Pumpkin is mighty big!

This pumpkin is getting ridiculous. Not even starting to get orange yet.

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Blooming ocotillo

Unusual to see blooming ocotillos in September. The hummingbird was not perplexed, though. She stopped for a bite then passed on.

I came up with 5 rules for desert hiking today.

1. Arrive home with no water left. And 90% of your water is for the dogs.
2. When you can't see where you are putting your feet, keep moving. This is the third year of exceptional summer rain, and our grasses are extraordinary. Snakes are always out there.
   
3. Check out all downed cacti. Replant ones that are whole and marvel at the life inside the ones that are rotting.
   
4. Engage all 5 senses. Besides the obvious seeing, feel the temperature changes with the microclimes, the wind, the warmth in the rocks. Hear the wind, insects, the hollow sounds steps make across volcanic rocks. Smell the aromas as different plants come into bloom. Taste the cool water and the grasses you chew on (helps make up for the water you gave the dogs!).
5. Think, or don't. But let your brain go.
   

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In the garage.

There is little as cool in the world as a tarantula.

I have been rescuing them off the road recently, rather like we did out east with turtles, only not quite as cuddly.

Yesterday's had only 7 legs, which still seemed like plenty to me.
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Rains, again

What happens in a good rain year in an arroyo that has been a landing spot for spent pumpkins?

Jake, who loves the big splat, has long tossed old pumpkins off the roof into the arroyo north of the house. Add one good rain year, and watch for the pumpkins!

Rained a lot this morning. Lazy person that I am, Stu and I walked the dogs in the rain and wiped them down rather than give the dirty things a bath. What a deal!

And question of this post: Could this rattler actually have eaten this dove had I not rudely interrupted him?

The rattler chose to do this before people came over, otherwise I would have watched long enough to tell. Seemed like a gracious host thing (for human guests, not herptological guests) to move the rattly snake...

And I had the good fortune to watch a golden eagle over the Black Quartz Mountains today. Magnificent bird.

Green, crawling things, and lot's of 'em

Talavera has been invaded by caterpillars. The ones that don't get smushed will become white-lined sphinx moths. They are everywhere!

They pop under the tires of my bike (gross) -- it is impossible to avoid them but entertaining on the long ride up the hill to try.

From an article in the Sun News: Dr. Carol Sutherland, New Mexico State University Extension Entomologist, said the following.

This is currently a hot topic in southern New Mexico. She explained, "When monsoon started this year, the rains just kept coming at the right intervals. Seed in the soil bank sprouted, providing food for the caterpillars and the little worms had a real buffet. They probably succeeded better than any natural enemies and now, about five to six weeks after hatching, they are ready to move on. The hordes are mature caterpillars leaving their pasture, looking for whatever is right to stimulate pupation. Sometimes the hordes can get so dense that they cross roadways, making them slick as cars squash them."

She identified the caterpillars in this case as "the mature and nearly mature larvae of the white-lined sphinx moth, Hyles lineata."

The larvae have been feeding on native evening primrose plants and related weedy native range plants, doing little permanent damage to the wildflowers or to landscapes and gardens. The adult form of the white-lined sphinx moth is a large dark brown moth with pointed forewings that is often seen at dusk sipping nectar from flowers. These moths are often mistaken for hummingbirds because both are similar in size, both can hover and both are easily heard humming as they visit flowers.

The Sun News had the entertaining little video below about the mothy dudes.

Road-be-gone!

In one of my earliest posts, I wrote about being one of the first cars across the new bridge out to Talavera. The road has been a persistant problem -- it washed out in the rainy season , and no fixes seemed to help.

So in came a bridge! And under flowed the mud! And as the water arose, the road washed away yet again.

The water that flowed over the bridge left mud on the road. And took away some asphalt. The guard rail is just hanging between a couple of the anchors.

Hello, Dolly

Dolly has arrived, fresh off her Atlantic engagement. New Mexico frequently gets the leftovers from hurricanes, often as all-day rains that soak deep down to the seeds that have been waiting for years for wet. This is our third good rain year in a row, and the desert is absolutely verdant. Beautiful!

Dogs and I had a rainy walk, and now the office is permeated with the smell of wet dog. In New Mexico, we rarely get the pleasure of complaining about this smell.

Boys are gone this weekend, so the Q and I went to the movies, bookstore, coffee shop, party and back home last night all in time to take care of the animals before 8. Then backgammon. (She lets me win.)

Biking toll is 4 rides in for the week, 15 for the month. It is irresistable to ride in -- 10 miles and 1000 feet down, and enough to make me not even think about the ride home... Ride home yesterday was 70 minutes. The extra workout was due to a 13 mile headwind from the southeast.

On to Saturday am things: Farmer's Market, grocery store, etc.

What else the rains bring

It is still raining, so we are still getting in the critters. Jake has always loved the critters.

The left critter is a vinegaroon. They look nasty, but their chief defense is to spray vinegar when they feel threatened. So whenthreatened, they spritz a salad.

The dude below is a young gopher snake. He has an older guy who we see most summers who goes by the name of Henry. He is a big boy!

What the rains bring

The rains have arrived. Tuesday we got 1.5" of rain. The arroyo north of the house ran several times, and the roads (Soledad and Black Quartz) are in the usual mess. But the bridge has stopped the road into town from washing out, and I even crossed it a couple times when there was water running beneath.

The boys in the photo met on the driveway yesterday morning and were having words when I relocated their scuffle to the desert. They were even less pleased with me than they were with each other! Other rain-prompted sightings include a couple of snakes, toads, furry red insects, tarantula hawks, and even grasses.

Quincy started a summer science program through NMSU this week that runs until the end of the month. The focus on biology will help her get back into academics (school starts a month from yesterday). We finalized her schedule Wednesday with the help of LCHS's counselor extrordinaire.

Only biked in twice this week. The ride to town is now down to about 40 minutes, and home is under an hour. Put gas in the big car yesterday for the first time in about a month. It is really good to be biking again. How could I have forgotten how sweet it is?