Off to the first tee for an 8 o'clock tee time. What a gorgeous  morning!

It's been a beautiful week here in Lajitas. The nights are cool, down to 51 degrees this morning (!), the mornings crisp and the days a little bit less warm than before, into the low 80s.
James has been golfing every day, I'm still having hip problems so I'm taking some time off. Again. First it's my shoulder, now it's my hip. I'm falling apart, and I don't like it!
On top of that I'm just itchy, a bad case of 'hitch-itch', I'd say. Everybody on the blogs is moving to new winter digs and we're not. We're already there. I'm not happy.

 

Oh well, get over it, you say. And you're right. So lets take a walk into the desert shall we, it always helps to get me in a better mood!
It's still as beautiful as ever here, so there! Let's focus on that.

Like these pretty Fall flowers and the way the low morning sun lights up all the different grasses:


                                  

About a gazillion caterpillars of the 'hummingbird moths' (White-lined sphinx moth) that I showed in a previous post, have hatched from the 200 or so tiny eggs each moth produces.
They're hairless but have a "(t)horn" at the posterior end.


 


'When resting, the larva usually holds its legs off the surface and tucks its head underneath, which, resembling the Egyptian Sphinx, gives rise to the name 'sphinx moth'. ..... Right.


They have been dining from their host plants until they reach their full size (and at the same time their brightest green color) climbed down in the soil and soon will make their cocoon and become pupae.
Earlier in the season the moths would have hatched in a few weeks but in the Fall they won't come out until the following spring. 
Pretty clever if you ask me.


                  

This is what they'll turn into

Like I've said before I love watching the 'buzzards'. They're so incredibly gracious in the air and so clumsy on the ground. They love sunning themselves in the morning:

              

These two really cracked me up! I can't help but thinking he's flashing himself!

Waaaaah !

The skies have been so blue the last couple of days. Not a cloud to be seen. This pink Coral Vine growing over a pergola at the resort made such a splashing contrast I had to take a picture of it!

               So pretty, I'm starting to feel pretty good again!

And than there's all the dragonflies,  just look at this beauty:

As far as I found out this is a male Red-mantled Saddlebag

And big swarms of damselflies:

OK. Of course you want to know. How to tell the difference between damsels and dragons?
"Tell me, tell me!!"

Well, dragonflies hold their wings out horizontally and most damselflies position the wings vertically when at rest. 
The bodies of damselflies also tend to be more slender than those of dragonflies, and dragon's heads seem to be 'all eye' where as the damsels have smaller, more defined but bulging, eyes to the side.

There you have it, and aren't you glad you asked? ;-)

Common Blue Damsel flies

Going on all these walks makes hungry! Time to make an all time favorite; oatmeal chocolate (extra dark) chips cookies (with walnuts).

(I always have to laugh when people complain about lack of counter space. Try baking in an RV!)

                                       

I can bake only about 12 cookies on the smaller cookie sheets for my combination convection oven/microwave so I just freeze the rest of the dough and bake fresh cookies when needed.

Which is often. Especially when you have hitch-itch :-)