view

view
Along the Natchez Trace

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Hot, dry, dusty... and very quiet....

It's been very quiet here lately...  the fracking is done and a crew put in the packer.  The tubing is left to be done and we have no idea when that will be done.  So....  it's deader than a doornail here...

Do they Know Something We Don't Know?
 Turkey Vultures...
Just hanging out until something "falls off its perch".

Ugly, huh?
 He knows there's something "good" just a few feet down in the ravine....  
It's so quiet here now that it doesn't take much to entertain me...  but then, hey... I've been wanting to get some photos of some of the scavengers.
 Crested Caracara
Waiting for something to bite the dust...
And dust there is!  It's quite dry and the dirt roads here are kind of a mix between sand and very fine dirt.  It's actually a very pretty shade of red orange...  but it leaves a coating on the rig, the windows...  and inside the rig.  I wash the windows frequently they get so dirty.
The caracara is the national bird of Mexico...  it's another scavenger...  just like the Bald Eagle, our national bird.
Kinda makes a person wonder the significance of these symbols.  Maybe I'll see if Dizzy Dick has wondered about this...

Actually, the reason the vultures and caracaras were hanging around is because a cow "bit the dust" just up the road.  I'll spare y'all a photo of what's left, but, believe me, these guys have done a great job of cleaning things up.

We haven't had the bad weather that northern Texas and Oklahoma has had...
Maybe it's just too hot and the wind just doesn't have the energy to blow...
On Monday, at 4:11 in the afternoon, it was 101 degrees. 
( I finally put my game camera in use...  haven't gotten any good photos yet)
 We've had to run the AC much of the time as we've had several days that the temps got into the 100's. 

While we wish it were a little bit busier here, it's still a great place to be.  Plenty of time to work on Spanish lessons, read, and even get some of those little projects done like cleaning out the bays.
We both take our daily walks...  but tend to go early or late.... being neither mad dogs nor Englishmen we don't venture out during the noonday sun.

We're thinking we might be here a couple more weeks before the job ends....  but...  who knows?

That's All For Today!




10 comments:

  1. They are ugly birds. When we first visited Texas I filled my camera with pictures of them cleaning up road kill. Now when we visit and see them, I hardly take notice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OK, you went and did it!! You got me wondering about the National birds of ours and our neighbors to the south. Why where scavengers selected? Actually I have seen Bald Eagles swooping down and catching fish. That always happens when I have been fishing for hours and never got a nibble. . . They make fishing seem so easy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love to watch the beautiful Turkey Buzzards swooping around, up and down in the winds. Just beautiful and so graceful. I remember the first time I actually saw one up close on the ground eating a dead animal. Whoa! They remind me of a truly ugly person who gets up on the dance floor and is a fabulous dancer - you forget the face and appreciate the grace.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How many kinds of buzzards are there? Being a Buckeye I'm sure you know about the buzzards that come back to Hinkley every year. They're just buzzards. We see them flying high overhead. Buzzards. Now they have first names, too. You're more fun than Google; I'll just wait and learn.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Haaa.... Me and My ... what an analogy ~ an ugly person dancing ... hahaaa

    The Vultures really are very pretty in flight ... what a shock the first time I saw one land ... ew . their mamas think they're beautiful ...

    101 degrees is not good. It's not even June. You're going to die in August.,.. maybe even July.

    I didn't know an Eagle was a scavenger?! I thought they were raptors ... birds of prey. The Eagle represents freedom ... they were considered fierce and independent... seems I remember that from my American HIstory... haha... a looooong time ago ~ wish I'd paid more attention in that class.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, they are ugly and big. We were tooling down the highway in New Mexico and I saw one on the road so I hit the horn. It started to fly and ran right into the front of our motorhome just below the window on the passenger side. It sound like we crashed into a brick wall and I pulled over to see what damage there was. Just a little dent that you could hardly see. Talk about luck, a few inches higher and it would have hit the windshield.

    Now I don't blot the horn at those birds and just slow down and drive around them.

    You present an interesting blog about gate guarding and seem to enjoy it. I would go bonkers just sitting there. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, those lucky buzzards have a whole cow! Things are good in your neck of the woods!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Did you know that people studying turkey vultures use wing tags now instead of leg bands? Seems with leg bands there ended up being a lot of one legged vultures. Their feces got caught in the bands and rotted away their leg! How's that for a bit of trivia?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, take advantage of the slack time for sure! What a great deal. Judy and Emma, that is really an interesting bit of information.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the look of the Mexican Eagles, I'd like to get a shot of one myself. They've been around here, but I only see them high on a pole or in the air. When I don't have a camera on me at that. Whew, 101, too danged hot for me!

    ReplyDelete