pendraggin (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} pendraggin) wrote,@ 2008-07-18 14:57:00 |
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Ay Chihuahuan (Desert)
It feels really splendid to be back in Ithaca. There are old comrades, there are swords, and I can even justify my month-long visit thanks to some part-time work. For my whole life I have derived delight from being alive and grand adventures, but this is different. I am finding comfort and happiness in being a human. How peculiar. I intend to make the most of this time while it lasts, so contrasting to the period of desert solitude.
I enjoyed my sojourn to New Mexico. The landscape is so barren, so harsh, but there is an austere beauty to its rolling hills and flatlands. The vegetation is not thick, but it is highly defensive. I did my best to identify plants without normal guides such as flowers and leaves, instead using the size and distribution of thorny projections and how much they hurt when contacting flesh. Examples:
Soaptree Yucca and Creosote Bush = no problem
Pricklypear = prickly big spines meh, brittle hair-like spines worse
Whitethorn Acacia = annoying in large numbers
Tree Cholla = spines hurt going in, hurt more coming out
Lechuguilla = photosynthesizing knives
Honey Mesquite = stout, stiff thorns responsible for the majority of our flat tires
Still, the plants were not usually thick enough to be a huge imposition (although some of the hills were fairly imposing). Not even the flat tires could stop us longer than five minutes. We made 15 tire changes in 2.5 months. The pit crew -I mean field crew- had two trucks, but for a while we were driving just one and swiping the tires off the second as needed. The birding and lizarding was worth it. I got to see a slew of species; I am amazed at the remarkable diversity in such an inhospitable area. Some birds, like Black-headed Grosbeaks, Western Kingbirds, and Scott’s Orioles seemed like variations of eastern counterparts. Others were totally new experiences, like Burrowing Owls, Gambel’s Quail, and of course the Greater Roadrunner. I was a bit reluctant to leave such characters behind, to say nothing of the countless Whiptails, Earless Lizards, and Texas Horned Lizards that skittered across the baked ground.
It feels really splendid to be back in Ithaca. There are old comrades, there are swords, and I can even justify my month-long visit thanks to some part-time work. For my whole life I have derived delight from being alive and grand adventures, but this is different. I am finding comfort and happiness in being a human. How peculiar. I intend to make the most of this time while it lasts, so contrasting to the period of desert solitude.
I enjoyed my sojourn to New Mexico. The landscape is so barren, so harsh, but there is an austere beauty to its rolling hills and flatlands. The vegetation is not thick, but it is highly defensive. I did my best to identify plants without normal guides such as flowers and leaves, instead using the size and distribution of thorny projections and how much they hurt when contacting flesh. Examples:
Soaptree Yucca and Creosote Bush = no problem
Pricklypear = prickly big spines meh, brittle hair-like spines worse
Whitethorn Acacia = annoying in large numbers
Tree Cholla = spines hurt going in, hurt more coming out
Lechuguilla = photosynthesizing knives
Honey Mesquite = stout, stiff thorns responsible for the majority of our flat tires
Still, the plants were not usually thick enough to be a huge imposition (although some of the hills were fairly imposing). Not even the flat tires could stop us longer than five minutes. We made 15 tire changes in 2.5 months. The pit crew -I mean field crew- had two trucks, but for a while we were driving just one and swiping the tires off the second as needed. The birding and lizarding was worth it. I got to see a slew of species; I am amazed at the remarkable diversity in such an inhospitable area. Some birds, like Black-headed Grosbeaks, Western Kingbirds, and Scott’s Orioles seemed like variations of eastern counterparts. Others were totally new experiences, like Burrowing Owls, Gambel’s Quail, and of course the Greater Roadrunner. I was a bit reluctant to leave such characters behind, to say nothing of the countless Whiptails, Earless Lizards, and Texas Horned Lizards that skittered across the baked ground.
