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Joyce took this shot shortly after sunrise of what appeared to be a dead tree. There were clouds blocking the sun except for light that only fell on one of the junipers making it appear, for only a minute or two, to be dead.
Coyotes, porcupines and now a deer to go with ducks, geese, possums and who knows what else has been sighted on good ol’ SA. Kari was out about sunup recently and saw a deer parading around the north end. She called Joyce who managed to snap the picture above. The deer apparently jumped over the 1911 fence, which is probably how it got onto SA, and left via the gate not to be seen again. I’m not sure what else might visit the premises. The bison haven’t roamed free in the area for something like 150 years.
Our one-legged starling seems to be doing just fine, thank you very much. We see it often around the yard searching for something to eat. I think it can fly but I’ve never seen it do so. Maybe it doesn’t like the crash landings.
Rebecca got a new dog, a cairn terrier. It is a mature dog (about eight years old) they got from a woman in Canyon who shows the breed. Kari thought it would be nice if Rebecca had a dog, being as Tino is getting on in years. The cats have been her playmates since the SHIP order in March. What were wild cats are so tame now I can hardly get to the shop in the morning without tripping over one. I know Maggie (the dog) is in good hands.
We have more wind than we usually do this time of year. It’s more like March-April, except hot. It apparently is never going to rain again here so we are doing the best we can to keep the trees alive. It is no small task to get water to a lot of them on the perimeter.
After a week of wind from north and south, many prayers were answered and we got a nice rain (1.35) Friday night. While not exactly a gentle rain, it didn’t come down hard either, so maybe there was less runoff. There was hail, yes, and at times we worried that it was going to be the damaging kind but it wasn’t. Aside from some leaves knocked off trees, nothing suffered. We hardly knew what to do with ourselves when we got up Saturday morning, so used to running out and watering something were we. We have about a week’s hiatus from watering for now, provided it doesn’t rain anymore, which isn’t likely but not impossible. Joyce and I walked the lanes and the dams seemed to have done their job of holding back water to prevent erosion and give the trees a good long drink. There were a few breaches in the north lane but I think the runoff was still controlled.
Low and behold we got another 1.23 inches Monday evening. The combined two and half inches worked wonders for the place. The grass has greened up nicely. If only we don’t have to go another 60-90 days without another decent rain.
Jill and the girls arrived to spend a few weeks with us, including our Red River trip. We’ll have to put up with a few inconveniences in RR due to state restrictions but we’re all looking forward to the trip anyway.
Abigail and I attended a Playa Day in Hereford presented by the Ogallala Commons. We sat through a couple of presentations about playas and the history of this part of the country, then drove to a place called Garcia Lake. It is a large playa on private land not far from Bootleg close to the New Mexico border. We were fortunate the temperature was mild and it was cloudy. We had sandwiches at the Bootleg fire station.
It is baby bird season and thus it is dead baby bird season. We have rescued several from the tender mercies of a cat which was having fun playing with it. The bird, not so much. We don’t know if the cat found them on the ground, but that is likely. The best we are able to do is put them in a basket up out of the reach of cats and where there is the possibility the parents will find and nurture it. Long odds of that happening, but we can’t take the place of mother and father bird. At least the little guys die in peace.