3 posts tagged “desert”
So just a picture to tide you over
I have decided to document my corner of the world. Up to now, I have been of the mindset that I need to go someplace else to find things to photograph. I constantly have requests from some of the photography forums that I belong to, to show them the "desert" So far I have resisted, probably because the desert is something I see everyday and it does not hold the same interest to me as it might to someone who has never been here... but upon further examination of this area and my bank balance, I have decided that these requests are very valid. So this weekend hubby and I set off for an area about 30 miles north of Yuma, along the Colorado River. Up there you find a place called Martinez Lake. Which is a rec area for those who have more money then brains. Sorry I consider owning a boat to be, as the saying goes, just a hole in the water you throw money into. And with gas prices what they are - its irresponsible. Anyway it can also be a great place for photography. So we set off for the area and I had in my mind some nice sunset photos over the river...what I found instead, and we never really made it to the river for shots I wanted, was amazing...
These guys apparently are descendants from the original herds that were brought here by the Spanish Conquistadors 100's of years ago. They were the pack animal of choice for miners who made their way here to the west in the 17-1800's. When the mines went bust, the burros were abandoned and left to fend for themselves in the desert where they live today. Many of these burros have something called "the Spanish Cross" on their backs...you can see in my picture the black stripe that goes over the back from shoulder to shoulder. What you can't see is the strip that runs from ears to tail, thus making the cross on their back near their whithers.
When we happened on this herd, it was in the last light of evening and so some of them were settling in for beddyby time...
They were very interested in us, but tolerant enough to let me get some good shots via telephoto lens...These guys were just one form of desert life we found, we also ran across quail, jack rabbits, and coyotes... I will post more in the coming days...Hope you enjoy
Pam
We are breaking records all over the place down here in the arena of weather. For example, yesterdays record all time high was 108 degrees...we not only broke it, we smeared it all over the floor and then jumped up and down on it for added emphasis. Yesterday we reached 115. yes that is one hundred and fifteen degrees.
So I can hear the collective ughs, and the ever present "yeah, but its a DRY heat" Let me tell you something, when you reach temps in the 110's or higher, dry heat does little to assuage our pain.
I worry that because of this early heat wave, we are in for a grueling summer. It seems like the summers are getting hotter and hotter, lasting longer and longer, or maybe I am just getting older and older and less tolerable and tolerable.
I will never forget the hottest temp I was in. It was back in the early 90's. I had a job that required me to be outside many times (depending on the testing to be done, this happened to be environmental testing in the middle of the desert) I had a portable weather station with me to record all the weather data to be added to the other testing data I was collecting ( I would tell you what it is, but then I would have to kill you) around 2pm I looked at the weather station and it read 124 degrees. There is nothing like it. Dry or not, it is bloody hot and your instinct for self-preservation begins to kick into overdrive. You scan the baking horizon for a bush...any bush that is just large enough to crawl under and attempt to steal some shade...of course you risk sharing your refreshing shade with all the indigenous creatures of the desert - snakes, tarantulas, scorpions. Bushes are at a premium in the desert, trees are nearly non-existent. Sometimes you can find a dead animal that is casting a bit of shade on the ground, but the smell is almost worse then the heat, so I avoid baking carcasses.
Another point on the list to present to hubby for moving - preferably abroad.
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