Wildlife, Desert Life, Terlingua Life, Village Life

This is a catch up posting, so there's lots of photos. (BTW, if you click on any of the photos, it will show an enlarged image).

Wild Life

We've been seeing some interesting things out here! When we were driving back from Mexico, we saw at leas 7 roadrunners crossing the road. That was very cool. Then we discovered that there are a pair living right here next to the rock house. If we are very quiet, we can observe them for longer than a quick run across the road. I'll have to try to tiptoe around and catch them with the camera. On one trip back from the property, we encountered a dust devil that was blowing tumbleweeds up in the air like a juggler. They were flying all over the place, around and around. I jumped out of the jeep to get a picture as it crossed the road but it was moving too fast. Here's what I did get:

Then, further down the road, we spotted another roadrunner and were able to get a photo of it crossing the road. Wiley Coyote wasn't right behind, probably because he and his brothers showed up outside the house the other night, sounding like they were hunting and had caught something. They were probably too worn out to chase these little guys. Rem went out to see what was going on but never saw them - he's braver than I am. I stayed under the covers and hoped he didn't meet up with them! 

Then, on a trip back from the water company, we spotted a desert bighorn sheep ewe right in town crossing 170 in front of us. 12 rams and 35 ewes were released in Big Bend Ranch State Park about 2 years ago, in an attempt to reintroduce them to the area. They were decimated by the 1960's through unregulated hunting, domestic animal diseases and loss of habitat. This one was running incredibly fast - didn't get a picture. I couldn't believe it ran straight up, I mean straight up, a formation to the left of us. It was about a mile or so from the house. I walked up there two days later to see if I could find any of the tracks and I was able to find them! Never found any on the other side of the road. The opposite side had slightly harder ground and more gravelly kind of stones.

found this on Google Images so you could see what the females look like

Tracks on level area after crossing road

You probably will need to blow this one up. It was definitely a vertical climb.  What a sight!

Desert Life

The desert has been in bloom - ocotillos, cactus, Big Bend Bluebonnets and more
wildflowers than I can describe. You're probably getting tired of seeing all the pictures. Just can't help myself - they are so beautiful and so unexpected. We found some on our property (on the really steep part of the road) that I tried to transplant to the area in back of the house. Hope they make it.

We took the sundial out of Rem's Cherokee and put it in back of the house. Tried to align it so it was close to the correct time sans DST. Funny how the sun doesn't correct for that. When we install it permanently, we'll try to get it exact.

This is one I picked for transplant

This flower is on the side of the road coming out of Black Rock Draw. Didn't see another like it anywhere, reminds me of some mallows but couldn't find it in any books. Saw another going up to Terlingua Ranch office, about 35 miles away. Can anyone identify it?

Big Bend Bluebonnets - tried to order some seeds on-line but they only had Texas bluebonnets that won't grow here

Don't know the name of this one either. Very tiny flowers, a beautiful purple color.

So, that's my catch up for the last two weeks. I had many more photos of everything - maybe I'll put some out in miscellaneous posts. Figured you are probably burned out on this one!

Terlingua Life

We drove up to Beechies to drop off our Florida license plates. Mr Beechies does auto inspections and is a collector of license plates and many other things car related. His place is near the Terlingua Ranch office, so we killed two birds with one stone (not really guys - I wouldn't ever kill a bird!) We left the plates and drove up to pay our annual association dues. Met with Andrea (Hi Andrea! Thanks for helping UPS find us!) and she gave us a mini tour. We had been up there before, of course, but, had never really explored. There are cabin rentals, a restaurant, a laundromat and a pool! Along with beautiful scenery. Next time, we'll make a day of it, do wash, picnic and swim, too! Fun!

                                     

So a few days ago, a car pulls up at the rock house and our friend Rhonda from Ft. Worth hops out of a Jeep Compass. She surprised us and it was great. I had been telling myself that I had to call her because she needed to be down here!  We must have been psychically connected. She was staying in Villa Terlingua in Ghosttown - a very nice place run by a very lovely lady named Cynta.

The first day we drove down to Lajitas to see Bonnie Wunderlich's gallery show - nice paintings and on the way back, stopped at the gun shop/leather shop/chicken egg place between Lajitas and CASI. Got two dozen fresh eggs - nice green color. Awesome - it is Easter afterall. The next day, we took a drive and hike down at Santa Elena Canyon. Cactus was blooming - beautiful.

Santa Elena in Big Bend National Park

This was a homestead for a very large family. They must have been a lot shorter in those days because I could only stand up between the beams and everyone knows that I am short!

Later that day, we hiked Terlingua Creek. There was some water in it and it was filled with rocks. I was in HEAVEN! The rocks that had been underwater and which were now exposed, were coated with a white powder. We learned from Cynta that it is calcium carbonate. And, today on the Science channel, I learned that areas that were sea 100 million years ago have calcium carbonate deposits. After that, we went to Long Draw Pizza (no cell phones allowed, so I figured they wouldn't appreciate photos - although they had a lot on the walls). No credit cards either, but, they take personal  checks . . . whaat? Headed back to Villa Terlingua and ended up taking an after dinner walk with Cynta. That felt good - then back to the Rock House for Rhonda goodbyes with Rem. Wish she could have stayed longer . . . sigh.

Village Life
OK, I know we're not a village . . . but it really does take a village . . . and Terlingua feels like one.
It IS Easter - even though I almost missed it - lost track of the days, thought Ash Wednesday and Mardi Gras was just a couple of weeks ago. They were holding the Easter Egg Hunt right across the street from us. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see an Easter event for kids - Egg Hunt, Egg Toss, Egg Roll (well, I missed everything after the Egg Hunt - had to head over to the Farmer's Market in Ghosttown- last one of the season until next September and had to meet up with Rhonda).
The kids were very cute and they put out 1300 Easter Eggs - Wow, good job, Karen!

PanSTARRS Sighting

We've been going out shortly after sunset the last few nights to try to see the PanSTARRS Comet. All the information out there said to head out around sunset and look to the west slightly above the horizon and to the left of the sliver of the moon.

We did that two nights with no success. Nada, niente, zip. Disappointing to say the least. So I continued to research the location, time, etc. and decided that everyone else's idea of sunset and my idea of sunset were two different things. My Starwalk app on the iPad showed the moon way below the horizon at the time I showed as sunset.

Regroup. Go out way earlier because the moon's not that high in the sky when the lights go out.

So this evening, we walked outside when the sun was just starting to dip but was still pretty bright, slightly before what I consider twilight.

There it was!!! About a hand's width above the mountains in the western sky. Way brighter and bigger than we had expected. Just to the left of the setting sun.
It was awesome and could be seen with the naked eye but even better with a 10x50 pair of binoculars. 

We didn't get any photos but we will try tomorrow night to take some.
Wow. A great celestial event. Way better than Halleys Comet in Peru in 1986 . . . 

Mexican groceries and awesome scenery

I'd been hearing a lot of buzz about shopping in Mexico and how good it is.  A new friend suggested that since I had not yet had that experience locally that we should venture out south of the border.

Started out around 10 AM and headed down 170 toward Lajitas. 170 winds around Lajitas and up into Big Bend Ranch State Park on its way toward Presidio and Ojinaga. Google Maps says it's 74 miles from here but it sure didn't seem to be that far. Alpine is 80 miles with nice scenery. But the scenery on this drive was incredible. Certainly made the trip seem short. We didn't stop to take photos on the way in, did on the way out.

The road winds along the Rio Grande with lots of places to pull over and shoot pictures. Take a left turn when you get into Presidio and that goes straight to Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico. Ojinaga is on Mountain Standard Time, where we are on Central. Also, it is one of 10 border towns that have been granted permission to observe the new Daylight Savings observation days, when the rest of Mexico does not. Although, locals say they do not observe DST. I'll let you know next time if the time is off by 2 hours.

Riddles of the Universe

We all know the problem with socks and the dryer. In they go . . . where they come out nobody knows. There's a lot of speculation about the sock heaven in the sky or maybe it's sock hell . . .  I think that's where I am right now.

Most of you already know (and have been very generous supporters) that I have done a lot of long distance walks for charitable causes - three 60 mile walks for breast cancer and (years ago) a 120 mile walk for Habitat. In all those walks, I tried all kinds of shoes - walking shoes, running shoes, off-trail shoes and walking sandals. The walking sandals were my favorite because any and all closed shoes created blisters after the first 6 or 7 miles. Walking sandals were awesome - not one blister. AND, capitalized for emphasis, AND, in all those miles, not one hole in any sock. In fact, I don't ever remember having a hole in any sock that I have ever owned. Granted, I'm not big on wearing socks period. But, even I have to admit that long distance walking is better with some kind of sock. 

So here's the Riddle of the Universe for solving. Since we have been in Terlingua, every pair of socks that I have worn, for long or short distances, has developed a hole . . . and yesterday's pair ended up with two on each foot, huge giant holes around my toes.

So what does this mean? Is the Universe out of whack? Has that giant sock black hole opened up and swallowed us up?  You tell me.

Morning visitors

Life in the Burbs

We headed up to the house yesterday afternoon because we wanted to see if the ocotillos were blooming yet. In my walks, I've seen lots of flowers starting to bloom. Unfortunately, all my native plant books are still packed and I won't be able to identify them easily, but, I can show you some photos.

 

On the way up, we stopped to meet two of our neighbors who live in what we call "Ocotillo Forest". This was the first opportunity we've had to meet them. We talked about house projects and using local clay to make vessels, conduit, etc. and the advantages of unfired clay vs. pit firing. Interesting conversation. Passed a lot of cars/trucks on the road - stopped and talked to some of them.