High Desert Morning Explorations

 

This old hulk of a car is what we went to see, and it was worth the walk. I knew a friend back home in northern Michigan would be interested in seeing the discovery.

I took some close-up photographs for reference, too. Do you know what you're looking at here?

Now for a couple of other angles --

And not too far away was this: 

But the old car wasn't the only sight to be seen in the vicinity. Someone lived here once but had probably moved out before the roof fell in and the adobe bricks collapsed outward. Since adobe is mud, it easily returns to nature when not maintained.

I'm no expert in adobe construction, but my hiking partner and I were intrigued, when inspecting a section of wall that remains in place, to see that the exterior bricks covered a layer of rocks, with more adobe plastering over the rock for the interior wall. At least, that's how we read what we were looking at. 

But Mother Nature had been doing more than rusting and eroding. Some years back, my friend told me, there was such a spell of deep cold that many barrels cacti were killed when their interior water supplies froze and burst the cacti. This big, old guy, with a chomped-away section on the lower, woodier half and new growth on top, definitely looks like a long-term survivor. Good to see! 

Don't we have fun?

Sunset with New Moon

 

February 15, 2021

Sunset West + South

 

Uncommonly Beautiful, Even in Death

 

The barn owl, most widely distributed owl I North America, is not a rare bird, but how often does one have a chance to inspect it up close? "Stop! Stop! Back up!" There it was, on the side of the road. Why? What had ended this owl's life? It was lying at the base of a utility pole, and I wondered if it might have been somehow electrocuted. Whatever killed it, I was sorry the owl was dead but glad I had spotted it along the road and had a chance to inspect and appreciate its beauty.