Anna's Hummingbird

After a lot of rain, and I mean ... a LOT ... that turned the desert, as usual, into yucky sticky clay, we're now in the middle of this nationwide arctic cold spell.
We woke up to 34 degrees this morning, well, not inside of course, and gusty winds. It is COLD!!

I hope this hummingbird I shot a couple of days ago has found some shelter somewhere. I was quite surprised how this picture came out with that soft green and reddish light.

There must have been a leaf and/or blossom in the foreground, or something like that, but I just love it! 

All the moisture in the air caused an unusual foggy morning a couple of days ago.

All spiderwebs were nicely outlined due to the heavy dew:

           

 

This swampy meadow turned out to be completely covered in spiderwebs!

And the bell tower of the resort loomed up rather spooky out of the fog:

The mesa behind us was off and on completely invisible and than re-appeared again:

                                

  

Just like last year, the fall rains have brought out the male tarantulas in their quest to find a mate. During this time these nocturnal animals

disregard their own safety, leave their burrows and wander during daylight hours.

They're very visible crossing the fairways on the golf course.

See him? In the lower right corner ...

Like in other spiders, the female tarantula is likely to eat the male after mating so it's probably good the female will lay about 2000! eggs, although most of the offspring will be eaten by predators.
And if he survives he will only live for about 5-10 years where she can live to be 30!
If I didn't hate spiders so much this would almost make them seem interesting, don't they? (.. nah..)

On another 'interesting' note, the Lajitas resort now offers (twice a week) charter jet service flights, besides the private planes that can fly in already:

So now you can now book a complete all-in 'package', hotel, golf and flight, through the big travel sites like Expedia.

(It's easy to be 'International' when you are practically located on the border of course :-)
                



Word has gone out to all Country clubs, who are one of our most important target groups, and apparently there's a big demand for this service since we're booked solid for the coming weeks.

                         

I tell you, this doesn't come cheap! It just amazes me how many people apparently still can afford something like this ..... times are tough ... for some more than for others ...

Fortunately, sunsets are (still) priceless: