Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Pecos, Texas...

West Texas is a desert type environment, not many trees, lots of wind and dust.  It never rains to clear the air and the temperatures are sometimes harsh.  Here in Pecos during the final days of March, temperatures reached 104 degrees.  My husband has been assigned here for the past three months and during this time I have tried to find something redeeming about the place.  The people are friendly so that's a plus.  Shopping is challenging and there are no Starbucks.  A few weeks back we began our container gardening and except for having to move the plants out of the hot sun and wind I noticed that the plants were doing great. It's the 5th of April and I already have five tomatoes on the vine about the size of my palm.  There is a small tree outside our window and I decided to put up a bird seed bell and hummingbird feeder, never expecting to see any birds.  Well, I was wrong.  Not only did the hummingbirds come, but also a small red-breasted song bird, sparrows, doves and this morning I even had a Cardinal on the feeder.

During a walk, not far from where we are living, are these little owls.  They live in a burrow underground.  I apologize for the photo not being clearer, but they were skitterish and would not allow me to get too close.  This is taken with a telephoto lense at about sunset.



At a nearby park we found these Texas Longhorns.  They were not very interested in us.  Their horns do not seem to be as long and they are definitely not as skinny as their ancestors, but they do give you the idea of what the original cattle of Texas looked like.  They are behind tall double chainlink enclosures so the blurry crosses you see in the photos are from the fence.

3 comments:

  1. I like he desert(any desert) and the stories about it. This one in Pecos Texas is within civilization, so whoever lives here has the advantages of both worlds.

    I'm glad of your success with the plants and the hummingbird feeder. The Longhorns' pictures are just great! Have a wonderful stay in Pecos!

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  2. Oh, Duta, you do have a way of bringing life into perspective! As I read your post, I began thinking that I came into a desert area and here I am trying to change it. It's too late to stop with my plants and I couldn't stop feeding the critters at this time, but perhaps the next location I find myself in I will try to adjust myself to fit it. After all, it's the diversities in life that make it interesting. Thank you.

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  3. I did not know that owls could live underground. That's really neat! Owls are so cool looking. :)

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