Heavy Weather

For the past several weeks, with the exception of an occasional overnight passing shower, we've missed out on the so-called "monsoon" rains. We've been able to see it. See it often, in fact. Usually as in the form above, as heavy downpours just a tantalizing couple of miles away on the Deming Plain.

Well folks, just moments after this picture was taken, this storm, complete with lots of sky to ground lightning, thunder, and flash flood alerts, washed over the Hare-Brained Homestead. We could see how the arroyos could fill up in a hurry, and even though I could see the UPS van, just a half mile away, making a delivery at Rock Hound State Park, he wasn't going to deliver that last package to our little abode up here on the hill, because there was no way he'd be guaranteed that the wash at the bottom of the hill wouldn't be rushing with water. So at 8:44PM, my UPS tracking status changed from "out for delivery", to "emergency conditions beyond UPS' control". And that was that. I won't get my new tripod until Monday, and I'll have to make do with the old one to shoot the Deming fireworks tomorrow... (which we should have a fantastic view of, and which you'll see pictures of here.) Hang in there.

One New Friend.

Was grilling the other night, caught movement in my periphery below the deck. Here was this yard-long Bull Snake (aka Gopher Snake). According to one website, they're their own worst enemy because they do a very passable imitation of the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake when threatened.... and end up dead. This was the second one we've seen, so I knew it was just cruising for food. It disappeard under the house looking for mice or packrats. What the Border Pest Control-placed bait stations don't kill, this reptile will. Note: it's only one snake, making a U-turn, not two.

So far (fingers crossed) no rattlers in the yard.

Rare Ducks at Windyglen.

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks.  As the map at the link shows, these guys are way north of their usual range. (We're on the Red River in SE Oklahoma).  "Very un-ducklike" indeed.  I thought they were something altogether different when I first saw them.

Look at all that green.  A bit different from what's been posted here recently, eh?

Living Bottle Brushes and Desert Porn..

Yep.  We're growing bottle brushes,

and these yellow, fuzzy balls (protected from the trunk on up by very sharp thorns!),

And if this isn't just a little bit disturbing.... I don't know.

Some of the many life-forms popping up in the yard now.  And there's more we're going to miss because we're about to take off on a 7 week torture tour. (See schedule to the right).  And I can say without any problem at all that if we'd had any inkling we were going to be settling down to a life of landed gentry we certainly wouldn't have committed to the bulk of these.  By the time we get back this will all be gone, I'm sure.  The next excitement will come when the rains start in August.

If anyone can ID these plants, please do so in the comments section.  Adios!

UPDATE:  big Hat Tip to friend Val (who should know!)  From the top:

Bottle Brush...  and I thought I was making a joke,

Sweet Acacia,

and the small yellow flower with the 10 (10 is the number and the  number shall be 10) massive erections stamens is

Desert Bird of Paradise!

We also have an almond tree!

Busy Busy Busy..

No rest for this little guy.  He's working the ocotillo from sunrise to sunset.  My "blind" is just sitting in the parked car next to the flowers.  I wanted to add this because I noticed the shot of the black chinned hummer I posted the other day is actually out of focus when you click to enlarge it.  Not so on this, which is my best hummer shot ever!  Click it.

In The Yard Today.

Tarantula Hawk.  Check it out, this is one big wasp.  The body is about 2" long.  Click the link for the scientific stuff.

Wow! That's A Lot of Pixels!

You won't believe your eyes.  Hat Tip to Frank Vigneri..  Hmm, I've got some tree frog close ups in my archives...

Birds and Blooms.

In the past, we're usually long gone from Deming by this time of year.  We've never seen the bursting forth of life that starts happening in the desert about this time of year.  Now that we live here, that's about to change.   Having  the plants we have in the yard gives us a front row seat.

First up is the Ocotillo,
of which we have half a dozen samples in the yard.  A couple of weeks ago, they sprouted a group of red buds at the ends of their "stalks".  I took a closer look at them and realized that they would bloom even further, but I had no idea this plant that actually looks dead most of the year, would bloom like this.

The nectar naturally attracts members of the local hummingbird population, like this Black-chinned Hummingbird .

There's another, larger hummingbird hanging around, but I haven't captured his image yet.  It's either a Broad-tailed, or a Ruby-throated.  My money's on the Broad-tail.

Not hanging around the Ocotillo, but a new bird for me, is this 

Wilsons Warbler.  A bird that looks like it bought a bad toupee.

I've also seen a Scott's Oriole in the yard on a couple of occasions now, but haven't got its picture yet.

This is only the beginning.  I can't wait to see what happens with the prickly pear cactus.  Still no sign of the Mexican Poppies on the mountainside.  Still waiting.  If it happens while we're still here, (we have to take off on a shooting trip late next week), you'll be the first to see it.

We Go "Hunting"

"We are Fam-i-leeee"... That's Sandia and his sister, Maya in the image above. While she's longer than tall, and he's taller than long, the family resemblance is still unmistakable.

Maya's owners came down to Deming for the open house on Saturday, and became the first overnight guests in the cabin. They pronounced it very comfortable.

Yesterday morning we headed out to the well known big ranch with Dutch, and another acquaintance with some rookie Azawakhs. Recently, the jackrabbits at this location have been bountiful, to say the least. On this day, for whatever reason, they made themselves scarce. Maybe the increased coyote activity we noticed had something to do with it. We almost never see coyotes here, and on this morning, we saw 4 in the access road as we arrived, and later, two followed Sandia's aunt Camille back from her first run. The stopped when they noted the people in the equation, and returned to whatever nefarious deeds they were originally involved in.

On a typical recent day we would have run 6 or 7 jacks by 10:30, and been on our way back to Deming for brunch at the Campos. Yesterday, we were still struggling to find a 4th rabbit so everyone could have run twice at 1PM!

That's when we put Sandia and Maya off-slip to better scare up the hares. As the picture above shows, they worked very well together. Not straying too far, stopping periodically, then moving, right to left, left to right in front of the gallery. We'd been at this for nearly an hour and were walking in the direction of the vehicles when they took off at a run. Not an all out run, but purposeful, until they flushed a group of meadowlarks. Oh. Birds. And as soon as we relaxed again, Sandia was right on the butt of a jackrabbit! So they did see something.

They were quite a ways away when this race started, but Dutch released Phyllis, and the Azawakh was slipped and everyone was away. The pack followed the hare right towards the vehicles, which smart ones sometimes try to use as a "pick", but this fooled no one, as the 4 dogs stayed right on it.

They were out of sight briefly, then we could see them still in a group, way beyond the vehicles... a quarter mile for more. My binoculars were in my pack, so I was doing my best to see the course with the naked eye. I saw the dust cloud, then saw no more.

We waited for further developments, when someone said, "they're coming back." We started walking towards the trucks, as a couple of the hounds waited there. Then I heard, "one of them's carrying something". It was Sandia, and they'd caught the hare on a roughly two minute chase. Dutch, who had watched with binoculars, said Sandia would have won the course if he'd been judging it, but all 4 hounds would have had an assist in the kill, as the group was turning the hare every 50 yards or so. I've seen Sandia not bring the hare back when he wasn't the hound who picked it up, so I know he got this one. It will be in the crock pot by this evening.

So, here's the "money" shot I didn't get a couple weeks ago. He dropped it about 50 yards short of us.. I guess it felt pretty heavy after running it almost a mile, then carrying it back almost a half mile.

People are always discussing.... (arguing?) the difference between "coursing" and "hunting". My definition has always been pretty simple: If you go out with your hounds and don't bring back a jackrabbit... you were coursing. Yesterday, Sandia and his kin, and buddies went hunting!

Covey Conflict.

Just another driveway disagreement.  Gambel's Quail in the yard.  Every day.

Missing the Money Shot

I've gotten to where I don't bother taking the camera out to the desert when we go hunting.  It's heavy, gets covered in a fine, fine dust that seems like it can't be doing the camera any good in the long run.  And if I'm going to tote something weighty, I'd rather it be the binoculars so I can better watch the action when it goes over the horizon.

So it was yesterday, as I packed Sandia and Fanny in the car for a rare afternoon hunt with Dutch. A brisk East wind was blowing, keeping the temperature in the mid 50's, so we weren't worried about heat.  We were at a field we hadn't visited in several weeks, and is always good for a couple of chases, if not exactly bountiful.

We'd walked south about a mile and a half, and then cut west a bit, then back north an equal distance without even a sniff of a hare.  We decided to turn to the west for a while, and that's precisely when the hare jumped right in front of Sandia.  He got the jump on everybody, and had a good run up, which eventually turned the hare... hard, to the right, almost right into the mouth of Dutch' s Phyllis (winner of the Desert Hare Classic) who was closing fast.  I saw her head go down in the high cover, but she came up empty.  Sandia avoided the collision, and stayed right behind the jack through several more turns.

Eventually the hare made a straightaway break, with Sandia still on its tail.  In fact, that was one of the more impressive parts of this chase, that despite the extremely high cover in this particular field, Sandia never let the prey get more than a couple of feet ahead of him, always keeping him in site.  When they broke into an open patch I could see Sandia lunging, ever so close to the hares rear, but not quite making contact.  Those would have been some pretty impressive photos had I, you know, had my camera with me... 

But that's not the "money shot" referred to in the title.  Ninety seconds after the race began, Sandia, with some help from Phyllis finally snapped up the jack.  A very brief "discussion" ensued as to who "owned" the jackrabbit, and for a while Sandia carried it back in tandem with Dutch's soon-to-be impressive puppy "Cinnamon", but she finally let go and Sandia proudly brought "dinner" back to me.  That was the money shot, as these events are rare.

This was probably Sandia's finest overall course of his young life, the first where he really looked like some of the best Galgos I've seen coursing in the southwest.  The best moves of the jackrabbit didn't shake him. He kept it in sight despite difficult conditions, and he refused to give up until the job was done.

But his day wasn't over.  After a fifteen minute rest, and some goats milk and water, he was back out front as we started our final sweep back towards the vehicles, and boom!  Fanny jumped this one, and for a nearly nine year old staghound, did herself proud in the run up until Sandia and Phyllis took over.  This rabbit had a different plan than it's "brother", and ran in a- fast - straight line to the southeast.  Sandia was, again, right on it as the rabbit's sinister tactic became apparent.  It was trying to get to a heavy concentration of creosote bush.. nasty stuff you don't want your dogs running into, and pretty much guaranteeing the jackrabbits survival to run another day.

The dogs straggled back looking like survivors of a WWII beach assault.  Dutch's Ashley had a big hole in her foreleg, while Sandia had a long, ugly tear on his rear foot and, discovered later, a couple more holes in his armpit and chest.  Not deep, just tears, but ugly.  By the time we got home, he'd stiffened up significantly.  This morning, he's moving around much better, but we may take him to the vet, because he won't let us touch him.

The drawback to the vet idea is that they'll probably want to suture the wounds, which means he'd most definitely miss a big Galgo outing planned for next week.  Galgos are coming down from the north of the state, including his mother and siblings,  and others are coming from out East somewhere.  So for now, I've got him on antibiotics and letting him keep the wounds clean on his own.

Meanwhile, we've purchased a bigass crockpot, and there'll be jackrabbit in the dog food tomorrow!

So that was yesterday.  One jackrabbit got caught.  One got even.  Rubber match anyone? 

Bring On the Night.

From the front porch, sunset over the plain...

...and from the back porch, moonrise over the Little Floridas

Thus, the Name.

Image, New Mexico Garden Club

Apparently, there's a side to the Florida (pronounced Flor-ee-dah) Mountains we haven't seen yet.  Not sure when we'll see it, but the mountains have been known to occasionally sprout vast quantities of Mexican Poppies.

The person we talked to today thinks this has happened maybe 3 times in the last 15 years.  Since there was a lot of rain in last Summer's monsoon, we may have a chance to see it this Spring.  Here's hoping.  I'd like to get my own pictures of this event.

By the way, "Florida" is Spanish for "flower".

"Cute" Weekly Bird of Prey

Burrowing Owl.  Although they are listed as endangered in many states, we see a couple every time we go out to hunt.  This one let me get pretty close before he bolted.

Yard Life.

We had to drive up to the new house today to make sure the manufacturer tags were still on both sections per federal law. (Who knew?).  As we turned off the pavement, there were a couple of trucks parked on the shoulder looking up at the mountains behind the house.  We stopped and asked what they were looking at.    Ibex was the reply.  They're reguler visitors I guess, so now we have to add a spotting scope to the budget.

As we turned into the driveway, much to our surprise, we jumped the young jackrabbit pictured above.  As it turned out, he was a valuable test subject for the fencing around the yard. I chased him, slowly, with the camera as he pretty much tested the entirety of the perimeter fence, finding no way out, until he worked his way back to the open gate.  If he couldn't find a hole, neither will the dogs!

The vacant  lot next door is home to a covey of Gambel's Quail.  Wildlife is abundant.  Can't wait for our first rattler of the Spring.  Yes I can.

He looks a lot like the Mimbres pottery rabbit, doesn't he?

Happy Birthday Chuck D!

200 years! Seems like only yesterday..

Capitol Dome - Redux

It snowed yesterday.  First time since we arrived this Winter.  Put a dusting on the car and the Express, which was gone two hours later.  The sun came out, and the wind, strong to begin with really picked up.

I looked at the Florida Mountains, still resplendent in their white coat, and channeling Tina Fey said, "I want to go to there".  The clouds were spectacular, the sky was deep blue, and every detail of the mountains, and their most noticeable feature- "Capitol Dome"- stood out in deep relief.  In other words, paradise for a landscape photographer!

So after that buildup, I'm going to show you a Photoshopped "black and white graphic pen" image...

The spectacular color images can be found in the sidebar slide show.  Don't miss the new portrait of our new home!

Peaks In A Blanket.

Did you get the pun?  Awful isn't it?

By the way... just out of the picture to the left is Mountain House.

Weekly Bird of Prey.

Out on the ranchlands for our Sunday running of the hounds with Dutch, we popped this fellow up out of the tall grass. We see a lot of Burrowing Owls when we're hunting, but this is the second time in a couple of weeks we've seen this larger, Long Eared Owl.

We have our new friend, Zac, to thank for the identification. He'd seen them in a nearby field the previous day, and did the research to confirm the i.d. I admit, I did a lot of Googling last night, and initially was beginning to question that it really was a Long Eared Owl, because the habitat described on the various websites just didn't square with where we saw this bird. In the end, I decided it couldn't be anything else, and the "X" of white feathers on the face, just barely visible on the image below, did the trick.

We should have apologized for disturbing its sleep, as this bird is a nocturnal hunter. Sorry.

UPDATE 2/3/09: Heard from Steve Bodio, a man with much knOWLedge on the subject. He says, with about as much certainty as possible, that the above pictured bird is a SHORT Eared Owl. So there you have it. Good thing I hadn't checked anything off on my Life List yet.

A Grand Old Man.

That's my boy, last weekend. The walk turned out to be a little longer than anticipated due to the lack of hares. About 3 miles, in fact, and he was pretty fagged when we got to the car, and the next day, he never got out of bed, except for the daily "walk". Three days later, he was as frisky as ever. What a freak of nature, to be traipsing in the desert, climbing the Express's stairs, and jumping into the bed at an age when... well, he doesn't have a lot of company.

I hope he survives until we move into the Mountain House, so he'll always be with us.