It seems spring is in the air already here in the desert.

We've had 2 weeks of temperatures in the mid-to high 80's (around 26-28C) and yesterday it made it to 91(30C) at 5pm!

Birds are singing everywhere and I'm trying to get pictures and identify them but the little buggers just don't want to sit still, do they?

There's a fine line how close you can get to each one and I'm still learning to 'read' them. They'll be singing their little hearts out and let me approach for a little while but than, just when I finally locate them and point the camera, they'll stop and fly away!

But I've got a few for you. Here we go ..

 

First up, same as above, a rock wren. I just love the red cactus thorns! Well, not really, but you know what I mean.

 

Perfect camouflage if you're a Rock Wren!

And here's Mr and Mrs Roadrunner .....

Talking about camouflage ....

....... and a couple of Meadowlarks, I think they're the 'Eastern' variety, because they're quite dark, but it's so hard to tell (and they're back-lit)!

                                               

A whole bunch of White-crowned Sparrows

And 'something' rustling in the reeds .... where? ... there! ... huh? ... quick ... shoot!... there he goes!!

Someones prime real estate ...

These were all taken at the golf course. James went shooting balls and I'm shooting birds these days. 

I've hurt my rotator cuff, I'm afraid it's torn, and can not make a swing anymore. I haven't hit a ball for 2 months now and besides keeping my shoulder 'mobile' by doing some light exercises, I've been babying it.

It's not as painful as it was but I think (and read) that I still have a long ways to go!

In the dead tree next to the rig I spotted these two White-winged Doves, wanting to know, as always,

                                  'who-cooks-for-you'?

And than there's this dog that always looks away as soon as you point the camera? Talking about camera shy indeed.

Ha! Got ye!

 

Sadie and Merlin eating and drinking side by side. They're so cute when they're good ...

 

Merlin waiting for James to come home for lunch. As soon as I set out the plates he's on them. Sort of a 'natural' plate warmer.

(His is the small one in front!)

Sorry, but I did some baking again ;-)

Upside down Pineapple Cake (for the non-Americans here)

See the moon rising on the left there? And James' head/hat on top of the BBQ :-)?

 

It barely cools down in the evening so we're eating outside most of the time. Hard to believe that a few weeks ago we'd wake up to 26F (-3C) and the daytime high was barely 40(5C)!

Having said that (and let me mention also that I changed our sheets from flannel to 'normal') it's probably going to freeze again soon!

Another spectacular winter sunrise

How time flies! Another 2 weeks gone! And February already!
It's not that I'm very busy or that too much is happening that keeps me from writing but I don't seem to get anything 'on paper' these days.

Anywho. Let me try to pick myself up and get something going here.

I try to take a walk (on the wild side) every day and find some nice scenery or wildlife to enjoy.
Not too difficult around here.

These rock formations are right out of my back door and there are some easy hiking trails all around it.

Another trail close by is the Mesa de Anguila trail. 
Too long to hike in it's entirety but easy to follow for a while and cut back or to from the washes around the golf course.

 

                                    

Stone cairns are used at tricky places to mark the trail.

                                                   

 

And although the weather is on the cool side there are still some little flowers like these Many-Flowered Goldeneye:

The birds are very 'flighty' (I guess it's a bird thing), but every now and than I get one or two to sit still enough for a while.

 

Like this Loggerhead Shrike ..

                                                     ..  or these Say's Phoebes

Another short hike behind the campground brought us to this natural arch:

  

The arch, or bridge, is made of red sand stone and is still eroding away. 

It will probably fall down in time.

   

                                                                           

The red of the rock is more vibrant in the evening hours. We were there around midday which washed out the color a little.

View towards Lajitas

There are a lot of small caves in this area and we were warned to be cautious around them since mountain lions are spotted here on a regular base!

James needed some supplies for the Resort (did I mention he's promoted to Maintenance Manager of the Employee Housing!), so we went on a trip to Alpine. It's an hour and a half away and besides a lumber yard it has a decent grocery store, a nice coffee shop, and some other stores as well so we did some more shopping.

And look what I found for $50 at the local Thrift store!

It's an Ashford Table Loom and by the looks of it it has never been used, I think it's brand new!

                         

It conveniently folds up when not in use. Very handy indeed if you live in close quarters!

And here's the kicker ...  when I Googled it after we got home, I found out it's worth .... are you sitting down ... $600!

I knew it was a good find but .. holy smoke!

But why stop there?! Next to it stood this beautiful Louet Spinning Wheel!

                                               

It's an S15 and although discontinued since 2010 it's a great wheel!
One reason I like it is that it has enormous bobbins so they hold a lot, and also thicker, yarn.


                        

Second reason; it has a small 'footprint'. Again, this comes in handy if you're in an RV and have to justify bringing in more 'stuff'!

And third; it's (the only wheel) made in Holland! I just get a kick out of that.

I paid $25 for it and although it is 25 years old (a stamp on the bottom said 06-88) it is still worth about $250 to $300!

Needless to say, I'm a very happy camper!

Sitting outside we often see some horses coming through our backyard. There's a horse trail that passes us by and although the local cowboys use it every now and than, more often it's a guide with a couple of tourists in tow.
It's such a nice way to explore this neighborhood.

To ride into the sunset ...

  

Or by the light of the (full) moon ...  

 Yipee-yi-ay, Yipee-yi-oh, Ghost Riders in ... the sky ......

 

Since we 'got on' Facebook I have a hard time keeping track of whether I showed a picture on the Blog or Facebook or both or not at all.

And so I forgot to show this beautiful picture James shot a while ago from the sunrise. Isn't it gorgeous?!

I've also collected quite a few pictures of just 'ordinary' places around the Resort that haven't found a place here yet, so I'll just fit them into this blog today.

This flag is visible from almost anywhere around here, quite handy when I need to find my bearings on my daily short hikes, where I tend to go 'off road' a lot since there are only so many trails to follow.

I can also see it out of my window in the RV which makes it a handy wind gauge.

After following the Highway coming from Terlingua this is how you come upon Lajitas (population 75, by the way). 

The buildings on the left are from the Resort and just behind this rocky hill is the RV Park.

The name Lajitas is Spanish for "little flat rocks" and refers to the Boquillas flagstone of the area.

 

The stone isn't very hard and chips away naturally from the hills all around here.

Everybody makes good use of this flagstone, they're using it to build all kinds of structures although it's a little too soft to last forever.

This old cemetery is at the corner of the road that brings you to the RV Park.

 

It's still in use and as you can see the dead are even buried under the flagstones!

Now here's for a crazy story; for many years, starting with the 1980 election, the mayor of Lajitas was Clay Henry III, a "Lone Star-lager-loving beer-drinking" goat.

(Lajitas is an unincorporated town where the office of mayor is purely a ceremonial position.). 

(Taxidermied) Clay Henry I at the Terlingua Starlight Theater

After 2 (or 3, or 4?) replacements of the original Clay Henry, who was murdered by his own son, Clay Henry II, in 1992 during a drunken dispute over a dame, and his successor, Clay Henry III who steered away from mayor duties to take on a more mascot role and helping to boost tourism by allowing tourists to feed him beer, the stable where the mayor lived is now closed and the goat no longer resides there.

Word has it that the goat was removed after PETA stepped in, and I think rightfully so, because really, feeding an animal alcohol I think has stopped being funny a long time ago. 
At least, in my book it has.

But what do you think? Some locals have decided it might give the resort a much needed boost in tourism if they'd bring the goat back!
So a search was done and a pregnant nanny goat from the line of the Henry's was found.
After a new stable and corral was build next to the grocery store, Lucy recently moved in and on the 30th of December 2 little male kids were born.

Meet Clay and Claymore!

One of these youngsters is going to be the new mayor, you can pick up a ballot at the grocery store and cast your vote right now.

There will be no beer allowed to be fed to the new mayor but I wonder how they are going to make sure that doesn't happen?

I'm sure a lot of people will think it's 'fun'! We'll see how it'll work out.

Anywho, here's some more pictures from 'around town'. 

At the edge of town, on a hill overlooking the village, there's this little adobe catholic church. 

                                                         

And behind the trading post/golf shop you'll find this rather pretty pond.

Even more visible than the flag of course is the Lajitas Mesa as always in the distance.

There's a lot of different ducks wintering here and I'm going back there sometime soon to try to get some close-ups to identify which ones they are.

Hopefully I'll have a better chance to do so now I finally got me a new camera! Yahoo!
For a while I've been researching the web and watching the ones selling on Ebay and I managed to snatch up this beautiful Nikon Coolpix P510 for a great price!

It has a 42x optical zoom lens!

The P510 is a compact, DSLR-sized ultra zoom that provides the greatest zoom ratio of any camera currently available - 24 to 1000mm (equivalent). A digital camera with a zoom lens that can go from true wide-angle to super telephoto!

I think this camera comes close to the magical "one lens covers it all" zoom that camera and lens manufacturers have been trying to create since the introduction of the world's first zoom lens.

I'm still playing with and getting used to it but so far I like it very much!
Just look at this nice shot of a female Ring Necked Duck: