Swallows in the Backyard

I'm not an expert on birds -- not by any stretch of the imagination. But I can recognize basic species on sight, and I can recognize a number of calls, such as those made by cardinals or doves. But when it gets to the particulars of a species, I'm not much use.

Lately, we've had a pair of swallows hanging around our backyard. They've pretty much made themselves at home. We had to take down our wind chime because they had begun sitting there and leaving their droppings on our patio.

As a rule, I'm a big fan of swallows. I enjoy watching their aerial acrobatics as they dive and swoop, snatching insects from the air. Many gardeners erect multi-holed bird condominiums on unusually tall poles to attract these beneficial birds, knowing that the little insectivores will eat many of the pests that can decimate a garden. Our little birds will sweep through our patio, up under the eave and then back out again. They are truly graceful little birds.

Growing up, I often heard folks refer to "martins", or even "purple martins". In fact, I've usually heard this term more than I have the term "swallow". Actually, I believe the martin is a sub-species of swallow. I'm not sure that the birds in my yard are martins; if not, I'm not sure what their precise species is. The purple martin, I think, has a rich blue tint to it, and I don't see that on the pair of swallows visiting my yard.

My swallows are interesting little creatures, and they don't scare easily. I can usually go about my business in the yard without their flying away unless I get within 10 feet of them. Even then, they usually return quickly and take up their positions again. They like to perch on my neighbor's rain gutter and face our patio. I guess they are trying to figure out what happened to their wind chime.

Profile of our frequent guests.

Front view of our little friends.

Donna set out her hummingbird feeders a couple of weeks ago. We've only seen 1 or 2 hummingbirds visiting, but we do get a number of other birds that like to visit these feeders, though, especially finches. We've even had a couple of doves perch atop the poles that hold the hummingbird feeders.

Hike Report: Looping to Cougar Outlook

My brother Larry and his wife Nancy are visiting. Yesterday we did a 6+ mile loop hike at San Angelo State park.

It was still a bit cool, perhaps in the upper 60s, when we started our hike at 9:00 AM from Pulliam Ridge in the southern section of San Angelo State Park. We would follow a route very close to one I reported in "San Angelo SP: January 20, 2012" more than 2 years ago.

After descending Pulliam Ridge on the old paved road on the southwest side of the hill, we cut through the Potts Creek area on an old trail not marked on the trail map developed by Rick Ogan more than 3 years ago and available for a small fee at the park office. To my knowledge, it is the best map of the hiking trails of the park. However, if you use Google Earth and zoom in, the trails will appear, complete with names.

Again, the trail we used to cut across Potts Creek to Antelope Ridge is not on the map, but veers off the Potts Creek Trail near the old corral area at the base of Pulliam Ridge.

Once atop Antelope Ridge, we cut through the old day use area with its eroding picnic tables and old restroom. We picked up the old paved road and followed it almost due south to near its intersection with FM 2288. Just before reaching the park boundary, we turned due north on another old park road, which took us past a cutoff to Bell's Point.

About half a mile past the Bell's Point turnoff, we came to a rest area and took a brief break.

Nancy, Larry, and Donna at the rest area. Note the bike rack, water fountain, water trough, and hitching rack, all to the right of Donna. There are numerous such places along the trails, making this park a good place for equestrians and bikers as well as hikers.

After a short break, we took the River Bend Trail for the next mile or so. At the second intersection with a park road, we turned north and headed to Cougar Outlook, our destination for the day.

Larry (left) and I along the River Bend Trail on our way to Cougar Outlook. Larry prefers shorts, but in country like this where you have so many thorny plants, not to mention rattlesnakes, Donna and I prefer long pants, even on hot days. Larry also likes a big Teddy Roosevelt stick. Donna and I prefer the lighter, telescoping aluminum hiking poles.

Cougar Outlook, taken from the River Bend Trail.

We stopped at Cougar Outlook for about 15 minutes to rest and snack on summer sausage, crackers, and cheese. From the outlook, you can see the North Concho River to the north. I was glad to see some water still in it, for this country is really dry now, having received only a third of an inch of rain in the last 4 months. At that rate, we'll get a mere 1 inch in a year's time. That's not good.

Nancy and Larry enjoying the shade at Cougar Outlook. Hitching rack for horses in the foreground.

North Concho River. The river bends and flows right from here. I was surprised at the amount of water in the river. Compare it to the picture below taken more than 2 years ago, when rain was more plentiful and we were not as far into the drought.

The Concho River, taken from near the same spot as above but on January 20, 2012. Since this photo was taken in the dead of winter, trees do not have green leaves.

From Cougar Outlook, we took the Flintstone Trail so that Larry and Nancy could see the table and chairs that give the trail its name. (See previous hike report for pictures). We then picked up the main trail from the Burkett Trail Head (South Park) to the Bell Trail Head (North Park) for the most direct route back to Pulliam Ridge. We did pass through a herd of Longhorns on our way. They were gathered around a watering trough near an old restroom.

Longhorns we encountered on our return trip. Note the little calf right-center. Silver water trough is behind herd.

Donna and the longhorns.

This was a good hike for a group of worn out old folks. There were very few up and down sections, and most of the hike was on a road or double track trail. Weather was good, though it was beginning to get hot at the end of the hike. We saw one bike rider along Antelope Ridge and another on the River Bend Trail. Otherwise, we had the trails to ourselves. There was quite a bit of road noise from FM 2288 anytime we drew near that highway (first half of hike). Otherwise, it was a peaceful hike.

Movie Review: Non-Stop

Donna and I went to see Non-Stop yesterday (Saturday), the action thriller starring Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore. We had planned to watch the movie when it first appeared here 2 or 3 weeks ago, but never got around to it. It worked out well, though, for yesterday we had the entire theater to ourselves except for one other couple. I guess everyone else saw it the first week or so it was in town.

Neeson plays Bill Marks, a U.S. federal air marshall with numerous personal demons he's dealing with. On a flight from New York to London, he receives a text from an unknown individual that a person will die on the plane every 20 minutes unless $150 million is wired to an account.

The action, like the flight, is non-stop. There are numerous twists in the plot, and I was never able to guess the perpetrator until the end. Fragments from Marks' personal life are revealed as the story develops. It's an entertaining movie, and should hold the interest of most viewers.

Pot Calling the Kettle Black

The new GM CEO, Mary Barra, is being grilled by a congressional committee regarding allegations that certain models of GM products were faulty and that GM was negligent in responding to the need to make necessary repairs.

GM should be taken to task. The problem existed for a decade with no real attempt to act responsibly. As a result, 13 people died. I'm not a big GM fan anyway as they are one of the two American auto companies that took stimulus money. In GM's defense, they have repaid this stimulus money, including interest, but for them to find themselves in a position where they needed such money bothers me. It smacks of mismanagement.

I do not know when Ms. Barra learned of the problems she is currently answering for. She's only been the CEO for 3 months, so she certainly wasn't in the driver's seat when all of these events were happening. But she's the CEO now, so the congressional committee is beating her up. Someone has to take the heat. And the lady is showing her ability to weather the storm. It will be interesting to see how she leads GM in the days to come.

But I find it a bit ludicrous that a congressional committee is taking GM to task.

I watch these congressional committees sit in judgement on all sorts of matters. Our elected representatives love to sit in their high-dollar chairs and peer down on those they are questioning. They can be -- and often are -- haughty in their manner, and they are quick to assign blame.

Don't you just love it when members of the most dysfunctional group of people in our country tell others what they are doing wrong? I'd love to form a committee to grill Congress on all of their faults and shortcomings and failures. The problem is, I only expect to live another 20 years, so that would not be enough time for me to even get started telling those hypocrites what they are doing wrong.

Recycling Water

Donna and I attended the annual home and garden show at Foster Coliseum last weekend. Lots of vendors were there showing their goods. I saw a nice green house, for example.

One vendor that really interested us was Morrow Water Savers out of nearby Ballinger, Texas. This company manufactures Irrigray, a gray water recycling system. This system collects gray water from a home, filters it, then disperses it into a yard using a system of sub surface dripperlines.

Gray water is water collected from showers, sinks, dishwasher, and clothes washer in a home. The water is directed to a filtering system. To take advantage of this, a house must be prepped so that gray water is separate from black water (toilet systems). In a pier and beam house, this can be fairly easily re-figured, but in a slab home such as hours, it really isn't financially or structurally practical. But should we ever build another home, we will certainly look into such a system. And we'll certainly look at other manufacturers as well.

In the Irrigray system, water is not stored. Once 5 gallons is collected, it is dispersed to the dripperlines. Consider how much water you use in your home each day for bathing, washing your hands, washing dishes, and washing clothes. There is enough water here to keep your yard healthy and green.

I'm not aware of what the downsides to such a system might be, but I'll be looking into that. I know that we used to be big fans of wind turbines until we watched a documentary that showed some of the negative effects of wind farms. So, I'm open to the idea that recycling gray water may have negative sides as well.

The important thing, though, is that all of us look for creative solutions to our water problems, and we need to focus on solutions that are good for the environment.

A Walk along Spring Creek

Donna and I did not go on a hike on the first day of spring (see my last blog entry) but we did go for a walk along Spring Creek.

Spring Creek Park is a San Angelo city park on Lake Nasworthy just off Knickerbocker Road. Lake Nasworthy is formed by the Middle Concho River, the South Concho River, and Spring Creek. Donna and I parked our car in an area known as Horseshoe Bend and then spent the next hour walking along the creek.

We drive through Spring Creek Park several times a year. We always see wildlife out there, especially deer and wild turkey. We were not disappointed on our latest trip. A herd of 8 or so deer were grazing along the road near the entrance to the park. They continued to graze as we passed, unafraid of humans in this park setting. We also saw a turkey in the park, as well as numerous squirrels, several ducks, a heron, and even a woodpecker. I hoped to get a photo of one of the many black squirrels in the park, but was unable to get close enough to get a clear shot. There are quite a few that make the area their home.

The lake is now showing the effects of the ongoing drought. Lake Nasworthy is normally a constant level lake. Just to the west of the lake is a long dam that forms Twin Buttes Reservoir, which is also fed by the South Concho, the Middle Concho, and Spring Creek as well as Dove Creek. In normal circumstances, water from Twin Buttes is released to keep Lake Nasworthy at a constant level. However, Twin Buttes is now dry, as is O.C. Fisher, so there is no more water to release into Lake Nasworthy, which is now about 2 feet below normal. Two feet may not sound like much, but Nasworthy is a shallow lake -- and a small one -- so two feet is substantial.

Below are some pictures I took while we were on our walk.

Spring Creek, looking upstream. Pecan and other trees line the bank.

Water line shows the lower level of the creek. That is a grape orchard in the background.

Spring Creek with Twin Buttes dam in the background.

Normally most of this is underwater. This is a bend in the creek.

Spring Creek near its junction with the Middle Concho River. You can see the Twin Buttes in the background. To be honest, the terms Twin Buttes and Twin Mountains are both used in the area, and I really am not sure if they refer to the same things or not.

Hello, Spring

Today is the first day of Spring, and I'm ready for it. Maybe Donna and I will go for a hike to celebrate.

This has been an unusual winter. The temperatures have been all over the chart. One day, it will be a warm day, in the 70s. Then we'll have a cold spell, with 3 or so days of temps below freezing. Now, weather in the Concho Valley -- the name given to our general neck of the universe -- is known to be subject to sudden ups and downs, but it seems to me that it has been more pronounced this year. And we've had quite a few days with temps in the teens, which is rather unusual for us.

To make matters worse, we've had virtually no rain since early December. For the year 2014 thus far, we've had only .08 inch; that's less than a tenth of a single inch. We normally don't get much rain in winter, but we should have had a couple of inches or more by now. We are very dry for this time of year. Wild fires will be a concern as warmer temps settle in and the countryside dries out even more.

But what Donna and I have noticed the most is the wind. Now, West Texas is known for its wind. Donna and I first moved to West Texas in the late 1970s to a small town (Olton) northwest of Lubbock. We had our first taste of West Texas wind in that farming area, and we sat through some really interesting dust storms. Since then, we've lived in several others parts of West Texas, so we thought we knew the West Texas wind. But the wind we are experiencing now seems to be different. It never seems to end. Even at night, the wind blows. I'll wake at 3:00 in the morning only to hear the wind buffeting the house. When we rise in the morning, the wind is blowing. Traditionally, I seem to remember the wind dying down at night and not really revving up until afternoon. Not any more. And this wind, of course, just dries out the land more and helps the lakes evaporate at a faster rate.

We drove Courtney and Camden home this past Sunday, and the wind was out of the north. As we drove towards Courtney's home, we were heading northwest, almost directly into the wind. My new little Toyota Camry with its sleek design and low-to-the-ground profile normally gets about 35 miles per gallon on the highway. On this day, I got only 26 miles per gallon. That's a strong wind.

Oh well, I'm sure the wind will stop blowing one day and the heavy rains will fall.