An Update: Mornings, Donkeys, Bees, and the Weather

I love these early mornings with shimmering mist on the eastern mountain range and the promise of autumn in the air. After I moved here in September 2006, I walked this road with Angel, Princess, and Bandit. Everything was so new then. Now I walk it with Soldier and Samson and feel like I've lived here all my life.  

I received this email yesterday:

Hi Folks, 
1. Well its the day after the event in Eden Tx. I have not heard if anyone attended to verify that the burro roping event was indeed cancelled. Since the event is over I am ending the petition. 
Thank you all for your support, Di Reese

(I removed the second paragraph about another event.)

While on the subject of donkeys, the rescue next door has now transported all their animals to Texas. The owners have obtained land leases there, where some of the donkeys and wild burros can roam free on thousands of fenced in acres. It's wonderful news for me who wrote the 10,000 Acres story about the old burro who dreamed of just such a life. The rest will live on a ranch in West Texas from what I understand. I will miss their sweet donkey faces and I will really miss the cattle. I became very fond of them and so did the dogs.

What I have plenty of here right now are bees. They love the gray rabbit brush and the air is buzzing with activity around each bush. No wonder these weeds spread so fast and take over every field in sight. I'm still wondering where the wild bees live. Where do they go each day after their hard day's work is done?

When I was in town last week, the sky was almost black with a huge flock (I'm sure it's not called a flock, more like a murder or something weird) of turkey buzzards. Since I was on my way to the doctor, I didn't bring my camera. Now, I will not leave home without it.

I have looked at the sky hoping to see them here, but no luck so far. I imagine birds of prey and vultures find it difficult to hunt in fields of rabbit brush because the bushes are so close together and provide good cover for prey animals. I'm not happy about these bushes choking the fields, but there's nothing I can do, except in my own fields. Where I will do my best to get rid of them. 

The weather is still hot, in the 90s during the day, with cool mornings, around 40 -45 F. It's supposed to get even hotter this week, which is just too much. They have issued heat advisories and fire warnings for the mountain areas. The grass crunches under my feet, it's so dry. I know this is the desert mountains, but still, it usually rains some during the summer. It rained only once this summer and very little rain or snow fell last winter. As always, I count the days to October 15. That's the date I have unscientifically deemed to be the end of summer heat. So far it has worked pretty well, but this is no normal year, so we will see. 

There's one thing that grows well in this dry weather: My wrinkles! They're thriving! I see them better now with my new glasses. Oh, well.............