Rio Grande running high
Through a sinuous ditch, life flows
Parched Earth going green
Parched Earth Going Green
Tag: irrigation water
Dawn On The Ditch Bank
I irrigated at dawn this morning.
Creatures in the Moonlight
While walking out to the ditch to turn in the irrigation water at 2:00 am under the Harvest Moon, I saw a critter scurrying my way. Skunks don’t see very well, so it got pretty close to me before it stopped and we had a brief stand off — long enough for me to sweet talk it into letting me get a couple of photos. The skunk wasn’t sure what to think about a giant troll talking to it in the middle of the night — it stomped its front feet and stepped from side to side trying to decide whether to scurry past me, spray me or retreat. It finally decided on a compromise and ran into the tall grass on its right. Fortunately, it turned out to be an uneventful encounter, but I had a difficult time getting a clear shot of the nervous little skunk as the shutter speed was only 1/5 of a second at ƒ/1.4. On the other hand, it was easy to get a clear shot of the spider that had built its web on the irrigation gate. It held perfectly still.
Grapes Gone Wild
The garden got about 3/4 inch of rain over the past few days, and with a good soaking from the irrigation, the grapes have gone wild (along with most of the plants on the property), and climbed into the apple tree, where they are dangling among the apples. I’m sure most self respecting winers would not allow their grapes to mix with their apples, but when we get a little water in our dry climate, grapes (and a whole lot of other stuff) happen!
Arachnids @ 2:00
When I went out at 2:00 am to let in the irrigation water, this spider had built her web on the gate. A smaller male was hanging out off to the side.
Water My World
I went out at 3:30 in the morning to put down the gate and let the irrigation water in. A half moon peaked out between the clouds, providing just enough light to get a photo of the gate in the main canal. The ditches I dug over the weekend worked really well to efficiently distribute the water where I needed it. The water was moving very slowly when I put down the gate, so it took over two hours before it ran over the gate to provide enough pressure to really push the water through through the ditches. I had good water pressure for about an hour before someone upstream took the water, but that was enough time to get almost everything watered thanks to my new ditch system.
iPhone 5 & Snaked by Gray
Laurie and Tristan finally talked me into dumping my dumb phone for a smart iPhone 5. I think the smart ones in this matter are T-mobile and Apple, because the monthly service and the iPhone 5 work out to be 7.5 times higher than the service for my old dumb phone.
When I went out to the ditch late this afternoon to check on irrigation water, I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and when I looked I saw the wild, gray kitty “snaking” me like Stretch used to do when it was time to waterboard him. This kitty hangs around a lot, but I normally only see glimpses of it running away from me. This was the first time it was still and let me talk to it and photograph it for a few minutes before it ran off.
The rest of the photos are of the tulips blooming along the fence on the west side of the house.
Off Center & Not Even 