Just So Yule Know . . .

SEASON'S GREETINGS!!!
My last blog entry, especially the part about my return to the booth, got me the same basic question over and over again: "So, is that all you do at work -- sit back and relax?" The answer is no, it's not; at 9:00 in the morning, it just works out that way sometimes. Just so you'll know (see how clever that was?), here's what it looks like a lot of the time, especially during this busy Christmas season. [This photo was taken on my co-worker Cindy's workday, not mine. Just so you'll know.]


And for those who inquired about what my view looks like while not thusly engaged, here's the same shot (roughly) taken without all the vehicles. Not too shabby, huh?


Okay, enough said on that little matter. Let's move on and catch you all up on what's been going on around here the past month. One of the most exciting things was my friend Alexa Walker's debut appearance at Alpine's Artwalk/Gallery Night last month. She was invited to show her spectacular photographs at the historic and beautiful Holland Hotel.


As you can see, the venue left a little to be desired from an actual space standpoint, but it just got you all the more involved with the work, as if you were actually there. I'll tell you, I've always been a big fan of her work -- having viewed it on her website on more than one occasion (http://3heartsranch.com/) -- but it is truly remarkable stuff when you get to view it first-hand. Here's a shot of her standing next to one of her finest creations, The Guardian, in its handmade cedar frame she had commissioned just for it.


I was so excited about seeing her work, some of which I was personally responsible for, I just had to go back to the Hallie Stillwell Hall of Fame here at Stillwell's RV Park and re-shoot a stand of old boots they have there. They did some cleaning on the window used to light this shot, so it wasn't that nice diffused light as before, but you just can't beat the character of these boots. Are these fun, or what?


Another exciting event of the past month was to go to Terlingua and have Thanksgiving dinner with my friends Jennifer and Romaldo, and to meet their new dog, Chewy, a rather energetic red blue heeler. This little guy's a true nut and very personable, as you can well imagine from this shot here, taken during a game of fetch. It almost looks like a studio shot, doesn't it? He's a hoot, if ever there was one.


In my last post, we played the "Who Can See It?" game with the Sleeping Indian Prince, which most of you did well on. In that regard, here's another object that can be found on the way back from Alpine, and one I always look forward to seeing -- Dead Dino Rock.


It just looks like a dead Brontosaurus (or Apatosaurus, as they call it now) lying up on top of that hill, doesn't it? Sure it does! Hmm. Okay, how about this one -- The Electric Chicken -- which I see every workday on my walk from the Visitor Center to the booth at Persimmon Gap, so named because it looks like a chicken who stuck its beak in an electrical socket.


Okay, maybe that one was a stretch, but you've got to give me the dinosaur, okay? Yeah, let's move on, shall we? Now, for all you folks in the northeast (especially any of you from Virginia), this next shot may not seem like much, but for those of us out here in the desert, it's a true miracle. We actually got snow! It wasn't much, mind you (maybe a 1/2 inch), and it didn't last long at all (it was gone by noon), but just the event itself transformed our day and set the tone for the holidays, culminating in a crock pot full of homemade beef stew. This shot was taken as I sat on the doorstep of my trailer.


Another thing that set the tone for the holidays -- at least for mine, anyway -- was the arrival of a red cellophane wreath from my sister, Lyn, the same as the one my grandparents used to put in the living room window and we would look for from across the pasture on our way into town. I put mine in my own living room window so I can see it as I drive in from work each day. For us grandkids of Beanie and Stella Moore, there's nothing that says home for the holidays like this sight. Here's what it looks like from the entrance.


And so, with that I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. May all your wishes come true, and may all your Christmases be white. (You folks in Virginia won't have a problem with that last one.) Happy Holidays!!!

From my home to yours -- Merry Christmas!

Out And About

AUTUMN IN THE CHISOS
Greetings once again, folks. Well, it's finally turning autumn out here, not that you'd notice it much unless you were up in the mountains where we keep all the real trees, like these. I don't know what kind of tree this is, but its leaves are very small, about the size of a postage stamp. Still, color is color, and I'll take all of it I can get. It's certainly not the spectacular show up in Maine I'm so used to, but it'll have to do. Funny, but without my seasonal sojourns, I really have no idea what season it is anymore -- sort of like looking at a digital watch and having to visualize an analog one to "see" the time (which is why I don't own any digital watches or clocks). I'm just funny that way. Anyway, time to move along and catch y'all up on what's going on out here in West Texas.

BACK IN THE BOOTH
Of course, what really says autumn to me is being back in my beloved booth (a.k.a. "The Box"), sitting in my high chair and watching faithfully for the onslaught of humanity roaring in to visit the park. And I do mean "roaring", too, as I almost got my head taken off the other day by a pair of Rio Grande Electric maintenance vehicles entering the park in a full 45mph run with no intention of stopping. I completely missed the first one -- or, rather, he barely missed me -- but I wildly gesticulated to the second one to slow the Hell down, which they did. They stopped the next time in.

OH, YEAH!
But, all close calls aside, I'm still much happier to be out here in my little booth in the desert than in the Visitor Center, where the vast hordes of humanity can descend upon you without notice. I just like the peace and quiet of my own space, where I can gaze at the awesome view through my own picture window to reflect on life and all it's various permutations. And, no, I don't get bored. I can read if I wish (picture books are better, though, as you really don't have time to immerse yourself in a novel) or work on the computer (don't count on whipping anything out quickly or doing much surfing, as it's incredibly s-l-o-w) or gaze around me with my binocuclars at the various birds and other wildlife in the area. The park being on the migratory flyway the way it is insures there is no shortage of avian subjects to keep an eye out for and identify. Oh, yeah. The booth is good.

SNOUT BUTTERFLY
And here we have some of the other wildlife I was speaking of, the Snout Butterfly (Libytheana carinenta mexicana), a relative newcomer to the area, at least as far as I can discern. In all the years I've been coming here, I don't recall ever seeing one of these curious little creatures, but we have them in swarms around here right now. There were seven in the booth at one time the other day and I had to use my Catch-and-Release Unit (the clear glass turned upside down to my right in the preceding photo) to capture and release these little guys, at which point, of course, they merely flew back in after a bit. Might've been the same ones, I don't know. The Snout Butterfly's prominent "snout" is actually formed by its elongated mouthparts, scientifically called labial palpi. As I found out in my research, these little guys can be found in both North and South America, and the massive migrations of this species often attract attention in the Texas and Mexican newspapers. I never knew that. See how good the booth is? And educational, too.

BABY AGAVE
Another added benefit to the reopening of the booth is the concept of the Special Project Day, of which most of you are well aware. For the benefit of the newcomers to this blog -- and to life as a Visitor Use Assistant -- alternate Thursdays in our workweek are spent working on special projects, counting money with our boss, or out on hikes on popular trails, called "roving," where we make contact with visitors and answer questions and otherwise keep them entertained with stories concerning park history and discussing the various aspects of the mythology of this wonderful land. On my first Special Project Day, I was unable to find my boss for money-counting and, as I had no specific special project to work on, I hit the Lost Mine Trail for the first time this season. Upon reaching one of the switchbacks in the trail, I came across this baby agave catching some morning sun. I have a special fondness for these little guys, probably stemming from the huge example that once dwelled on the west side of my grandparents' house in Central Texas.

PINE CANYON VISTA
And what this trail is noted for is its staggering vistas along the way and at the end, most notably the view down Pine Canyon toward Mexico, barely discernable here due to the rather heavy haze this morning. Still, any vista is a good vista, I always say -- except maybe for that one back in Acadia with the Jackson Lab stuck squarely in it. This is the view at the one-mile point, at marker post 10 along this self-guided trail. At this point I took off down a side trail that supposedly leads up to the top of Casa Grande, one of the most prominent features here in the Chisos Mountains. For even a seasoned trail worker, that little side trail was somewhat of a challenge, and I eventually just sat down and took a break and watched the view to make sure it didn't get away. That is one nasty little trail, let me tell you.

CASA GRANDE LOOMING
Due to this blog entry taking on a life of its own and growing larger by the minute, I hadn't planned on including a shot of Casa Grande, but since I mentioned it, I figured I'd better. Here we see it doing what it does best, according to the self-tour brochure -- looming. This was taken from the side trail, at the point where I stopped to eat my peanuts.

PAINTED HILLSIDE 1
My reverie was interrupted by the hooting and hollering of a large pack of yammerheads heading up the trail, so I decided that I would sit still for a while until they proceeded past the viewpoint and, after chatting for about a half-hour with a batch of folks there, I called off the rest of the hike and took off to see what was happening in the Rio Grande Village area. Just as you cross over the long, curved Tornillo Creek bridge, you see this dazzlingly pretty rock strata just to the left of the road. There was a nice pull-out on either side of the road (apparently, the park figured it was a nice place to stop), so pull off I did and got out to capture this beautiful formation at last.

PAINTED HILLSIDE 2
Okay, even though this blog is getting a little long-winded, I just felt you should get the full treatment. After capturing the hillside in a documentary style, I moved in -- or zoomed in -- for a closer look, attempting to render it in somewhat of a "color field" style, somewhere between Mark Rothko and Georgia O'Keefe. Of course, this isn't nearly as abstract as either of those artists' work, but I could take it and play with it later. The possibility is here.

PAINTED HILLSIDE 3
Then, as I was pulling away, I found the view I was looking for, with these great, deep shadows between the "toes" of the hillside and it's colors. Oh, yes. This will do nicely. Photoshop, here I come!

SIERRA DEL CARMEN
One of the things that most likely cause a lot of wrecks (not really) upon nearing Rio Grande Village is the stunning vista of the Sierra del Carmen Mountains of our friends across the water, Mexico. I've seen these mountains in all kinds of light, but never in light so clear. On my first visit to the park on a photo workshop in 1986, our instructor asked us to pick out the Sleeping Indian Prince in the formation, which of course I did right away, having had practice in such things from an early age. Can you see him? Click on the photo to enlarge.

SLEEPING INDIAN PRINCE REVEALED
A lot of the other people had picked the formation to the right for the prince's nose, for some reason, but I could see the prince right away, and I can't not see him to this day. (That's one of my favorite misuses of grammar, if in fact it is a misuse.) I'll have to add a cropped shot of the prince to my "What Do You See?" file of observations from the natural world.

BOQUILLAS GOODS
Moving on to do a hike into Boquillas Canyon (bad idea; hot day), we come across what is one of the sorest points to life here in Big Bend -- the closure of the border thanks to the 9/11 attacks. Due to that closure, the poor folks over in the little village of Boquillas, Mexico, who relied so heavily on our trade to make a living, now illegally cross over and set up these wares stands in the hopes that some unknowing visitor will drop their money in the jar for a sotol stalk hiking stick or wire sculpture. We at the park discourage any such activity -- and there is a pretty stiff fine for doing so, along with confiscation of the article -- but I can't help but feel for the artisans whose livelihood was taken away in such a drastic knee-jerk response to a situation they had nothing at all to do with. And such nice work, too. You can buy these very same articles in the Chisos Mountain Lodge gift shop, due to a trade agreement worked out with a woman from Marathon, but be sure to keep your receipt.

RIO GRANDE VISTA
And so, with a view over the river of our neighbors a country away, I say Adios, amigos for now. I hope to see you all somewhere on down the trail. As always, thanks for tuning in.

Catchin' Up

Well, howdy everyone! I'll bet you thought I'd up and disappeared off into the desert, or something like that. No, I've just been too busy being lazy to sit down and tell you about it. There have been some exciting things going on, though, and this was one of them -- an aerial photo shoot of a Beechcraft T-34A Mentor decked out in the color scheme of the USAF Thunderbirds. Pretty cool, huh? Oh, yeah!

Of course, not everything in life is so action-packed as an aerial photo shoot, nor should it be. Sometimes, it can be as quiet and simple as enjoying the effect of a desert full moon cascading upon your trailer home during one of our frequent blackouts in this area, as in this shot here. (Interior illumination courtesy of oil lantern and candles.) I was amazed at how much light was outside, considering it was around 4:30 in the morning when I took this shot. It was so dark, the autofocus in my camera had a hard time finding its target, but I managed a couple of nice shots from it.

While we're on the subject of moons (or just "the moon" I suppose), here's a shot I just couldn't pass up while opening the Visitor Center one morning. There was just something so captivating about the clouds moving around the moon, I just had to have it.

Then one day on the way back from my grocery run in Alpine, I decided I just couldn't stand it anymore and had to trek out the five miles south of Marathon to see what The Post everybody talks about was all about. (Fort Peña Colorado is its real name; an old Buffalo Soldier camp.) I was expecting a fort of some sort, but none was to be had, I'm afraid. What we have now is a huge picnic area, perfect for a family outing or a social event. I just missed a cabrito (goat) cook-off here, due to my chronic forgetfulness that seems to get worse as time goes on. Don't get me started on that subject!

And here we have the El Quack-o Greeting Committee, three white ducks that greeted me and followed me around the place almost the whole time I was here. I'd forgotten how funny ducks can be in their simpleminded hunt for a handout. They were great company.

And while I was down at this end of the park, I thought I'd take a shot looking back toward the parking lot. It's really a nice place to bring the kiddos for a romp in the outdoors, or to just bring yourself when you want to get away from life in the big city -- Marathon (pop. 455).

Then, on the way out, I came across these two horses who seemed posed for a photo, so I backed up and gave them a shot or two. They never ventured far from each other the whole time I clicked away.

As I said, they were pretty close, so here's a somewhat normal shot for the series. Horses are funny critters, too.

And for the last shot of the series, we have our two equine subjects posing as a Pushmi-pullyu from Dr Doolittle. Not a bad job of it, either, I might say.

And now, for something a little more graphic in nature, we have this morning light show I caught while dressing for a little hike up the Persimmon Gap Draw Trail. What we're seeing here are the shadows of my bedroom's miniblinds caused by the reflection of the morning sun bouncing off Pepe's hood criss-crossed by the rays of the sun coming in through the blinds. Quite fascinating, I thought.

But soon it was time to get down to business, which for today was a hike up the Persimmon Gap Draw Trail, which I've never done the whole time I've worked here. I'd gotten a report of excessive amounts of thorny things along the draw that turned back a couple wearing shorts, so I decided it was time to put on my Trail Crew hat again and have a look for myself. Armed with a pair of hand pruners and a folding saw, I hit the dusty draw in search of the offending plantlife. Before heading out, I rebuilt the cairn seen here under the little creosote bush, marking the trailhead. The said offending plantlife would turn out to be none other than our old friend, the catclaw (acacia greggii), the bush you see just beyond the creosote bush.

And here we have a close-up of this nastiest of nasty bushes, whose common name "catclaw" is very well-deserved, I think. Its thorns look exactly like catclaws and are every bit as sharp, too. I once had one rip my favorite shirt to shreds, with three long gashes diagonally across the back. It looked like something out of Jurassic Park when it was all done. Luckily for me, none of the thorns achieved skin. I wouldn't be so lucky on this little outing.

Well, I got so wrapped up in my endeavor (literally!), I never thought to include before-and-after photos of my work, not even of the catclaw bush completely traversing the trail. That would've been perfect. At any rate, we're finally here at the pouroff, which incidentally, is not the end of the trail. Apparently I missed a turn just back down the trail, which was poorly marked. It looks like a return trip is in order. Anyway, this was the end of the trail for me this time around, and a welcome end for this outing. All the shade was very nice, but the flies finally drove me out after a while. They seemed quite interested in all the fresh cuts along my arms and wouldn't go away no matter how much I swatted.

And there was a pretty nice view from here, too, although I've heard the view from above is much better. Oh, well. This one would have to do for today; I'll get to the other one on my next trip. I did -- and suffered -- enough damage for one day. The long, white thing you see off in the distance are the new apartments at Persimmon Gap, or will be if they ever get finished. (You can click on the picture for a larger view.)

Just so you'll know what to expect if and when you go up against acacia greggii, here's a testament to its effectiveness. Next time I'm bringing loppers to keep from having to reach so far into the bush to get at it. They would've been a big help, believe me.

And so, to end on a more soothing note, here's a shot I took the following day on my way to work I call "Twister Moon." Unfortunately, I had someone behind me when I first saw this phenomenon and couldn't pull over right away, so the moon is a little off-center, but the effect is still there. It's amazing the things you see sometimes.

So, dear friends, I guess that's just about all for this time around. Thanks for stopping in.

Four Bugs and a Mockingbird

Hello again, folks, and welcome to another edition of Doug Duncan, Amateur Entymologist. I've had such fun lately taking photographs of our wee winged friends, I've decided to post a few more just for fun. Here's another variety of a past subject of mine -- the Chinch Bug. I found this little guy on the Window Trail a few weeks back, and he seems a bit perturbed at my photographic persistence. I don't know if his abdomen is capable of spraying or not, or if it's just the least tasty part of his body, but he's certainly got it up for me.

Well, it would seem that he's either decided that my presence is okay, or else he's just finally given up trying to scare me off. Now he's just trying to get away as fast as he can, but he didn't reckon with Doug Duncan, AE.

Another denizen of the park I ran across at work one day is the beautifully-colored Lubber Grasshopper, seen here in its early phase before it grow its wings. This guy was very shy and wouldn't hold still for a photo, but I didn't let that stop me.

Here's a more recent photo of a Lubber, taken just a few days ago on my way to Panther Junction. I'd seen about a hundred of these dark objects slowly crawling across the road on some mad suicide mission (I was dodging them like mad for a few miles trying to give them a break, but then stopped so I wouldn't get pulled over for drunk driving), so I finally stopped and took a picture of one. You can see they've started sprouting their wings now.

Then look at what I found on my thermometer just yesterday -- two Lubbers in the midst of reproduction. Casting all decency aside, I promptly ran back into the trailer and grabbed my camera. I call this shot "Lubbers In Lub." (groan!)

Since these two were being such wonderful models (other things on their mind there, Doug), I took the opportunity to engage in a little scientific photography, capturing the very workings of their reproductive organs. This is a really great shot, I think. You can click on the picture to enlarge it, if you want to see it up close. It's really fascinating.

Okay, moving right along to more G-Rated endeavors, here we have a young Katydid, captured in the early morning light. It, too, hasn't yet sprouted its wings. They're such beautiful little creatures, all lime green.

He, too -- or should that be "She, too"? -- didn't much care for having his/her photo taken, but its attempt at escape allowed me to capture it in a different light.

And here we have a shot taken just yesterday, with its wings now grown out and ready for flight.

And here we have one that didn't quite make it, ending up as a nice, tasty lunch for one of our local spiders (variety unknown). Well, that's life in the Great Outdoors for you, I suppose.

And last but not least, here we have a Mockingbird chick, clinging for all it's worth to the side of a tree. At first I thought it was a Ladderback Woodpecker, due to the way it's clinging so tightly to the trunk, but there is a Mockingbird nest in this particular tree, right over my front door. With those markings, it has to be a Mockingbird.

Well, I guess that's about it for this edition. Thanks for tuning in!