I was merely trying out the used Nikon macro lens I'd recently purchased. Taking close ups of things around the yard, like the Oleander flowers. It wasn't until I was taking the second shot of this particular bloom that I noticed this Green Lynx Spider patiently waiting for me to move on so it could get back to doing whatever it was it was doing. 
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We always wondered why every property in our "neighborhood", without exception, was either fenced or walled, and gated. Mystery solved. All of the "Deming Ranchettes" are open rangeland.
Before we start to get serious here again, it's time to promote some exciting new "religious themed"* goodies, available from our Cafe Press storefront. You can get there by clicking through the display ad at the top of the page. In addition to the "Family that preys..." sticker shown, (and I would be remiss if I didn't give a hat tip and shout out to Cindy Sisson who suggested it), we also have the new "Prey! at the Church of the Open Field" sticker.
It doesn't end. Even in the weeks' long temps in the upper 90's. Today, or this evening to be more precise, the blooms on one of our two New Mexico Agave decided to open. At least, a couple of them have now, which means food is available for the local critters. I was worried about the hummingbirds. I saw one inspecting a red clothespin the other day. There hasn't been a lot of blooming going on lately.
One amazing thing about this plant, is that center "stalk"... when we left on our 7 week road trip, it wasn't there! It shot up to its current height, which I'd estimate at 18-20 feet in just 50 days. And when it dies, it will do so suddenly, just falling over. Unfortunately the two agaves sit next to where the motor home is parked. Timber-r-r-r!
Spent most of the day being.... what? Independent, I guess. Late this afternoon we went in to the St. Clair Winery, to get refills in our half-gallon "bulk wine" jugs. (One dry white, one dry red). Enjoyed the "jazz" trio playing on the veranda for the "Festival of the Grape" (or whatever they called it), then came home to watch the town's fireworks display from our front porch, several hundred feet above launch site. Next year, I think we'll go in to town to watch.. it was a little bit too far, as this un-cropped image will show..
...I like to be a bit closer than 8 miles, or however far away this is. I've loaded several more (cropped) fireworks images to the slide show on the sidebar. 
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.
Most mornings, when Sandia demands to be let out at 6AM, I get really cranky, and ignore the barking as best I can. But there are advantages to getting up so early in the morning... for instance, we would have missed this amazing rainbow over the Floridas had we slept in just another 30 minutes!
The other day while we were shopping at Pepper's Supermarket (a very popular store not effected whatsoever by the existence of the Supercenter in town), it occurred to me that if we were going to be long-term residents of New Mexico, it was time to reduce our dependence on canned green chiles, and get ourselves some fresh. Alas, the peppers from uh, Pepper's, are not New Mexico peppers from Hatch, NM, but are a product of Mexico. New Mexico grows twice as many green chiles, (similar to Anaheim, or Big Jim chiles), as the next biggest grower, California.
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.
That's right. Why should we be any different from everybody else. Just in time, too, as the skies opened up yet again right after we got it back on terra firma.
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.
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.
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.
Tarantula Hawk. Check it out, this is one big wasp. The body is about 2" long. Click the link for the scientific stuff.
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.
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.
Wilsons Warbler. A bird that looks like it bought a bad toupee.
All through its history, there has never been a shortage of characters in baseball. In 1976, there was no bigger character than the Detroit Tigers Mark "the Bird" Fidrych.
