Nothing to post today but this nice view west of our house around sunset. Click on the image to enlarge.
Environment
Where’s Waldo?
Of all the birds that come around to the feeders, the male cardinal has the poorest camouflage in our Sonoran desert environment. When he does show up, we ask each other, jokingly, “Where’s Waldo?” The goldfinches feeding on Nyjer seed bags in the foreground aren’t much more subtle with their bright yellow breast feathers. Click on the image to enlarge.
Glorious Arizona Sunset
In order to enjoy this glorious Arizona sunset, all I needed to do was to walk out of the patio onto the RV drive where I snapped this colorful photo. Click on the image to enlarge.
More Erosion Control Project
I collected some more rocks from around the lot and placed them along the road to shore up the rocks I placed there on Wednesday. Damsel came out to help also. She took this picture of me working on the project when she brought the dogs out for their run.
I took the panoramic image seen above after the day’s work was complete. I still want to move more of the one-inch red gravel to cover some of the bare spots. Click on the image to enlarge.
Erosion Control Project
About three weeks ago, I posted an item about some erosion along the front of our property. Today, since the temperatures were in the comfortable range of mid-eighties, I started transporting boulders from the back property and placed them along the edge of the path that the runoff takes when we get our summer gully-washers.
I still have a way to go before I will be done. I have some more one-inch red gravel to place on the bare strip on the right end of the area. I also will be transporting more medium-sized boulders to place in front of the ones I brought down today. I also intend to extend the rock wash at the right end a couple of feet to the confluence with the runoff coming down the road.
Click on the image to enlarge.
More Erosion
We had a really heavy downpour last Wednesday night. It looks like I’ll have to shore up the front of the property with big rocks to avoid losing more of the landscape between the RV drive and the west wash. Again, I have plenty of big rocks up in the wash and around the lot, so it’s just a matter of collecting them in the wheelbarrow and burying them along the roadway where the floods wash down.
Damn! I’m supposed to be retired and all this stuff pops up to keep me busy. Ah well, It probably keeps me out of trouble.
Click on the image for the full sized panorama.
Monsoon Evening
We had a pretty good rain shower this afternoon. It quickly came and went without much impact other than raising the humidity in our part of the Sonoran desert to an astounding 65%. Who ever said that Sonoran summers were a DRY heat?
All jesting aside, the rain this summer has brought a badly needed increase to the ground water plane here, regardless of the minor discomfort of a little mugginess. Tonight’s radar weather map indicates a lot of shower activity along the lower Colorado river and north of I-40 in the Kaibab plateau. The Sandia mountains and a lot of new Mexico are also enjoying a rainy evening.
There are a few flash flood warnings in all the heavy rain shower areas.