth the effort. Might change my mind, though.

Good ole scenery

When there are no interesting birds, butterflies, dragonflies, or flowers to photograph there's always the scenery. It never leaves. This morning started out with the oasis being up in the clouds. Lovely!

Unfortunately I had to go to Alpine, but plan to get back real soon. On the way out, going down the big hill I could see the valley was still in the clouds/fog. (Nine Point Mesa in the background to the right center.)

Then at the highway I saw a sign I hadn't seen before. It's at the intersection of Terlingua Ranch Road and Highway 118. Still foggy so no background scenery on the last shot.