Sunday, November 21, 2010
Tumbleweeds and Craters
A raven flying close by taking advantage of the windy day
a couple weeks ago on a very windy day I took the dogs for walks, I spend much of my walk with Prince and Sam thinking about the tumbleweeds. Our winds sometimes come from the North and at other times from the South, no such thing as "the prevailing winds". I have seen the wind blown hard from the North for hours, then it stops and an hour later the wind blows just as hard from the South. So before we had our first frost I noticed that we had a lot of tumbleweeds growing and I wondered why there are so many this year. Well, here is the answer, it seems like after the first frost the tumbleweed bushes get very brittle, and then they just sit tight until the windstorms come. The wind then breaks the little stem that connects the tumbleweed with the roots and off it goes. The above picture shows a fence that has become an unsurmountable obstacle for the tumbleweeds, they are piling up against the fence. This year we didn't have enough rain for the tumbleweeds to reach their full potential, so they are rather small, just 3 to 4 feet in diameter. Usually they are more like 4 to 5 feet and last year there were a lot of really big ones, they could be seen for quite a distance as they tumbled across the desert. Of course the bigger they are the more they catch the wind and they can travel quite fast.
here is an airborne tumbleweed coming towards us. Note the round shape, perfect for bouncing along with the wind. As they bounce across the desert, pieces of the now dry and brittle tumbleweed break off and that's how they must spread their seeds. For anybody not familiar with tumbleweeds, they are nasty, thorny bushes, can't pick them up without getting some of those thorns painfully stuck in the fingers. I try to rid our property off them as best as I can.
here is a smaller one tumbling across a road.
Teddy and Enya sitting on the little hill on the corner of our property
Leydi standing and Cici lying down
Cici on the ground, Leydi and Ayla mock-biting her
Cici and Ayla play very well together
Ayla was 5 years old in August, Cici will be 3 next week
Prince sitting in my car ready to go for a walk
"Who dug that hole"?
A raven flying close by taking advantage of the windy day
a couple weeks ago on a very windy day I took the dogs for walks, I spend much of my walk with Prince and Sam thinking about the tumbleweeds. Our winds sometimes come from the North and at other times from the South, no such thing as "the prevailing winds". I have seen the wind blown hard from the North for hours, then it stops and an hour later the wind blows just as hard from the South. So before we had our first frost I noticed that we had a lot of tumbleweeds growing and I wondered why there are so many this year. Well, here is the answer, it seems like after the first frost the tumbleweed bushes get very brittle, and then they just sit tight until the windstorms come. The wind then breaks the little stem that connects the tumbleweed with the roots and off it goes. The above picture shows a fence that has become an unsurmountable obstacle for the tumbleweeds, they are piling up against the fence. This year we didn't have enough rain for the tumbleweeds to reach their full potential, so they are rather small, just 3 to 4 feet in diameter. Usually they are more like 4 to 5 feet and last year there were a lot of really big ones, they could be seen for quite a distance as they tumbled across the desert. Of course the bigger they are the more they catch the wind and they can travel quite fast.
here is an airborne tumbleweed coming towards us. Note the round shape, perfect for bouncing along with the wind. As they bounce across the desert, pieces of the now dry and brittle tumbleweed break off and that's how they must spread their seeds. For anybody not familiar with tumbleweeds, they are nasty, thorny bushes, can't pick them up without getting some of those thorns painfully stuck in the fingers. I try to rid our property off them as best as I can.
here is a smaller one tumbling across a road.
Teddy and Enya sitting on the little hill on the corner of our property
Leydi standing and Cici lying down
Cici on the ground, Leydi and Ayla mock-biting her
Cici and Ayla play very well together
Ayla was 5 years old in August, Cici will be 3 next week
Prince sitting in my car ready to go for a walk
"Who dug that hole"?Cici and Ayla next to the newest excavation site
Nanuk sits next to the crater which is connected by a tunnel to the hole in the foreground, the crater is big enough for Nanuk to disappear below the surface of the surrounding area
Nanuk near the crater after digging in it
view of the crater, it's about 3 feet deep and the inside diameter is about 5 feet
Prince loves to sit in this spot, it is smack in the middle of this side of the property, he sat in this spot at 9 weeks old prior to me selling him, he still thinks this is the best place to sit, 160 feet from the front and the back fences. He will be 3 years old next week.
Nanuk sits next to the crater which is connected by a tunnel to the hole in the foreground, the crater is big enough for Nanuk to disappear below the surface of the surrounding area
Nanuk near the crater after digging in it
view of the crater, it's about 3 feet deep and the inside diameter is about 5 feet
Prince loves to sit in this spot, it is smack in the middle of this side of the property, he sat in this spot at 9 weeks old prior to me selling him, he still thinks this is the best place to sit, 160 feet from the front and the back fences. He will be 3 years old next week.
