Delivering the goods. Bringing home the bacon. Making hay.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks
like work.” - Thomas A. Edison
A girl can’t just live high on the hog (first time in three years we’re living somewhere
other than the van) without a little exchange of services. Get your minds out the gutter! We’re talking manual labor people. Alright. Alright. This is not going as planned so, here’s the pictures instead.
Our work truck for the day. Lots of tools and goodies hidden in all of those compartments. Oh yeah, we’re feeling official now.
The task:
Drive out to the end of the wetlands (which are still very dry) right up to the edge
of the V.L.A. (Very Large Arroyo a.k.a. a steep-sided gully cut by running water
in an arid or semiarid region).
Take down this stretch of barbed wire fencing (follow the nearly invisible gray
line from wooden post in foreground toward the railroad tracks).
Get the area cleared out and ready for the new pipe fencing that will go in (in
other words, which you will be assisting in putting in) next week.
Enjoy nature. Watch the Harriers hunting their prey, listen for the songs of the
arriving Sandhill Cranes and have fun! It is a beautiful, fall day in New Mexico.
Lastly, get home before the storm rolls in and prepare for tomorrow -
yet another long day out in the fields (literally)!
Although by this time we have spent several days getting oriented to opening, working and closing the visitor center, this was our first official day working out on the refuge proper. It was a wonderful day and the weather was just perfect. We always appreciate being given the opportunity to work independently out in the field. Although the work wasn’t terribly difficult it did involve some wrangling to avoid blood-loss. Happy to say that we both escaped with only a few minor pokes and a tad bit of dehydration. Yes, we had forgotten that we were back in ‘dry’ country and did not bring enough water. Lesson learned. We now carry at least an extra gallon with us on every outing.
We’ve finally identified this flower as Twinleaf (or Two Leaf) Senna.
As usual... it was all in the leaves!
Stay tuned...next we’ll head out toward Los Pinos Mountains to play in the grass!