*** More pictures from our life in 2005 ***
In June, Travis County Audubon offered a class on dragonfly identification with
Professor John Abbott at the University of Texas.
The nice thing about studying dragonflies and damselflies is that you can net them and put them in a clear bag for observation.
Texas has 160 species of dragonflies, nearly half of the 327 species known in North America.
Mark bought a net and we had a lot of fun studying the dragonflies and damselflies around our house.
Of course, there are other interesting things to look at while chasing dragonflies:
July is always a good month to get out of Texas. Before retirement we almost always headed to Ruidoso, New Mexico during the week of my birthday. The higher elevation temperatures were very comfortable.
We stayed in a couple of different campgrounds through the years but in 2005 we were at the Southfork Campground in the Lincoln National Forest in Nogal, New Mexico. Unfortunately, this campground was wiped out during a fire that was started by lightening in 2010 and is no long open for camping.
This campground was usually not very busy and we always had a great site.
One thing
Ruidoso has no shortage of is hummingbirds!
The mountain streams are very cold!
Lots of snow melt keeps the streams flowing, even in July.
Lots of pretty views from the hiking trails.
Every flower has a bee.
Or a butterfly.
There are still some remains of pioneer cabins in the area.
Short video of hummingbirds.
Before the fire the White Mountain Wilderness area in the Lincoln National Forest was absolutely beautiful.
There were lots of places to explore.
Plenty of beautiful, clear streams everywhere.
Beautiful views.
Lots of deer and other wildlife.
More water and flowers everywhere.
We drove
back through this area a few years ago.
All that remains of this lush, green forest is charred tree stumps.
Tomorrow: Running, Whooping, and Dolphins (2005 - Part 3 of 3)
I have never heard of damsleflies before - I love it! Hard to have places you love gone by fire - keep thinking of some of the California redwood groves.
ReplyDeleteYour birthday week celebrations have gotten a bit more elaborate!
Some of these places will not grow back during our lifetime. It is sad to see.
ReplyDeleteMark has always made sure my birthday is fun - it's just easier when you don't have to sandwich it between work weeks.
Great post. I was wondering about the state of the campground now, but you said it hasn't recovered very much. That is sad. But, you did capture what it used to look like.
ReplyDeleteMany of the places we used to visit in Colorado and New Mexico have been destroyed by fires. Trees seem to grow a lot slower in the colder areas.
Delete